Free Invoice Generator

How to create an invoice

1. 1

   Enter your details and your client's

   Add both parties' names and addresses, tax numbers if you have them, your logo and an invoice number. Everything is composed online, so client and financial details are never retained by PilotPDF.

2. 2

   List the work and the amounts

   Add each item with its description, quantity and price. Set any discount, tax or deposit, and check the totals in the live preview against your own figure.

3. 3

   Download and send

   Download the PDF and send it. Keep your copy, because invoices are accounting records and most places require you to keep them for several years. New invoice keeps your details and moves to the next number.

What an invoice has to contain to be paid

An invoice is a payment request and a bookkeeping record at once, and the details that seem like formalities are usually the ones that hold up payment. It needs a unique invoice number, the date of issue, your business name and address, the client's name and address, a clear description of what is being charged for, the amounts, and the total due. Where tax applies, the rate and amount must be shown separately from the net figure, and in many jurisdictions your tax registration number has to appear.

The invoice number matters more than its blandness suggests. It has to be unique and it should run in an unbroken sequence, because that sequence is what accounting systems and auditors rely on to establish that nothing is missing. Gaps in an invoice sequence are a standard audit flag. Pick a scheme at the start — a simple running number, or a per-client prefix — and stay with it.

Payment terms are the part most often left vague, and vagueness costs money. State a due date rather than 'on receipt', give the exact payment details, and say what happens if payment is late. Net 30 is a common default but is a choice rather than a rule; shorter terms are entirely normal for small suppliers. A client's accounts department pays to the date on the document, so an invoice without one waits.

Getting paid faster, and keeping the records straight

Most late payment is friction rather than refusal. Invoices go unpaid because they arrived without a purchase order number the client's system demanded, because the description did not match what was approved, because they went to the person who commissioned the work rather than to accounts, or because a bank detail was missing. Asking at the start of a job how the client wants to be invoiced — and to whom — removes nearly all of it.

Clarity in the line items does similar work. 'Consulting — £2,400' invites a query; three lines naming the deliverables, days, and rate does not. Where an amount was agreed in advance, referencing the quotation or contract lets whoever approves it match the invoice to an authorisation without contacting you. Sending promptly matters too, since most organisations pay on a fixed cycle and an invoice that misses the cut-off waits a full period.

Keep every invoice you issue, in sequence, including any you cancel — the record has to be continuous. Most jurisdictions require retention for somewhere between five and seven years, and PDF is the right format for it: fixed, universally readable, and unchanged by whatever software you move to later. If you need to correct an invoice already sent, the accepted practice is to issue a credit note and a corrected invoice with a new number, rather than editing and resending the original.

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