Invoice Generator

How to create an invoice with this generator

A first invoice takes about five minutes; after that your details, clients and numbering carry over.

1. Your business: name, address, contact details, a tax ID with your own label (VAT, GST, EIN, ABN) and a logo.
2. The client: type their details or choose “Fill from a saved client”, plus a ship-to address if needed.
3. Number, dates and terms: keep the suggested number, set the issue date and pick terms to fill the due date. Add a PO number and up to three custom fields.
4. Line items: description, quantity, unit (hrs, days, pcs), unit price, any line discount and the Taxable tick.
5. Totals: invoice discount, taxes, a shipping charge or fee, and any deposit already received.
6. Finish: payment instructions, notes, terms and an optional signature, drawn here or uploaded as an image you made in the Signature Maker. Check the preview, Save to History, then Download PDF or Print.

The tool does not send the invoice: attach the PDF to your own email and keep a copy. If a client’s supplier portal accepts only images, the PDF to JPG converter turns the invoice’s pages into JPG or PNG files in your browser. If the client wants timesheets, a signed delivery note or the receipts for recharged expenses in the same file, Merge PDF puts them behind the invoice as one PDF. If you take payment through an online payment page, you can add its address in the payment instructions, and the QR code generator can turn that address into a code a client scans with a phone. The code is only a link to your payment page, not a payment method in itself.

On a phone the steps run in one column, with an Edit and Preview switch above the form and a bar along the bottom showing the balance due and the download button, so you can invoice on site before you leave.

What an invoice must contain

The core is much the same everywhere, and the tool has a field for each part. The UK government’s guidance lists what every invoice must include (https://www.gov.uk/invoicing-and-taking-payment-from-customers/invoices-what-they-must-include):

• a unique identification number
• your company name, address and contact information
• the company name and address of the customer you are invoicing
• a clear description of what you are charging for
• the date the goods or service were provided (the supply date)
• the date of the invoice
• the amounts being charged, the VAT amount if applicable, and the total amount owed

A sole trader’s invoice must also show the owner’s own name as well as any business name, and a limited company’s its full name as on the certificate of incorporation. If the supply date differs from the invoice date, add it as a custom field such as “Supply date”.

A VAT or GST invoice usually needs more. The European Commission’s summary of the EU rules lists a date of issue, a unique sequential number, both parties’ names and addresses, the customer’s VAT number where the customer is liable for the tax, a description with quantities and unit prices, and the VAT rate and amount (https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation/vat/vat-businesses/invoicing_en). Use both tax ID fields and the “Tax Invoice” title where your country uses it.

The United States has no federal invoice format, and sales tax is set by states and localities. The IRS names invoices among the records that support both income and expenses (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/what-kind-of-records-should-i-keep); your state’s revenue department sets what a taxable sale must show. For every field in order with a worked example, read how to write an invoice.

How invoice numbering works

An invoice number identifies that document and no other. For VAT invoices HMRC asks for “a sequential number based on one or more series which uniquely identifies the document” (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-trader-records/vatrec5010), so a number can mix letters and digits, and you can run separate series, for instance one per year.

The tool reads the invoices saved in this browser and suggests the next number: after INV-0006 it offers INV-0007. Type your own scheme once, say 2026-041, and the prefix and zero-padding are remembered, so the next suggestion is 2026-042. Reusing a number from your history shows a warning, not a block, since only you know if you are correcting an old invoice. Invoices issued elsewhere are invisible to it, so check the number if you use two systems.

Invoice templates and a professional-looking PDF

A professional invoice is one the client’s accounts team can pay without a follow-up question: clear parties, a visible number and due date, and totals that add up.

• Classic: letterhead on the left, a ruled table and a dark header row. Suits trades and consultancies.
• Modern: a full-width colour band with your logo and the total up front. Suits creative work.
• Minimal: hairlines and white space, with colour only where it matters.

Pick one of eight accent colours or any shade from the colour picker. Choose A4 or US Letter, one of five date formats (19 Sep 2026, Sep 19, 2026, 19/09/2026, 09/19/2026 or 2026-09-19) and one of five number formats, such as 1.234.567,89 for much of Europe.

The PDF has selectable text rather than a picture of a page, so a client can copy your bank details correctly.

Invoice examples by type of business

The same form covers very different work; the unit, lines and notes change.

• Freelancers and designers: hours or days as the unit, one line per deliverable, any deposit entered as already paid. How to invoice as a freelancer covers hourly, milestone and retainer billing.
• Trades and contractors: labour and materials on separate lines, with the Taxable tick where your rules treat them differently and the site address as the ship-to.
• Consultants: a day rate or monthly fee, the client’s PO number in the reference field, since many companies will not pay an invoice without it.
• Photographers and event suppliers: a booking fee received earlier entered as already paid, the event date as a custom field and travel as the fee line.
• Cleaners and home services: a short invoice with Due on receipt terms and the visit dates in the description.
• Small shops and online sellers: pieces as the unit, a shipping charge that can be taxed, and a Proforma Invoice title when a buyer needs one before paying. If you list a SKU or product code on each line, the barcode generator can print the same code as a scannable label for your stock.

If you are unsure what to charge, the freelance rate calculator works back from your target income and costs to an hourly or day rate.

Invoice template or invoice generator?

A blank Word or Excel template is fine for an occasional invoice. By the tenth you are copying last month’s file, changing the number by hand and hoping the formulas survived. An invoice kept in a Word template still goes to the client as a PDF, which Word to PDF makes in the browser, with its table and totals as laid out in Word.

