How to Create an Invoice or Quote for Free

Sending an invoice does not need accounting software. It needs a document that says who is billing whom, for what, how much and by when.

A quote is the same document with a different promise. An invoice says money is owed. A quote says this is what it would cost if you go ahead.

What belongs on an invoice

Requirements differ by country, so treat this as the practical minimum rather than legal advice. Almost every invoice needs:

• Your details. Trading name, address and any company or tax registration number you are required to show.
• Your customer's details. The name and address the invoice is being issued to, not the person you happen to email.
• An invoice number. Unique, and in a sequence you do not reuse. This is what makes an invoice findable a year later.
• The issue date, and a due date. "Payable on receipt" is a date too, and it is worth writing out.
• Line items. What was supplied, how many, at what unit price.
• Totals. Subtotal, tax if it applies, and the amount actually payable.
• How to pay. Bank details, a payment reference, or wherever you want the money to arrive.

A quote carries the same information, with two changes: it is labelled as a quote rather than an invoice, and it says how long the price holds for.

How to create one

1. 1

   Choose invoice or quote

   The document is labelled accordingly and the date fields change to suit. Everything else is the same.

2. 2

   Fill in both sides

   Your business at the top, your customer opposite. These appear on the finished PDF exactly as you type them.

3. 3

   Add the line items

   One row per thing supplied, with a quantity and a unit price. Line totals and the running total update as you type.

4. 4

   Set the tax rate, then download

   Tax is applied to the subtotal and shown as its own line. The PDF downloads from your browser when you are happy with it.

Getting the money part right

Two things cause most invoice disputes, and both are avoidable.

The first is a vague description. "Consultancy" invites a question; "Two days of on-site training, 14 and 15 September" does not. Write the line item as if the person paying it was not the person who agreed it, because often they are not.

The second is rounding. Money should never be handled as a decimal that gets multiplied and rounded repeatedly, because the pennies drift. The Klyro generator keeps everything in whole units of currency internally and rounds once, at the end, which is why the line totals always add up to the total shown.

Common mistakes

• Reusing an invoice number, or starting the sequence again each year without a year prefix. Both make reconciliation painful.
• Leaving off a due date and then chasing a payment that was never actually late.
• Sending a quote that reads like an invoice. If it does not say how long the price is held, it will be treated as open-ended.
• Charging tax you are not registered to charge, or omitting it when you are. This one is worth checking properly for your own country.
• Emailing a document that can be edited. A PDF is the point: it fixes what was agreed.