Free Receipt Template

What a receipt is for

A receipt is proof that money changed hands. An invoice asks for payment; a receipt confirms it arrived.

It matters to the customer, who needs it to claim the cost against their own tax or to return the goods, and to you, because it closes the transaction.

• Who was paid, and who paid.
• The date payment was received, which may not be the date of the invoice.
• What it was for, and the invoice number it settles if there was one.
• The amount, the currency, and the tax included if you are registered.
• How it was paid: cash, card, bank transfer, cheque.
• A receipt number, so it can be found again.

Handing one over on the spot

Fill it in while the customer is still there. A receipt promised later is a receipt that gets chased.

Write the amount in figures and, for cash, in words as well. It is the oldest anti alteration measure there is and it still works.

Sign it. For a cash payment your signature is the part that makes it evidence.

Keep the carbon or the second copy. Your record of what came in has to match your bank.

Deposits, part payments and the balance

If the payment is a deposit, say so on the receipt and state what is still outstanding. A receipt that shows only the amount taken reads like the job was paid in full.

For instalments, number them: payment two of four, with the balance remaining. It saves the conversation about what is left.

A deposit that is non refundable has to say so in writing before it is taken, not on the receipt afterwards.

Keeping them

Tax authorities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada all require business records to be kept for a number of years, and receipts are part of that record.

A photograph of a paper receipt is accepted by most of them, provided it is legible and complete. Thermal till rolls fade, so photograph them the day you get them.

File them against the invoice they settle. A receipt on its own tells you an amount arrived and nothing about what it was for.