A generator removes those steps. Numbers follow on from your history and warn about duplicates. Line totals, discounts and several taxes are calculated with the rounding set out below, so the total cannot drift from the lines. Your details and clients fill in themselves, saved invoices sit in one list, and the output is a finished PDF rather than an editable file. If you prefer a spreadsheet, the Excel invoice template with mixed taxable lines shows how to build the same logic safely.

Payment terms explained

Payment terms tell the client when the money is due. Choosing a preset sets the due date from the issue date; editing the due date by hand switches the terms to Custom.

• Due on receipt: payable on arrival. Common for small jobs and new clients.
• Net 7, Net 15, Net 30, Net 60: payable within that many calendar days of the invoice date. Net 30 is a common default between businesses.
• Custom: any date you choose, for example the last day of the month.

Where no terms were agreed, the law may fill the gap. In the UK a business-to-business payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice, or after delivery if that is later (https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery), and statutory interest on late commercial payments is 8% plus the Bank of England base rate (https://www.gov.uk/late-commercial-payments-interest-debt-recovery/charging-interest-commercial-debt). Other countries set their own rules.

The guide to invoice payment terms covers EOM, 2/10 net 30 and what an early-payment discount really costs. When an invoice goes past its due date, how to chase an overdue invoice sets out a reminder schedule, late fees and statutory interest, and the invoice factoring cost calculator shows what being paid early by a factor costs.

Sales tax, VAT and GST on an invoice

The tool does the arithmetic for any rate you give it. Whether a sale is taxable, at what rate, and whether you must register depend on your jurisdiction.

Add one line per tax, up to six, each with its own name and rate: a Canadian invoice might carry GST 5% and PST 7%, an Indian one CGST 9% and SGST 9%. Each is calculated on the same taxable amount and shown on its own row. Compound taxes, where one tax is charged on another, are not supported. Untick Taxable on lines such as exempt goods, and they print as “Not taxed”.

Choose “Included in prices” if your prices already contain the tax, as consumer prices usually do in VAT and GST countries; the total stays as typed and the invoice shows the tax inside it. Choose “Added to prices” if tax goes on top, as with US sales tax. To check a figure, use the sales tax calculator, the GST calculator or the VAT calculator. Registration and place of supply are covered in the GST and sales tax compliance guide.

How the totals are calculated

Every amount is held as a whole number of the currency’s smallest unit, such as cents, so ordinary computer rounding errors cannot occur: 0.1 + 0.2 is exactly 0.30. Rounding is half away from zero, so 1.005 becomes 1.01. The steps run in this order:

1. Line amount = quantity × unit price, rounded, less any line discount (a percentage or a fixed sum).
2. Subtotal = the sum of the line amounts.
3. Invoice discount = a percentage of the subtotal, rounded, or a fixed amount, never more than the subtotal. It is shared between taxable and non-taxable lines in proportion to their amounts.
4. Taxable amount = the taxable lines less their share of the discount, plus shipping if marked taxable.
5. Each tax = taxable amount × its rate, rounded on its own. With prices that include tax, net = taxable amount ÷ (1 + the sum of the rates); the difference is the tax, split between the taxes in proportion to their rates.
6. Total = subtotal − invoice discount + taxes (when added to prices) + shipping or fee.
7. Balance due = total − amount already paid. An overpayment shows as a credit balance, and marking the invoice Paid sets the balance to zero.

Some accounting systems round tax per line or only at the end, moving a total by a cent. If your accountant’s software differs by a cent, their method should win for your books.

From quote to invoice to receipt

Many jobs pass through three documents, and the three tools share their saved data. Price the work in the estimate and quote generator, with a valid-until date and any deposit needed to accept. When the client agrees, “Convert to invoice” opens this generator with the client, lines and taxes filled in, the next invoice number, and the quote number kept as a custom field.

When the invoice is paid, “Create receipt” opens the receipt maker filled from the invoice, marked paid, with the invoice number as its reference. Each keeps its own number series. For what each document is for and when a pro forma, credit note or statement fits better, see invoice vs receipt vs quote.

Editing, duplicating and correcting an invoice

History lists every invoice saved in this browser. Open loads one back into the editor to change and save under the same number. Duplicate starts a copy with the next number, today’s date and an unpaid status, which is the quickest way to bill a regular client the same lines each month.

Edit freely before an invoice is sent. Once the client has it, changing figures under the same number leaves two versions that disagree. The cleaner record is a credit note, a new document with negative lines that names the original invoice, followed by a corrected invoice if needed. The EU rules expect a document that amends an invoice to make a “specific, unambiguous reference to the initial invoice” (https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/taxation/vat/vat-businesses/invoicing_en). Put the original number in the reference field.

Where your data is stored

Everything you type stays in this browser. The draft, business profile, clients, invoice history, logo and signature are written to local storage on your device. The page makes no network request with your invoice data, the PDF is built on your device, and no field value is sent to analytics.

Clearing site data or using a private window removes the stored invoices, and another browser or device starts empty. The few megabytes a browser allows per site hold hundreds of invoices, because the logo is stored once.

History → Backup → Export all data downloads one JSON file with everything in it. Import it on another device to carry on there; importing adds to what is already stored rather than replacing it. “Delete all my data” removes everything at once.

Tax authorities expect you to keep copies of invoices you issue. HMRC says VAT-registered businesses must keep a copy of every VAT invoice issued and generally keep VAT records for at least 6 years (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/record-keeping-for-vat-notice-70021). Browser storage is a convenience, not an archive: keep the PDFs you send.