Invoice generator
Kept in this browser · nothing is uploaded
An invoice needs a unique number, the issue date, who is billing whom, an itemised list with quantities and prices, the tax applied and the total due. This generator builds that as a PDF in your browser. It saves your details locally so the next invoice starts from the last one.
How to make an invoice
What an invoice must legally contain varies by country, and the gap between jurisdictions is wide. The European Commission lists the particulars a full VAT invoice needs: a date of issue, a unique sequential number identifying it, both parties' names and addresses, the supplier's VAT number and the customer's where the customer is liable for the tax, a description and quantity of what was supplied, the unit price, the VAT rate and amount, and the date of the transaction. A simplified invoice, allowed for small amounts, needs much less. In the US there is no federal requirement at all beyond what the client asks for and what your own books need. The address blocks here take several lines for exactly this reason: whatever your jurisdiction expects, you can type it in.
The page is A4, which matters before you send one to an American client. It prints and reads perfectly well on US Letter, since Letter is wider and shorter and the margins here are generous, but the paper size in the file is A4.
The fonts are the standard document fonts built into every PDF reader, which is what keeps the file a few kilobytes and guarantees it opens anywhere with nothing installed. The cost is the character set. Western European letters are all fine, including accents and the Nordic ones: Zoë Müller, Ægir Ørsted and Señor García all print exactly as typed. Letters outside that set do not exist in the font. Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and any CJK script come out as question marks. Polish ł and Turkish dotless ı do too. A few lose only their accent and stay readable, so Czech Řehoř prints as Rehor. If you invoice a client whose name is not writable in Western European letters, write it in Latin script rather than sending an invoice full of question marks. The same limit applies to currency symbols in the terms box: the euro, pound, yen and dollar signs print, and the rupee, shekel, won and lira signs do not.
Two things about the arithmetic. There is one tax rate for the whole invoice, applied to the subtotal, so an invoice mixing two VAT rates has to be split into two invoices or written by hand elsewhere. And every figure is rounded to two decimals only when it is displayed, while the totals are computed from the unrounded values. On ordinary prices that never shows. On a unit price with more than two decimals, three items at 33.333 for instance, the printed line amounts can add up to a penny more or less than the printed subtotal. Round your unit prices to two decimals and the invoice always agrees with itself.
Your details are saved in this browser when you press Save draft, so the next invoice starts from the last one. Nothing goes to a server, which also means nothing is backed up: clearing site data or switching device loses it.
What people use it for
- Billing a first client before there is any accounting software
- Sending one invoice a year without paying for it monthly
- Issuing a corrected invoice after a mistake on the last one
- Invoicing in a currency the usual system will not offer
- Producing a reverse-charge invoice with the wording in the terms box
- Drafting an invoice for a client whose details must not leave your machine
Questions
In the EU: a date of issue, a unique sequential number, both parties' names and addresses, the supplier's VAT number, a description and quantity, the unit price, and the VAT rate and amount. In the US there is no federal requirement at all.
Sequential, with no gaps. The EU rules call for a unique sequential number that identifies the invoice, and INV-001 onwards satisfies that.
Better not to. Issue a credit note against the original instead, so the sequence stays unbroken and the correction is documented.
In this browser, in local storage on this device. It is not sent anywhere and nobody else can read it. Clearing your site data removes it permanently.
No. It is tied to this browser on this machine. Keep the finished PDFs if you need a record.
A4. It reads and prints fine on US Letter, which is wider and shorter, but the size recorded in the file is A4.
No. The PDF carries no images at all, which is what keeps it a few kilobytes rather than a few megabytes and what makes it open in every reader.
The standard PDF fonts cover Western European letters only. Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew and CJK have no glyphs, and neither do Polish ł or Turkish ı. Write the name in Latin script.
The Western European set: á é í ó ú, ä ö ü, à è ì ò ù, ñ ç, å ø æ and their capitals all print. Czech and Turkish letters lose their marks but stay legible, so Řehoř prints as Rehor.
No. One rate applies to the whole subtotal. An invoice mixing rates has to be split into two, or written somewhere with per-line tax.
Set the tax rate to zero and put the wording your accountant gives you into the terms box, which prints at the foot of the invoice.
In the EU, yes where the customer is liable for the tax, which covers cross-border business supplies and reverse charge. It is good practice to include it either way.
Because each figure is rounded for display while the totals use the full values. It only appears with unit prices carrying more than two decimals. Round those and it goes away.
Yen is in the list, but the amounts print with two decimal places, which the yen does not use. Anything with no minor unit needs the figures checked before sending.
US, Canadian and Australian dollars, euro, pound, Swiss franc, Swedish krona and yen. The symbol appears next to every amount, so the currency is never ambiguous.
Not from the dropdown. Pick the closest and name the real currency in the terms box, which prints at the foot of the invoice.
Make an invoice with negative quantities or negative prices, give it its own number in the sequence, and say in the terms box which invoice it corrects.
Whatever you have agreed, stated as a number of days from the invoice date. The terms box is also the right place for bank details and a payment reference.
Yes. It uses the built-in document fonts and no external resources, so it needs nothing installed and opens in every reader, browser and phone.
Yes. It is real text rather than a picture of text, so a reader can select it, search it and copy the amounts out.
Long enough to decide now where they will live. Retention periods differ by country and run to several years everywhere, so check your own rule and keep the PDFs somewhere backed up rather than only in this browser.
No. The PDF is built in this page and your details stay in this browser. Nothing about the invoice or the client leaves your device.