Working with Clients · Article 4.3
B2B vs B2C: what the toggle actually changes
Whether your client is a business or a consumer changes three things: the VAT treatment, the cooling-off rights, and whether structured e-invoicing is even an option.
The legal status of your counterparty matters more than it looks. B2B and B2C contracts run on different rails: different VAT, different consumer-protection rules, different invoicing obligations, sometimes different mandatory disclosures. Clozo handles the mechanical differences automatically; this article explains them so you know why the outputs differ.
Step by step
At creation time.
When adding a client (
/clients/new), the toggleThis is a private consumer (B2C)defaults to off (B2B). Tick it only for individuals buying personally.Auto-detection on save.
If you don't fill
vat_numberand don't fillcompany_name, Clozo auto-flags the record as B2C. You can override by ticking/unticking the toggle.Per-proposal effect.
Once set on the client, every proposal to that client carries the flag through — the wizard reads the client's
is_b2cand renders the cooling-off waiver UI on the client signing page if applicable.Switching mid-relationship.
A client can move from B2B to B2C or back (rare but possible — they incorporated, they de-registered). Edit the record at
/clients/{id}and toggle. Existing sent proposals keep the flag they had at issue time; new proposals pick up the new flag.
The toggle in the client form is one row. On a proposal to a B2B client, the wizard shows the standard payment-terms section. On a proposal to a B2C client with a deposit, the wizard shows an additional info banner: "Cooling-off waiver required — your client will see a checkbox before signing, acknowledging that work begins before the 14-day withdrawal period expires."
Why this works this way
The EU's Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU, "CRD") is one of the bigger differences. For distance contracts (which Clozo proposals almost always are — signed online, never in person), the CRD gives consumers a 14-day cooling-off period after signing during which they can withdraw without giving any reason and get any payment back. There's an explicit exception in Art. 16(a) for services that begin with the consumer's express consent before the 14 days expire — the consumer waives the cooling-off right by ticking a box acknowledging that they're losing it. Clozo surfaces this waiver checkbox automatically on the client signing page when (a) the client is B2C and (b) the proposal asks for a deposit — because taking a deposit and starting work usually implies "begin before the 14 days expire". Without the waiver, a B2C client could in principle sign, you start work, they withdraw on day 13, you have to refund.
This is why business_use=True is the default for the freelancer's own signup as well. Most Clozo users are autónomos / freelancers / Einzelunternehmer acting in their professional capacity — under EUR-Lex Art. 2(1) of the CRD, "consumer" is "any natural person who, in contracts covered by this Directive, is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession." A freelancer signing up for a SaaS to run their freelance business is acting for their business — they're B2B and the CRD doesn't apply to their Clozo subscription.
For B2B clients, the practical differences are the upside: structured e-invoicing routes (Peppol, KSeF, FatturaPA, Factur-X via PDP — see article 3.9), reverse charge across EU borders (article 4.2 Rule 4), and potentially mandatory e-invoicing under national B2B mandates (PL KSeF rolling out from 2026; FR PPF/PDP from 2026; DE B2B from 2027; EU-wide via ViDA from 2030). For B2C, e-invoicing is always B2C-emails-PDF; the structured channels reject non-business addressees by spec.
Troubleshooting
Keep reading
Working with Clients
Adding a client: the four fields that matter
Name, email, country, and the B2B/B2C flag — those four fields turn an empty client record into one Clozo can build legally correct invoices from.
Working with Clients
Client country and VAT logic: how Clozo decides what VAT (if any) to charge
The combination of your country, the client's country, and whether the client has a validated EU VAT number determines which of five VAT rules applies — Clozo computes it automatically.
Proposals & Invoices
B2C cooling-off: when the CRD Art. 16(a) waiver appears
When you increase scope on a contract with a consumer (B2C) client, EU consumer law gives that client a fresh 14-day right to withdraw from the added portion. Clozo presents a mandatory waiver checkbox so the client knows the right exists and explicitly waives it.
Proposals & Invoices
Creating an amendment (the 4-step wizard)
The amendment wizard at `/proposals/{id}/amend` walks you through line items, reason, preview, and email — in that order. Five minutes for a simple change, ten minutes for a complex one. The client doesn't see anything until you click Send on Step 4.