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How to invoice as a sole trader

A sole trader invoice is the document that turns finished work into a request for payment, and it is yours to raise rather than any employer's. Nine things belong on it and the rest is presentation. Here is what they are, how to number and date them, and the terms that get the thing paid.

8 min read
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An illustration of an invoice on a sheet of paper, a calendar page, a rubber stamp and a pen, with a koi swimming among them.
01The nine parts

What goes on a sole trader invoice?

Nine things. Your name and address, the client and theirs, a unique invoice number, the date you issued it, the date it is due, a line for each piece of work with its quantity and rate, the subtotal, the tax if you charge it, and how to pay you.

That is the whole document. Everything past those nine is presentation: a logo, a template, an accent colour. Presentation changes how the invoice reads, and how seriously it is taken, but it does not change whether the thing is an invoice. A document missing the number or the due date is a letter about money.

ON EVERY INVOICE
Your name and address
Whoever is being paid
The client, and their address
Whoever is paying
A unique invoice number
Never reused
The date you issued it
When the clock starts
The date it is due
A date, not a mood
A line for each piece of work
Quantity, unit and rate
The subtotal
Before tax
Tax, if you charge it
Named the way your country names it
How to pay you
Bank details, or how else

In that order down the page, because that is the order the person paying reads it in.

GOV.UK's own list of what an invoice must include spells out two more: the total amount owed, which every Invoice Koi template prints beneath the tax, and the date the work was done, which goes on the line or in the notes when it is not the day you invoice. As a sole trader it also wants your own name beside any business name you trade under.

Two of the nine are worth more attention than the other seven, and one of them is not really a field at all. They are the next section.

02A number and two dates

A number, a date, and a date

These three decide whether the invoice gets paid, and all three are decided before you write a single line of work.

Start at 0001, or start at 247

Nobody checks, and a first invoice numbered 0001 tells a client exactly how new you are. Pick a number, go up by one, and keep going up for the rest of your working life. The only real rule is that no two documents ever carry the same one, including the invoice you raised and cancelled last March. Invoice Koi holds the next number and fills it in, which is the point at which this stops being something to remember.

Send it before you leave the drive

The gap between finishing the work and invoicing for it is the gap in which the price gets remembered differently. An invoice written on site goes out while the job is still the thing that just happened. An invoice sent a fortnight later arrives into a fortnight of other paperwork, and the person who agreed the price has had two weeks to forget what it was.

An invoice sent a fortnight later competes with a fortnight of other paperwork.

"Net 30" is not a date

It is a date to a bookkeeper and a puzzle to everybody else. Put the terms and the day itself on the document, so that the answer to "when is this due" is printed rather than worked out. Koi counts the days from the day you send it and prints the result. What each of the usual terms means, and which to choose, is in the payment terms guide.

03Three ways to make one

A file, a browser, or the phone

The first two are free, none of the three asks for an account, and the app is free to set up and draft in, with a subscription to send. Which one you want depends on whether this is a one off or the thing you will be doing every week for the next ten years.

PICK ONE
The app, on your phone
Subscription to send

Only the app collects payment, through a Koi payment link. A payment made through a Koi payment link marks the invoice paid on its own. Cash, bank transfers and anything paid elsewhere, you record yourself. The balance and the reports follow from both.

A template is a file you fill in and keep filling in, which is fine for the first one and tiring by the tenth. The generator is the same document without the file: fill in the fields in this browser, get the PDF, close the tab. The app is the one that remembers, which matters once there is a second invoice to the same client and a number that has to follow the last one.

Or a fourth: the duplicate invoice book, still the quickest way to hand somebody an invoice on a doorstep. What it does well, and what a phone has to match before it is worth swapping, is in the invoice book guide.

Quoting the job first

A quote is a price before the work and it asks for nothing. When it is accepted it converts to the invoice, carrying the lines, the client, the tax and your terms across, so the thing you bill is the thing they said yes to. That is its own post, because getting it wrong is how you end up billing for something nobody agreed to.

The other half of the books

Invoices are the money coming in. The receipts for what you spent to earn it are the other half, and they are what HMRC asks to see if it checks your return. What counts as an allowable expense, and how to keep the proof, is in the self-employed expenses guide.

Invoicing a contractor

Construction work for a contractor adds two rules to the nine parts. The contractor may take a deduction from your labour under the Construction Industry Scheme, which is in the CIS invoice guide, and if you are both VAT registered the reverse charge changes how the VAT is shown.

When VAT starts

Below the VAT threshold your invoices carry no VAT at all. The threshold is measured over the last twelve months rather than the tax year, so a good summer can take you over it, and the VAT threshold guide shows how to read your own figure.

04Questions

Asked before the first one

What should a sole trader invoice include?

Nine things, and GOV.UK spells out two more. The nine: your name and address, the client and theirs, a unique invoice number, the date you issued it, the date it is due, a line for each piece of work with its quantity and rate, the subtotal, the tax if you charge it, and how to pay you. GOV.UK's list also asks for the total amount owed and the date the work was done, and a sole trader's own name beside any business name they trade under.

Do invoice numbers have to be sequential?

They have to be unique, and sequential is the simplest way to keep them unique. Start anywhere you like, go up by one, and never reuse a number even for an invoice you cancelled. Invoice Koi holds the next number and fills it in.

How soon should I send an invoice after finishing the job?

The day the work finishes, before you leave if you can. An invoice sent a fortnight later competes with a fortnight of other paperwork, and the person who agreed the price has had time to forget it.

What is the difference between an invoice and an estimate?

An estimate is a price before the work and asks for nothing. An invoice is a demand for payment after it, with a due date on it. In Invoice Koi an accepted estimate converts to the invoice, carrying the lines, the client, the tax and your terms across, so the thing you bill is the thing they agreed to.

Can I invoice as a sole trader, without a limited company?

Yes. An invoice is a document, not a company filing. It needs a name, an address and a way to pay you, and none of those require a company behind them.

What do I do about an invoice nobody has paid?

Ask, in writing, with the invoice attached. Invoice Koi will not chase anybody for you: what it does is tell you, once a day at an hour you pick, what is overdue and what it comes to. Nothing goes to a client unless you send it.

Does a sole trader invoice need tax on it?

Only if you charge it, and what it is called depends on where you invoice from. Invoice Koi asks which country you work in and prefills the name and the standard rate, which you confirm rather than type from memory. Whether you should be charging it at all is a question for whoever does your books.

While you are here

Make the first one now.

The generator runs in this browser, asks for no account, and gives you the PDF at the end of it. If it turns out you need a second one, the app remembers the client and the number.

Make an invoice free

On Google Play now. Coming soon to iPhone. Have the app? Open it

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