Billing
Invoice Template

Billing Invoice Template

As a small business owner or freelancer, your livelihood depends on sending clients billing invoices to get paid. A billing invoice explains pricing to clients and allows you to get paid on time.

However, a poorly made invoice can have clients misunderstand payment terms, which can delay your income. Therefore, it’s crucial you send a professionally-made invoice to avoid such problems.

So, let’s take a look at how you, as a business or freelancer, can create and send a high-quality billing invoice to your client.

What Is a Billing Invoice?

A billing invoice is a payment request for goods or services provided to a client. It contains a list of everything you’ve provided to the client, along with the breakdown and price.

Usually, you’d send your client a billing invoice well before the payment due date (usually 30, 60, or 90 days in advance).

How Do You Create a Billing Invoice Template?

There are three ways you can create a billing invoice template:

• With an Invoice Generator (the most convenient way)
• With a Pre-Made Billing Invoice Template
• Create Your Own Billing Invoice Template

Let’s delve into each method, ranked from the easiest to “I love back-breaking labor.”

Invoice Generator

An invoice generator, by far, is the most convenient way you can create and send billing invoices to your client.

What’s an invoice generator, you ask?

It’s a cloud-based tool that creates a complete and professional invoice for all your billing needs. What’s more, it’s super easy to use: all you need to do is fill out basic information and numbers, and voila—your billing invoice is ready to go!

You might have your own billing invoice template, and that’s fine. But what makes an invoice generator better than creating your own template?

• Invoice generators make it easy to create and send invoices to your client.
• Invoice generators help you organize all your templates and already-sent invoices into one dashboard (so you no longer have to look for a folder within a folder within a folder only to find the wrong invoice).
• Invoice generates does your math for you, whereas templates have you perform calculations.
• Invoice generators make it extremely easy for you to send clients their billing invoices and payment reminders. Some even send automatic reminders.
• Invoice generators give clients multiple payment options. With templates, you're limited to only a few.

Invoice generators also allow you to customize your invoices — though only to a certain degree. You can play around with different colors and add a logo to represent your brand.

Here’s how you create a billing invoice using a generator.

Step-By-Step Process to Create a Billing Invoice With a Generator

1. Go to https://app.invoicer.ai
2. Go to New Invoice.
3. The invoice is called INVOICE in the top left. You can edit this to whatever you like. For example, you can call it a RECEIPT or BILL OF SALE. 
4. Enter your name or company name, address, and phone number in the top right.
5. Enter your client’s name, address, and phone number. 
6. The date issued is automatically populated with the date you created the invoice. You can adjust as needed.
7. The due date is automatically populated 30 days (net 30) from the issue date. You can adjust as needed.
8. The invoice number is automatically populated. Adjust as needed. Note: you cannot use the same invoice number twice.
9. Enter a reference value if needed (optional).
10. Enter the service/product provided in the Item field. 
11. Under Item Description, enter your service/product details. 
12. Enter the rate (amount of the item). You will notice the Amount Due automatically updates for you.
13. A default quantity (Qty) of 1 is used. Adjust as needed.
14. Add a discount if needed as a percent or dollar amount. Note: You can add as many discounts as you want here and name them whatever you like. 
15. Add tax. Note: You can add multiple taxes and name them whatever you want. We recommend adding your business tax number here if you have one—for example, GST (#12345678).
16. Add a deposit if needed as a percent or dollar amount. Note: You can add as many deposits as you want here and name them whatever you like. This is handy if you have a large job and need the client to send deposits as the work progresses.
17. Add a payment if you have received any. You can add multiple payments and their dates here.
18. Add notes.
19. Add terms.
20. Click Send 

To download a PDF and send invoices, you’ll need to create a free account. Accounts also let you access your dashboard from any device.

Click on PDF to get a preview of the final document. If everything looks good, you can forward the invoice through the dashboard by clicking Send or emailing them the PDF version.

Pros of Using an Invoice Generator

• Fastest and easiest way to create and send a billing invoice.
• Easier to organize clients and their profiles.
• Automatic calculations.
• Used by professionals across all industries.
• Automatic payment reminders help you avoid the hassle of manually sending clients payment reminders.

Some invoice generators come with bonus features. Invoicer.ai, for instance, comes with an estimate generator. This feature allows you to send your client a quote for goods and services they’ve requested.

Cons of Using an Invoice Generator

• Not as customizable as billing invoice templates.
• Not free.

Pre-Made Billing Invoice Template

The next best option after invoice generators is a pre-made billing invoice template.

To access and use these ready-made billing invoice templates, you’ll require a word processor or spreadsheet.

A pre-made billing invoice template does a good chunk of the leg work for you. The section titles are filled out, and the calculations are set in the right places. The only “burden” you’ll have to carry is punching in the numbers and organizing your templates.

