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How to write an invoice, with one filled in

An invoice says what work was done, what it comes to, what has been paid and how to pay the rest. Here is each part, in order, on one that is filled in.

By TailGateBid. .

One invoice, filled in

Sample

Sample Plumbing Co.

Water heater replacement

  • 50 gallon gas water heater, installedQty 1$1,850.00
  • Expansion tank and fittingsQty 1$185.00
  • Old water heater hauled awayQty 1$75.00
Subtotal
$2,110.00
Sales tax (7.25%)
$147.54
Total
$2,257.54
Deposit already paid
-$225.75
Balance due
$2,031.79
The sample job from the estimate guide, now finished, with made-up prices. The lines and the tax are the ones the customer approved, and they come to $2,257.54. Say the customer paid the $225.75 deposit after approving the estimate: it comes off. What is left, $2,031.79, is the balance due.

What goes on it, in order

  1. Your business, and how to reach youName, phone, and where to send a question. The person paying is not always the person you met at the job.
  2. The customer and the placeWho the invoice is for, and the address where the work was done.
  3. A number and a dateA number of its own and the day you sent it, so either of you can find it again a year from now.
  4. The work, line by lineThe same lines as the estimate, in the same words and the same order, each with its quantity and its price.
  5. Tax, on the lines that are taxedThe rate and what it comes to, shown apart from the subtotal.
  6. The totalWhat the whole job came to.
  7. What has been paidThe deposit and any other payment, each with its date.
  8. The balanceThe total less what has been paid. It is the number your customer is looking for, so make it the easiest one to find.
  9. When it is dueA date, not "soon".
  10. How to payWho to make a check out to, where to send it, the number to call. One or two lines.

Nothing in this list says what a law requires an invoice to hold. If your state or your trade has rules of its own for one, those come first: ask your state.

We give no usual number of days to pay, because we have no source for one. Pick yours, and write the date.

Wording you can copy

  • How to pay

    Please make checks payable to Sample Plumbing Co. Cash or check is fine. To pay by card, call the office.

  • When it is due

    The balance is due by the date above. Thank you for your business.

  • When a deposit was paid

    Thank you for your deposit. It has been taken off the total above.

An invoice is not a receipt

An invoice asks for payment. A receipt says the payment was made. They are two papers, and one job may need both.

The dictionary keeps them apart the same way. Merriam-Webster's invoice is an itemized list with the price and the terms of sale: a bill. Its receipt is a writing that acknowledges goods or money were received.

So send the invoice when the work is done. Give a receipt when the money is in your hand, or mark the invoice paid and send it again.

This page is about words and paper, not law.

The same lines as the estimate

Your customer said yes to a list. Send that list back, so they can hold one paper against the other and see that nothing has moved.

If the work changed, say what changed on a line of its own, with its own price. Do not fold it into a line they already approved.

In TailGateBid extra work goes out as a change order, which your customer approves by link before it is done. Approved change orders are added to the final invoice under their own name.

In Spanish

If your customer reads Spanish, the word is "factura". The Spanish academies' dictionary gives it as the account that details what was sold or done, with its price, and is handed to the customer to ask for payment (factura). A "recibo" is a signed paper that says money was received (recibo). It is the same line between the two.

In the United States you will also hear "invoice" said in Spanish. A dictionary of the Spanish spoken in this country, from the Instituto Cervantes at Harvard, lists it as a Spanish noun in general use across the United States.

TailGateBid sends each customer's invoice in English or in Spanish, whichever you set for them. What you type yourself goes out as you typed it.

In TailGateBid

One tap on a finished job, "Create invoice", makes the invoice. It starts from the lines of the quote, adds any change order your customer approved, and takes off what they paid on the deposit.

You record each payment yourself: the amount, how they paid and the date. Your customer's link shows the invoice, the payments received, the balance, and your own instructions under "How to pay".

How invoices work in TailGateBid. To work out a deposit and the tax before you quote, there is the deposit and sales tax calculator.

Not built yet

  • Online card and bank payments. A TailGateBid invoice has no pay button: your customer pays you the way they do today, and you record it.

Sources

Related

In TailGateBid a finished job becomes its invoice in one tap.

Invoices