Self-Employed Invoice Template

What a self-employed invoice must show

Being self-employed does not change what an invoice needs. It has to identify you and your client and say plainly what is owed:

• Your name or trading name, with your address and contact details.
• The client's business name and address.
• The word Invoice and a unique invoice number.
• The invoice date and the date of the work.
• What you did, described so the client's accounts team can match it to an order.
• The amount due, the due date and your bank details.
• Your VAT or GST number and the tax, only if you are registered.

If you trade under a business name

In the UK, a sole trader who uses a business name must also show their own name and an address where documents can be served. Elsewhere the rules differ, but putting your legal name on the invoice is always sensible: it is the name the client's bank payment has to match.

Billing by the hour or the day

Show the rate and the hours or days on each line, such as Design work, 12 hours at 45. A client who can see the arithmetic approves the invoice faster than one who sees only a total.

If you agreed a fixed fee, say so on the line and refer to the proposal or purchase order it came from.

Getting paid on time

Put the due date on the invoice as a date, not just Net 30. Send it the day the work is delivered, and follow up politely the day after it falls due. Invoices are paid late mostly because they were sent late.