With a ready-made billing invoice template, you’ll need to fill in the following information:

1. Your name or company name, address, and phone number.
2. Your client’s name or company name, address, and phone number.
3. An invoice number so you can easily refer to the invoice.
4. Date created. 
5. Due date to let the client know when they need to pay the invoice.
6. A reference number (if applicable).
7. The name of the service/product provided.
8. A description of the provided.
9. The cost and quantities of the service/product provided.
10. The quantity of each item.
11. The item cost times the quantity.
12. The total amount of all items
13. Any taxes (if applicable).
14. Any discounts (if applicable).
15. Any deposits (if applicable).
16. Any payments (if applicable).
17. The amount due.
18. In terms, enter how to pay, how late payments are handled, and anything else of an official nature.
19. In the notes section, you can say things like, “We appreciate your business with us.”

Pros of Using a Pre-Made Billing Invoice Template

• Usually free of cost.
• More customizable than an invoice generator.
• Much easier than creating a billing invoice template from scratch.

Cons of Using a Pre-Made Billing Invoice Template

• Not the most professional way of sending clients a billing invoice.
• Challenging to organize templates and invoices sent.
• No option to send automated reminders.

Your Own Billing Invoice Template

A custom-made billing invoice template is the best option for those of you who want complete control over your invoice.

You can create one using MS Word, Google Docs, MS Excel, or Google Sheets.

Or, if you just want to skip the formality and bill clients right away, you can send them a billing invoice over an email or text message. However, these methods aren’t professional, so avoid them as much as you can.

What Goes Into Your Billing Invoice Template?

Most billing invoice templates include the following information:

1. Sender's information: your name or company name, address, and phone number.
2. Client’s information: your client's name or company name, address, and phone number.
3. Invoice number: An invoice number so you can easily refer to the invoice.
4. Date sent: the date you sent the invoice.
5. Due date: a due date to let the client know when they need to pay the invoice.
6. Reference number: a reference number if applicable.
7. Item name: the name of the service provided
8. Item description: a description of the service provided.
9. Item cost: the cost and quantities of the service/product provided.
10. Quantity: the number of each product/service.
11. Line total: the item cost multiplied by the quantity.
12. Subtotal: the total amount of all items.
13. Tax: any taxes (if applicable).
14. Discounts: Any discounts (if applicable).
15. Total: the subtotal, minus discounts, plus taxes.
16. Deposits: any deposits (if applicable).
17. Payments: any payments (if applicable).
18. Amount due: Total, minus deposits, minus payments.
19. Terms: for official language like how to pay, how late payments are handled, and anything else of an official nature.
20. Notes. You can say things like, “Thank you for doing business with us.”

Pros of Using Your Own Billing Invoice Template

• Highly customizable to your personal preferences.
• Free of cost.

Cons of Using Your Own Billing Invoice Template

• Prone to calculation errors since they’re done manually.
• Time-consuming.
• Not always a professional look.
• Harder to organize billing invoices.

What Are the Most Commonly Used Billing Invoices?

There are six commonly used billing invoices.

Proforma Invoice

Most clients want to know the final cost of goods or services you offer. In such cases, you’d send them a proforma invoice.

Don’t confuse these for payment requests. Proforma invoices simply give clients an estimate of the total amount so they can decide whether they’d like to choose your services.

With Invoicer.ai, you can send your clients a quote before they give you a go-head for any service. You can create and send a quote with Invoicer.ai’s Estimate Generator.

Interim Invoice

What do you do when you have a large, complicated project divided into multiple stages? Do you send your client one big, fat invoice? Well, you can make things easier by sending them an invoice for every milestone. That’s how an interim invoice works.

You can send them on a regular basis or when you hit big milestones.

Recurring Invoice

Recurring invoices are scheduled payment requests you send clients for providing them regular goods or services.

You might think they’re the same as interim invoices, but there’s one significant difference. While interim invoices are sent to break up payments for a project with a definite end, recurring invoices can be sent indefinitely.

Final Invoice

As the name indicates, a final invoice is the last invoice you send to a client for a given project. They include a summary of past payments, services, and any outstanding dues.

Collective Invoice

Some projects are more complicated than others, and you might find yourself doing them piecemeal over an extended period of time.

Sure, you can invoice your clients at regular intervals, or you could group everything into one collective invoice.

The benefit of a collective invoice is that there'll be fewer transaction fees between you and the client. It also makes bookkeeping easy, so you don't have to track multiple payments.

Credit Memo

A credit memo is an addendum to an invoice you’ve already sent to a client. You issue them to clients when you have to decrease the amount they owe on an existing invoice.

Credit memos are often used when a business fails to deliver goods and services promised on an invoice.

Why Use an Invoice Generated to Create a Billing Invoice?

Invoice generators are the most convenient way to create billing invoices. They’re easy to use, accurate with calculations, and look professional.

Let’s recap why creating a billing invoice with an invoice generator is the ideal option for most people:

• Quick and easy invoice generation.
• Online payment options make transactions easier.
• Easy to organize, manage, and send invoices.
• Error-free calculations.
• Automatic payment reminders are sent to clients.

With Invoicer.ai, you can also send clients a quote using their estimate generator. It gives clients an idea of what they’ll have to pay when they get their first invoice. It’ll also help them understand terms and conditions (like late-fee policies and advance payments).

Creating your own billing invoice template is time-consuming, complicated, prone to errors, and looks unprofessional.

You can avoid all these complications by using an invoice generator or pre-made invoice template. You’ll get paid quickly, avoid errors, and save yourself a lot of time.