The 12 Essentials
Every invoice should have these, in roughly this order from top to bottom:
- The word “Invoice” at the top, so it's never mistaken for an estimate or a receipt.
- A unique invoice number. Never reuse one; accounts teams file and search by it.
- The issue date.
- The due date, written out as a date.
- Your business details: name, address, email and phone.
- The client's details: company name, contact person and billing address.
- A line for each piece of work with a description and the date or period.
- Quantity and rate: hours and the rate per hour, or 1 × a fixed fee.
- The amount for each line.
- Subtotal, tax and total. Show tax on its own line, with its rate.
- Payment terms, such as Net 15, and any late fee.
- How to pay: a pay link, bank details or other accepted methods.
Line Items That Explain Themselves
The person approving your invoice often wasn't in the meetings. Name the deliverable and the stage, and keep each line to one kind of work:
| Description | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage design, second round of revisions (Oct 6–8) | 3.5 | $90.00 | $315.00 |
| Product page wireframes, three layouts (Oct 9) | 4.0 | $90.00 | $360.00 |
| Review call with marketing team (Oct 10) | 1.0 | $90.00 | $90.00 |
| Stock photo license, receipt attached | 1 | $49.00 | $49.00 |
Write hours as decimals (3.5 for three and a half hours), and say which increment you round to if you round. Billing in Tenths of an Hour explains the most common one.
Sales Tax and VAT
Whether you charge tax depends on where you and your client are and what you sell. In the US, many professional services are untaxed, but some states tax certain services, and goods you resell usually are taxed. In the UK, the EU and many other countries, a VAT-registered business must show its VAT number and the VAT on each invoice.
Check with your state or national tax agency, or an accountant, once, and set your invoices up to match.
Optional but Useful
- Purchase order number, when the client issues one. Many accounts teams can't pay without it.
- Project name, for clients with more than one project with you.
- Your logo and brand color, so the invoice is easy to spot in a pile.
- Photos or attachments: before-and-after shots, receipts, a timesheet.
- A short thank-you note.
Mistakes That Slow Payment
- A missing or reused invoice number.
- “Net 30” with no actual due date.
- One line reading “Services, $4,800.”
- Sending it to your contact instead of the person who pays.
- A total that doesn't match the estimate, with no line explaining the difference.
- No way to pay on the invoice itself.