How to handle company related purchases when abroad (in U.S.)

Question

I own a single person company in Europe (Ltd) and I'd like to know what is the proper way to ask for an invoice I can use to prove a cost for my company?

It happened in the past that I bought something (at Target, Apple, etc) and when I asked for some kind of invoice, they didn't understand what I was looking for. The most I could get was a double print of the receipt.

Usually my bookkeeper isn't very happy with the receipts I provide but she's not an expert in foreign "stuff" and she's not able to help me. She says she'll figure out a way to register them but I'm not that sure this actually happens all the time.

Usually, in Europe, when one buys something as a company, the seller needs to provide an invoice with the details of both the interested companies in the header.

What's the correct way to handle these situations?

I'm based in Hungary if it matters.

Answer 1

There is basically no chance that you'll be able to get an invoice from a normal retail store in the United States. You can get a receipt as you are doing today. Invoices would generally only be used if the corporation is paying the bill after the goods are delivered.

If you really want an invoice, you'd need to go somewhere that does business to business transactions where you can establish a corporate account and to do your shopping there. There is a decent chance that you could set up a corporate account with an office supply store like Staples, Office Depot, etc. and to get an invoice from them. Of course, that may limit your flexibility if those stores don't carry exactly what you want or if they aren't physically convenient to where you are. And there is some paperwork required to set up the corporate account so it's not ideal if you just need to pick up occasional or incidental supplies when you're travelling.