Invoice Generator

What every invoice must contain

• The word "Invoice" — a document headed "Statement" or "Receipt" is legally a different thing.
• A unique sequential invoice number — required for tax records and essential for tracking what has been paid.
• Your full name or business name and address, plus your tax registration number if you have one.
• Your client’s full legal name and address — the entity being billed, not just a contact person.
• The issue date and the payment due date as an actual calendar date, not "net 30".
• An itemised description of the work, with quantity, rate and line total for each item.
• The subtotal, any tax, and the final amount due, with the currency stated explicitly.
• Payment instructions — bank details, or a link if you accept cards.

Payment terms and what they mean

Shorter terms genuinely get paid sooner. Research on freelance invoicing repeatedly finds that "due on receipt" and 7-day terms are settled substantially faster than 30-day terms.

Getting paid on time

• Invoice immediately. The longer the gap between delivering work and asking for money, the less urgent it feels to the client.
• Send it to the right person. Accounts payable pays invoices; your project contact often does not. Ask who to send it to before you finish the work.
• Include a purchase order number if the client uses them — invoices without a PO number are frequently rejected outright by corporate finance systems.
• State a late fee in your contract — commonly 1.5% per month — and reference it on the invoice. Enforceability varies by jurisdiction, but stating it changes behaviour.
• Follow up on a schedule: a polite reminder the day after the due date, another at seven days, and a firm one at fourteen.
• Take a deposit on any project large enough that non-payment would hurt. Fifty percent upfront is a normal professional standard, not a sign of distrust.

Invoice, quote, receipt, purchase order

Never edit an invoice you have already sent. Issue a credit note against it and raise a new invoice — editing breaks the audit trail your accountant and any tax inspection will rely on.

Tax on invoices

Whether you charge tax depends on where you and your client are, and whether you are registered. In the US, most services are exempt from sales tax in most states, but goods and some digital services are not — and rules differ state by state.

In the UK and EU, you must register for VAT once you cross the threshold, and cross-border business-to-business sales are often reverse-charged, meaning you invoice without VAT and note that the reverse charge applies. In India, GST applies with similar registration thresholds.

Set the rate to zero if you are not registered. If you are unsure, one conversation with an accountant costs far less than a mis-filed return.

This tool produces the invoice document. It is not tax advice, and it does not file anything for you.

Record keeping

Keep a copy of every invoice you issue. The IRS generally expects records to be retained for three years, extending to six where income was substantially understated; HMRC requires five years after the filing deadline; most EU states require six to ten.

Because this tool has no account and stores nothing, download each PDF and file it yourself — a folder per tax year, named 2026-001-clientname.pdf, is enough and takes seconds.