HubSpot quotes: VAT, discounts and what happens after the yes

Which HubSpot quote tool do you have?

Since September 2025 HubSpot runs two quote tools side by side. Which one your team sees depends on when your account was created and which seat each user has.

Two traps catch teams. If an admin gives a user a Revenue Hub seat, that user loses legacy quotes and their legacy templates, unless “Enable legacy quote creation” is switched on under Settings > Data Management > Objects > Quotes. And legacy templates don’t carry over. HubSpot’s migration tool converts standard templates and lists what needs rework, but anything that reads the old template, such as a sync to accounting, needs a test.

Our view: if your account still has legacy quotes and you send a few simple quotes a month, keep them. Move to the new quotes when you need approvals by discount, price books, or contracts and billing after the yes.

Set up HubSpot quotes before the first one goes out

Most quote problems start when a rep builds the first quote before anyone has set up taxes, products and a template. Do it in this order. For one market it takes about a day.

1. Step 01

   Create a tax rate for each VAT rate

   Settings > Revenue > Tax > Create a tax rate. Create one for every rate you charge, for example 19% and 7% for Germany, 20% for Austria, 8.1% for Switzerland and 0% for reverse charge. The buyer sees the name, so use the words your invoices use. Then set the standard rate as default, and HubSpot adds it to every new line item. Type the rate in the number format of your interface language: in German, 8,1 and not 8.1. Tax rates can’t be deleted, only set inactive.

   

2. Step 02

   Put your products in the product library

   Reps pick line items from the product library. Use the ERP article number as SKU, the net price from the ERP and a description the buyer understands. Surcharges such as express delivery are products too. Without products, reps type free lines, and reports on what you sell stay empty.

   

3. Step 03

   Build one template per market or language

   Settings > Data Management > Objects > Quotes > Quote Templates. Hide the AI cover letter if you don’t want it, set language and locale, enter your company as the seller, and write the terms. Then lock the terms, so reps can’t change the legal text. The section below lists what belongs in it.

   

4. Step 04

   Set how long a quote stays valid

   On the Setup tab, set the default expiration period. HubSpot proposes 90 days. In Germany and Austria an offer binds you for the period you state, so pick a period you can hold your prices for. On the Reminders tab, schedule reminders to the buyer before the quote expires.

   

5. Step 05

   Set an approval rule

   On the Approvals tab, switch on quote approvals and add a rule, for example: quotes with more than 10% total discount need the head of sales. The approval note tells reps why.

   

Create and send a HubSpot quote

Every HubSpot quote needs a deal. Create the quote from the deal record, or from the quotes index with a deal picked. Then choose the template for the buyer’s market and add line items from the product library.

• Acceptance: choose e-signature, print and sign, or accept without signature. Print and sign blocks online payment.
• Lines in the template: a line item saved in a template lands on every quote built from it. Use that only for a fee every customer pays.
• Quantities: with online payment or billing switched on, quantities must be whole numbers.
• After publishing: a published quote can’t be edited. Recall it or clone it to change anything.

VAT on HubSpot quotes in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

HubSpot calculates sales tax automatically only for sellers in the US and Canada. Everyone else picks a tax rate per line item from the tax library. Manual tax rates work well, as long as the rates and the template match your invoices.

On the quote, each line shows its rate, and the totals show the net subtotal, the VAT and the amount due including VAT. Switch on tax IDs in the template, so the buyer’s VAT ID shows in the billing details. The buyer can add or correct it before accepting.

What a German, Austrian or Swiss quote must show

A quote sent to a named customer is a business letter. Company law sets what it must show, whatever tool writes it. HubSpot’s templates don’t add these details for you.

Put these details in the locked terms of each template, as shown in the set-up above. Add what your sales process needs: net prices plus VAT, how long the offer stands, delivery and payment terms, and your general terms of sale. Attach the terms as a PDF: a quote takes up to 10 attachments of up to 30 MB each, and you can include them in the signature.

