how to make a simple invoice

Da gubmint requires that, sometimes, we must play by their rules.  And sometimes, some people choose to make those rules more complicated than they need to be.  So this is a bit of a "how to" to make the simplest possible invoice.


It has to have the word "INVOICE" at the top, and it has to be all caps.  

It needs to have an invoice date.  It literally says "invoice date:" followed by the date that the invoice was created.

It needs to have a unique invoice number.   It literally says "invoice number:" followed by a number.   I usually use the date in a format like this "20150606".  If I ever send two invoices on the same day, the second one will be "20150606B".

It needs a spot that says "terms:" followed by all sorts of things.  I usually put "terms: net 7" - this is relatively standard for an invoice.  It means "don't take any discounts and pay within 7 days."   You might be tempted to fuck with this, but don't fuck with this unless you REALLY know what you are doing.  You might even think about leaving this out - it MUST be there.  It is a critical part of an invoice.  

Near the top is "Bill to:" followed by whoever is gonna part with coin.

Near the bottom of the document is "TOTAL DUE:" and a dollar figure. Usually to the right.

At the bottom to the left is "remit to:" which is info about who is getting the coin and how they are getting it.


So here is a sample invoice.  Yes, there are hundreds of things that can be done differently for all sorts of reasons, but you probably don't want to get into that.





INVOICE

Bill to: Justin Case


INVOICE DATE: March 18, 2015

INVOICE NUMBER:  20150318

terms:  net 7 days
----------------------------------------------------

10 million doomaflotchies                  $900.00



----------------------------------------------------

                                  TOTAL DUE:   $900.00

Remit to:  paypal adam.baum@gmail.com




You can just copy and paste this into the body of an email and edit it as needed.   I keep a file handy with my particulars and copy and paste it onto an email and then edit the email.  I've done this a few hundred times.  

I cannot think of how to make this invoice any simpler.  This is the bare bones.  And it gets the job done spectacularly.

Recently a freelance web developer I did some work for pointed me toward the "invoice ninja" webapp for billing them for services.

https://app.invoiceninja.com

I'm not claiming it is "The Best" option out there, but it worked well and seemed to do everything that it claimed.
(Including "direct deposit"-ish payments via zelle to avoid payment processing fees!)

Just tossing that out there as an option.

I recently received an invoice from a company.  It looked very official and pretty, but it was missing two critical pieces.  So rather than pay it, i had to write to them and say "so, how do I actually get money to you?  Also, I know most invoices have terms of net 30, but yours doesn't say it anywhere, so I guess the net 30 is sorta implied?"  

In other words, they focused on making the invoice "look official" rather than focus on what are the industry standards and why.  And now they are pissy because their monies are delayed with super obvious/dumb stuff.