How to Create a Professional Invoice (With Examples)

To create a professional invoice, work through it in order: your business details and the client's, a unique invoice number and the dates, a clear line for each charge, the totals, your payment terms and due date, how to pay, and any notes. Then check it and send it. A clean, consistent layout puts each of those details where the client's accounts team can find and check it.

Billed publishes this page. The Billed details below are quoted from Billed's own product pages, opened on October 30, 2026. This page walks through creating an invoice; for more detail on each part, follow the links to the guides on itemized invoices, invoice numbers and invoice compliance requirements.

Step 1: Add your details and the client's

• Your details: your business name (or your own name if you're a sole proprietor), address, email and phone, and any tax or registration number your location requires.
• The client's details: their business name and billing address as they appear in the client's own records, a billing contact, and their purchase order number if they gave you one.

Step 2: Number and date the invoice

Give the invoice a unique number that follows your own sequence, such as INV-1042. Add the invoice date and a due date as a calendar date. For numbering systems, see what is an invoice number and the invoice numbering guide.

Step 3: Describe each charge

Give each piece of work its own line with a description, quantity, unit price and line total. Name the deliverable so the client can match it to the agreement. Examples:

• Consulting services tells the client little; Brand strategy workshop, 2 sessions of 3 hours tells them what they're paying for.
• Design work is vague; Homepage design, 2 revision rounds included is specific.
• Expenses hides the detail; Stock photo license, passed on at cost, receipt attached doesn't.

For more on line items, see how to create itemized invoices. For hourly work, see the guide to hourly invoicing.

Step 4: Add the totals

Show the subtotal, any discount, any tax with its rate, and the total due. Whether sales tax applies depends on what you sell and where, so check your state's rules or ask your accountant. Put the total due near the bottom on its own line, so it stands out.

Step 5: Set the payment terms and due date

State the terms, such as "Net 30", and the calendar date they mean, so nobody has to count days. See invoice payment terms explained.

Step 6: Say how to pay

List the payment methods you accept and the details for each: a pay link or button, bank transfer details, or where to send a check. Ask the client to quote the invoice number with the payment.

Step 7: Add notes

Add a short thank-you, any project notes, and any late-fee terms that your agreement allows. Late-fee rules vary by place, so check local rules before adding one.

Step 8: Check it and send it

Before you send, check the client's name and address, the invoice number, every line total, the total due and the due date. Then send it as a PDF or a link. See how to send an invoice, and if payment is late, how to write invoice payment reminders.

Worked example: a website project invoice

The business, client and figures here are a sample, invented for this example.

Invoice INV-1042, dated April 1, 2026, terms Net 30, due May 1, 2026.

• Homepage design, 2 revision rounds: 1 × $3,000.00 = $3,000.00
• Interior page templates: 5 × $800.00 = $4,000.00
• Mobile testing: 4 hours × $150.00 = $600.00
• Subtotal: $3,000.00 + $4,000.00 + $600.00 = $7,600.00
• Tax: none in this sample; whether sales tax applies depends on your state.
• Total due: $7,600.00 by May 1, 2026.

April has 30 days, so 30 days after April 1 is May 1. The client can check each line against the agreement: one homepage, five templates and four hours of testing.

Ways to create it

• Invoicing software, which keeps your details, clients and numbering for each new invoice: see Billed's invoice software.
• An online invoice generator for a one-off invoice: see Billed's invoice generator.
• A template in Word, Excel or Google Docs, which you fill out: see Billed's invoice templates.

If you invoice clients in other countries or need a VAT invoice, see how to invoice international clients and what is a VAT invoice. An invoice asks for payment; for how it differs from a receipt, see invoice vs. receipt.

Where Billed fits

Billed's invoice software page says you can "Choose an invoice template, add your logo and business details, and save the products and services you sell so you can pull them into an invoice instead of retyping them." It also says "Save your tax rates and settings once, and Billed calculates taxes automatically when you create invoices and estimates," and "Set a due date on each invoice so your client knows when to pay." For payment, it says: "Connect your Stripe account and every invoice you send gets a pay button, so clients can pay by card."

Related Articles

• What Is an Invoice?
• Invoice Payment Terms Explained
• Invoice Numbering Best Practices
• How to Create Itemized Invoices
• How to Invoice for Freelance Work

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a professional invoice include?

Your details and the client's, a unique invoice number, the invoice date and due date, a line for each charge with its quantity and price, the subtotal, any discount and tax, the total due, the payment terms, how to pay, and any notes.

How do I write good line item descriptions?

Name the deliverable and the quantity, such as "Homepage design, 2 revision rounds included" rather than "Design work", so the client can match each line to the agreement.

Should I show the due date or only the payment terms?

Show both. In the sample on this page, the terms are Net 30 and the due date is May 1, 2026, so the client doesn't have to count the days.

Do I need to charge sales tax on my invoice?

It depends on what you sell and where. Check your state's rules or ask your accountant before adding a tax line.

How can I create invoices regularly with less work?

Use invoicing software or a template that keeps your details, clients and numbering, so each new invoice only needs the client, the lines and the dates.