Invoices, subscriptions and VAT.

Which billing model you are on

Not sure which you are on? Search your inbox for THEGROWTHBULLY-SUB or for "Invoice INV-". Card receipts mean Stripe; INV numbers mean Xero. Some accounts have both: the retainer on one and a one-off project on the other.

Stripe subscription: the billing portal

The portal is where you download invoices, update the card and change the billing email. It needs no password, only the email address your invoices are sent to.

Download an invoice

1. Open the portal link and enter the email address shown in the Bill to field on any past receipt.
2. Open the sign-in link that arrives by email (check spam if it is not there in two minutes).
3. Scroll to Invoice history and click the line you need.
4. Click Download invoice. The PDF carries your company name, address and VAT number as held on file.

Update the card

1. In the portal, under Payment method, click Add payment method.
2. Enter the new card and tick Use as default.
3. Remove the old card. The next charge uses the new one with no gap in service.

Change the billing email or company details

1. In the portal, under Billing information, click Update information.
2. Change the email, company name, address or VAT number and save. Future invoices use the new details; past invoices regenerate with them when you re-download.

How you know it worked: the portal shows the new details, and the next receipt arrives at the new address. If it fails: the sign-in email never arrives, or the portal says no account was found. Send a screenshot of the whole window to stephen@thegrowthbully.com with the email address you tried, and we update the address on the subscription, usually within the hour.

Xero invoices by email

Invoices arrive from our accounting system with the subject "Invoice INV-number from The Growth Bully Ltd". Each email has a View online button and a PDF. The invoice states the period it covers in the description line; if that line does not answer "which month is this", reply on the invoice email and ask, and the next one will say it more plainly.

1. Open the invoice email and click View online.
2. To pay by card, click Pay now and follow the card form. To pay by bank transfer, use the details printed at the bottom of the invoice.
3. Use the invoice number as the payment reference. Nothing else is needed.
4. Need a statement of everything open and paid? Reply on any invoice email with "statement please". It comes back as a table: invoice, date, description, total, paid, due.

How you know it worked: the online invoice shows Paid within a working day of a card payment, or within two working days of a bank transfer. If it fails: the invoice still shows as due after that, forward your remittance or payment confirmation on the invoice email and we allocate it by hand.

Some agreements are billed quarterly in advance: one invoice at the start of each calendar quarter for the three months ahead, on the payment terms in the agreement. Any credit on your account is allocated against those invoices and shown on the statement as a credit note with its own number, so the statement always adds up.

Bank transfer

Bank transfer is accepted on any Xero invoice. Our bank details are on the invoice itself and do not change; if an email ever asks you to pay to different details, stop and call us before paying. Transfers from Maltese and EU banks land within one to two working days. Invoices are due on the terms in your agreement; standard terms are fourteen days from the invoice date. An invoice that stays open past that gets automatic reminders, and your agreement allows us to pause work while an invoice is materially overdue. Neither is personal: switching to card auto-pay makes both disappear.

VAT

• VAT in Malta is 18 percent. Every quote we send is ex-VAT unless it says otherwise. Every invoice and every Stripe checkout shows the net amount, the VAT and the VAT-inclusive total.
• On a Stripe checkout the VAT appears after you enter your billing address, because it is calculated from your tax location. If the first screen shows no VAT, that is why.
• VAT-registered in another EU member state? Enter your VAT number at checkout, or send it to us for Xero, and the invoice is reverse-charged with no Maltese VAT.
• Outside the EU? Invoiced without Maltese VAT, in the currency stated in your agreement.
• Your VAT number belongs on the invoice. Send your registered name, address and VAT number before the first invoice and it never comes up again. See changing invoice details.

