Knowing how to write an invoice properly is one of the simplest ways to get paid faster. A clear, professional invoice answers every question a client's accounts team might ask before they release payment. Here's how to make an invoice for clients, step by step.

Step 1: Add your business details and logo

Start with your business name (or your own name if you're self-employed), address, email and phone number. Adding your company logo lets you create a branded invoice with company logo that looks established and is easy for clients to recognise in their inbox.

Step 2: Add your client's details

Include the client's name or company name, their billing address and the contact person. If they gave you a purchase order or project reference, add it here — many larger companies won't process an invoice without one.

Step 3: Give the invoice a number and dates

Every invoice needs a unique invoice number. A simple sequential format such as INV-1001, INV-1002 works well. Our guide on how to generate an invoice number covers the best systems. Add the invoice date (the day you issue it) and a due date so there's no doubt about when payment is expected.

Step 4: List your products or services

Write one line per item with a short description, quantity, rate and amount. Be specific: “Homepage design — 2 revision rounds” is clearer than “Design work”. For hourly work, use the hours as the quantity and your hourly rate as the price.

Step 5: Calculate the subtotal, discount, tax and total

Add the line amounts to get the subtotal. Apply any discount, then calculate tax — VAT, GST or sales tax — on the discounted amount, and add it to reach the total due. See how to calculate invoice totals for a worked example, and how to calculate tax on an invoice for tax specifics.

Step 6: Add payment terms and instructions

Tell the client how to pay (bank transfer details, payment link or other method) and your terms, such as “Payment due within 14 days.” Our guide to payment terms clients actually follow has wording you can copy.

Step 7: Review, save as PDF and send

Check names, numbers and totals once more, then save the invoice as a PDF so the layout can't be changed and it opens on any device. Send it with a short, polite email — here's how to send an invoice to a client.

Example invoice layout

  • Header: logo, “INVOICE”, invoice #1001, date 10 Oct, due 24 Oct
  • From / Bill to: your details and your client's details
  • Items: description, qty, rate, amount
  • Totals: subtotal, discount, tax, total due
  • Footer: payment instructions and a thank-you note

The faster way to write an invoice

You can create an invoice without Microsoft Word, Excel or accounting software. KJ Invoice's free online invoice generator walks you through each of these steps, calculates the totals automatically and lets you download a professional invoice instantly as a PDF.