How to make an invoice that gets paid on time

For freelancers and small businesses, the invoice is the last step between doing the work and being paid. A clear, complete invoice gets processed quickly; a vague one sits in someone's inbox waiting for a question to be answered.

What an invoice should include

• The word “Invoice” and a unique invoice number.
• The invoice date and the payment due date.
• Your name or business name, address and contact details.
• The client's name and address, and a purchase order number if they gave you one.
• A line for each item or service, with quantity, price and line total.
• The subtotal, any discount, tax, and the total due.
• How to pay: bank details or a payment link.
• Your tax registration number, if you are registered.

Requirements differ between countries, especially around tax, so check what your tax authority expects an invoice to show.

Make an invoice step by step

1. Open the Invoice Generator and fill in your details and your client's.
2. Add a line for each item with its quantity and unit price.
3. Set the tax rate, any discount and the currency.
4. Add your logo if you have one.
5. Check the live preview, then download the PDF.

Totals are recalculated as you type in whole cents, so the figures always add up exactly. The PDF is a real document with selectable text rather than a picture of a page, which keeps it small and readable by clients' accounting systems. There is no account and no watermark, and nothing you type leaves your browser — which also means nothing is saved, so keep every PDF you download.

Numbering invoices

Use a simple sequence that never repeats, such as 2026-001, 2026-002. Many tax authorities expect invoice numbers to be unique and in order, and a clear sequence makes your own records and any questions much easier. Never reuse a number, even for a cancelled invoice; issue a credit note instead.

Payment terms that work

• State a date, not just a period. “Due 30 October 2026” is clearer than “30 days”.
• Make paying easy. Put full bank details or a payment link on the invoice itself.
• Agree terms before the work starts, so the invoice holds no surprises.
• Invoice promptly. An invoice sent the day the work is delivered is paid sooner than one sent a month later.

Tax and discounts

Show the amount before tax, the tax and the total separately. If you quoted a price including tax and need to work backwards, divide rather than subtract — the Tax Calculator does it correctly. Show a discount as its own line so the client can see the original price and the reduction.

Sending it

Name the file clearly — “Invoice 2026-014 Your Business.pdf” — and send it to the person or address that handles payments, not only to your contact. If a timesheet or receipt needs to go with it, combine them into one file with Merge PDF.

Keeping records

Keep a copy of every invoice you issue, in order, together with a note of when each was paid. Tax authorities usually require business records to be kept for several years. A simple spreadsheet with the invoice number, client, amount, date sent and date paid makes chasing late payments and doing your accounts straightforward.