Free Veterinary Invoice Template

The veterinary visit invoice bills a pet owner for one visit. After your practice details and the invoice number, date, payment terms and due date, it has a Bill to (owner) block, because the owner, or whoever agreed to pay, is your client, not the pet. A Pet block follows, with the pet's name, species and breed, patient number, visit date and veterinarian, so the bill matches your records.

The charges sit in two sections, each with its own subtotal: Examination and services (the sample has a wellness examination, a vaccination, a heartworm test and a nail trim) and Medications and products dispensed (flea and tick preventive, six doses of heartworm preventive and a bag of dental chews), each line priced as quantity × rate. Then come the subtotal, "Sales tax on products, if applicable" and the amount due, a How to pay block, a reminders line for the next visit due, and a footnote saying the invoice lists charges only and medical records are kept separately.

It comes as three files:

• PDF: a blank form to print and fill in by hand.
• Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx): the same layout filled with sample values. Overwrite them with your own. In the Excel file, line amounts, both section subtotals, the subtotal, the tax and the amount due are formulas, and the tax rate sits in a cell you can change. The tax is worked out on the products subtotal only, and the sample rate is 0%.

The sample prices only show how the form works. They are not typical fees. Use your own fee schedule.

Veterinary services and the products you hand to an owner can be taxed differently, and the rules are set by each state. Two examples:

• California. CDTFA's guide for veterinarians, Publication 36, says charges for your services are not subject to sales tax, and that you are generally the consumer (not the retailer) of drugs and medicines you furnish with related professional services, but you make a retail sale when you furnish them without those services. For other products, such as flea products, shampoo, vitamins and pet food (including prescription diets), the guide says a separately listed charge on a bill with professional services makes you the retailer and tax is due, while a lump-sum charge makes you the consumer.
• Washington. The Department of Revenue's veterinarian guide uses the example of pet vitamins bought at an annual checkup: the invoice must clearly identify the charge for veterinary services, the charge for the vitamins and the sales tax on the vitamins. It also says sales tax must be listed separately on invoices for taxable sales; stating that tax is included is not enough.

Other states have their own rules, and both guides above describe separate exemptions for drugs used on food or farm animals. Check with your state revenue department or a tax advisor before you set a rate.

On the template, the tax line applies one rate to the whole products subtotal. If no tax applies, leave the rate at 0%, as in the sample. In the Excel file, don't delete the tax row, because the amount due formula refers to it; in the Word file you can delete it. If only some of the products are taxable where you practice, work out the tax on the taxable lines and type that amount over the tax formula instead.

Some practices collect payment before the pet goes home; others bill on terms, for example for established account clients or farm and equine work. The sample uses "Account client, 14 days". Either way:

• Print a due date. "Due on receipt" or a date. Don't leave it blank.
• Fill in how to pay. Replace the placeholders with your own account name and bank details, or delete the ones you don't use, and keep the payment reference so you can match the payment to the invoice.
• Say what happens if payment is late. If you charge late fees or interest, agree them with the owner in advance, show them on the invoice, and check your state's rules on late charges first. The late fee calculator helps you work out an amount.
• Payment plans. If you agree to installments, write the schedule (amounts and dates) on the invoice and keep track of each payment received against the balance.

• Mobile or house-call vets bill the owner the same way. Add a house-call or travel fee as its own line under examination and services.
• Relief vets who are paid by the practice they cover bill that practice, not the pet owner. That invoice lists the dates or shifts worked and your day or hourly rate, with any agreed travel costs. A services rendered invoice suits that better than a visit invoice.