Discounts, surcharges and subtotals in HubSpot quotes

The new quotes handle discounts on each line and nothing above it. The table shows what works, and the workaround where it doesn’t.

One rule for every workaround: the quote total must equal what the ERP invoices later. If a workaround changes the total, finance finds it a month later.

Optional items, alternatives and variants

Buyers often want to choose: with or without installation, two machine sizes, one or three years of service. HubSpot quotes have no optional items the buyer can tick. Every line counts towards the total, and the deal amount follows the quote.

• Alternatives: one quote per option on the same deal. The latest published quote sets the deal amount. Once the buyer accepts one, that quote leads.
• Optional extras: name them with their price in the terms, not as lines. Add them as lines once the buyer says yes.
• Price lists with quantity steps: send them as a document. A quote is an offer the buyer accepts as a whole.
• Choices on the quote itself: need a custom quote module built by a developer, or a document tool connected to HubSpot.

Quote approvals and e-signature

Standard approvals come with Revenue Hub Professional. You add up to 10 approvers and trigger approval by properties of the quote, its line items or the deal, such as total discount, amount or a product. One approver can be enough, or all must agree. With Enterprise, advanced approvals run several steps in order, for example sales manager, then sales director, then legal. Quote rules, also Enterprise, warn or block before a quote goes out, for example when products must be sold together.

• Signature: HubSpot’s e-signature runs on Dropbox Sign. The Dropbox Sign signature isn’t a qualified electronic signature, so it doesn’t replace written form where the law asks for it. Most B2B contracts need no special form.
• Limits: each published quote with e-signature counts once against a monthly pool of 25 signatures per Revenue Hub Professional seat or 50 per Enterprise seat. A quote sent again after it expired counts again.
• Access: a quote link without a password or email check is open to anyone who has it, and they can sign. Switch on identity verification or a password for large quotes.
• Purchase orders: many buyers accept with a purchase order. Use “accept without signature” and let the buyer enter the PO number on the quote.

What happens after the buyer accepts

Acceptance is where HubSpot hands over to finance. Plan this part before the first quote goes out.

1. Step 01

   The deal

   The accepted quote becomes the deal’s primary quote, and its line items and total replace the deal’s. Move the deal to won with a workflow on the quote status, so the forecast is right. How to set up the stages: deal pipeline guide.
2. Step 02

   Contract and billing

   With Revenue Hub, an accepted quote can create a contract, and invoices or subscriptions from it. Online payment runs through HubSpot payments, available in the US, UK and Canada, or through Stripe.
3. Step 03

   The invoice

   Businesses in Germany must issue e-invoices to other domestic businesses: from 2027 if their turnover was above €800,000 the year before, from 2028 all of them. As of October 2026, HubSpot’s help describes no XRechnung or ZUGFeRD output. So for most German companies the invoice comes from the ERP or accounting software.
4. Step 04

   The order in the ERP

   The accepted quote goes to the ERP as an order, with the ERP customer number and article numbers. Match lines by product and SKU, never by their position, and compare the quote total with the ERP order total before the deal counts as billed. How to set up that connection: HubSpot and your ERP, with separate guides for Business Central and SAP Business One.

When HubSpot quotes are the wrong tool

How we set up quotes in HubSpot

Quotes touch sales, finance and the ERP at once. So we start with where prices come from and where the invoice goes, and build the quote in between.

1. Step 01

   Audit

   We look at how quotes are written today, where prices and article numbers come from, and what happens after the yes: order, invoice, ERP.
2. Step 02

   Plan

   Which quote tool, which templates per market and language, which approvals, and which data goes to the ERP. With a fixed price.
3. Step 03

   Build

   Tax rates, products from the ERP, templates with locked legal text, approvals, and the workflow from accepted quote to won deal and ERP order.
4. Step 04

   Test

   We run real quotes from your last month through it, including a reverse charge customer and a discount above the limit, and compare the totals with the ERP.
5. Step 05

   Hand over

   One session for sales, one page with the rules, and one report: quotes sent, accepted and expired per month.

Frequently asked questions