When the retainer clock starts

• From the start date in your agreement, not from launch. Onboarding, access, tracking and creative are month one's work. The launch date depends on your track (see between signing and launch); the billing date does not move with it.
• The first payment covers month one plus any one-off onboarding or setup fee stated in your agreement. From month two the charge drops to the monthly amount, on the same date each month.
• Prepaid periods cover the number of months stated in your agreement, counted from the start date. The end date is written in your confirmation email.
• Pauses are agreed in writing with a resumption date. During a pause nothing is charged and nothing is owed; a Stripe subscription is cancelled and a new one starts on the agreed date. The remaining months of a prepaid period pick up where they stopped. What keeps running during a pause is on pausing and ending.
• One-off work (an add-on, a design job, a newsletter build) is invoiced before delivery on a separate invoice, and can go on bank transfer even when the retainer is on card. Say so when you approve the quote.

Ad spend is never on our invoice

Meta and Google bill your ad spend directly to the card inside your own ad account. It never passes through us, we take no percentage of it, and it never appears on a Growth Bully invoice. That keeps ownership clean, keeps you in control of the ceiling, and lands the platform's receipts in your own books.

Receipts and invoice recipients

Invoices and receipts go to the email address on file, and only there. To change or add a recipient:

1. Stripe subscription: change the email in the portal under Billing information, Update information. One address per subscription; if two people need copies, use a shared mailbox such as accounts@ or set a forwarding rule on your side.
2. Xero invoices: email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with the addresses to add or remove. Xero can send to several addresses, so finance and the account owner can both receive them.
3. If an address bounces, we stop sending to it and tell you. Tell us before it bounces if someone leaves.

How you know it worked: the next invoice or receipt lands at the new address. If it fails: reply on the last invoice email with the address and "please resend".

Switch a Xero-invoiced account to card auto-pay

If you are on bank transfer and the reminders are a nuisance on both sides, move the retainer to a card subscription. Nothing changes except that the charge happens by itself.

1. Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with the subject below, the billing email to use, and the date you want the first automatic charge.
2. Stephen sends a secure checkout link for the same retainer and period as your agreement. It comes from subscribe.thegrowthbully.com; if a link comes from anywhere else, do not use it.
3. Open the link, enter company name, billing address and VAT number, then the card. The VAT-inclusive total appears once the address is in.
4. Confirm. The first charge is on the date agreed; any invoice already issued for that period is credited so nothing is paid twice.

How you know it worked: a Stripe receipt arrives on the agreed date, and no Xero invoice arrives for that period. If it fails: the checkout refuses the card or shows the wrong company: screenshot the whole window and send it, do not retry more than twice.

Failed or expired card on your subscription

1. Stripe retries the charge automatically over the following days and emails you each time. Nothing stops on the first failure.
2. Open the billing portal, add the new card under Payment method and set it as default. The next retry succeeds and the receipt arrives.
3. If the card cannot be replaced within the retry window, reply on the failed-payment email and say when it can. Your agreement allows us to pause work while an invoice is materially overdue; a one-line heads-up avoids that.

How you know it worked: a receipt marked Paid. If it fails: the portal does not accept the card: try a different browser, then send a screenshot of the whole window.

Changing invoice details

Registered name, address, VAT number or a purchase order reference: send the details on the invoice email, or update them in the Stripe portal, and the invoice is reissued the same working day. An issued invoice is never edited: it is cancelled with a credit note and a fresh invoice is issued with the right details, so your books and ours match.

A disputed or wrong invoice

1. Reply on the invoice email, within the payment period on the invoice, with the invoice number and one line on what is wrong: the period, the amount, the description, a charge you did not approve.
2. Reminders stop on that invoice while the query is open.
3. If the invoice is wrong, we issue a credit note and a corrected invoice. If it is right, we send the approval or agreement line it comes from.
4. Rush fees and add-ons only ever follow a written approval from your named approver; if you see one you do not recognise, ask for the approval email.

Who to contact: stephen@thegrowthbully.com, subject line "Invoice" followed by the number. If your finance team would rather deal directly with our accountant for statements and reconciliations, ask and we make the introduction.

Common questions on this page

Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with the invoice number in the subject and a screenshot of the whole window.