Free Invoice Formats for Indian Professions and Small Businesses

How to choose the right template

Pick the trade that is closest to yours and treat the template as a starting point. If you provide both services and products, as a salon does, copy the product lines from the same template into your invoice. If you bill in stages, as an interior designer does, keep the milestone lines and rename them to match your project. If your work is a mix of trades, use whichever template covers the largest part of your revenue and add lines from another.

What every good invoice has in common

Whatever your trade, a good invoice has your name and contact details, the customer's details, a unique number, the date, a due date, clear line items with quantities and rates, the total, any advance received, the balance, your payment details and your terms. Our guides explain how to number invoices, how to word an advance request, how to remind a client politely and how to tell invoices, bills and receipts apart. Read those alongside the template for your trade.

A note on tax

These templates are meant for businesses that do not charge GST, or that have been advised by their accountant on how to present tax on their invoices. An unregistered business cannot charge GST, and a registered one must follow the tax invoice rules. Invoro does not currently generate GST tax invoices. If you are registered, speak to your chartered accountant before using a template with a tax line.

Getting the most from a template

Start by downloading the file in the format you find easiest. The Excel version adds up your lines for you, which is helpful if you create invoices on a computer. The Word version suits people who want to change the layout freely, and the PDF is best for printing a blank copy for a bill book or checking the design before you start. Whichever you choose, replace the sample rates with your own, put your contact details and payment details in the header and footer, and save a clean copy of the file as your own master invoice.

Then decide how you will number your invoices, using our numbering guide, and stick to it. Keep every invoice you send in one folder, in order. If you find that you are creating the same invoice again and again, an online tool that stores your clients and line items can save a great deal of time, and each template page has a button that opens one with the trade's line items ready.

Why the details differ by trade

The differences between these templates are not cosmetic. A salon sells packages, so its template tracks balances. A caterer must reconcile the number of plates, so its template has an extra-plates line. An interior designer bills in stages, so its template carries milestone and variation lines. Writing these details on the invoice settles most of the disagreements that are normal in that trade, before they happen. Read the notes on the page for your trade; they explain why each line is there.