How to Invoice

Anyone who receives income will ordinarily need to do this by raising an invoice for their customer to pay. 

Many of you will have your own accounting systems that can do this for you, but if you do not, you can use this guide. 

Invoicing Guide 

1. Download and open the invoice template in the attachment section at the bottom of this article. 

• If you are GST registered – use the GST invoice template. 
• If you are not-GST registered – use the no GST invoice template. 
• Tip – if your annual turnover is less than $60,000 you are not obligated to be registered for GST. 

2. Enter your name at the top of the template. 

3. Add invoice date 

• Usually that is today’s date. 

4. Enter an invoice number. 

• Each time you create an invoice you need to give it a unique invoice number. 
• This is to help you, and the people you invoice to track down specific invoices. 
• An invoice number can be any string of numbers and letters. A good system to adopt is: INV00001, INV00002, INV00003 etc. 

5. If the customer has given you an Reference or Purchase order, add it under the Reference/P.O. #. 

6. If you are GST Registered and using the GST template, enter your GST number. 

7. Enter your address details on the right hand side. 

8. On the left hand side, enter the customer’s name and address. 

• For example, our details are: 
  University of Canterbury Students’ Association 
  Level 2, Haere-roa 
  90 Ilam Road 
  Christchurch, 8041 

9. Enter the items you are charging for. 

• Under description please enter a detailed record of the work done or a breakdown of the items used on the job, you can provide a summary on the invoice and add the details in an attachment if needed. 
• Enter the quantity, unit price, and GST if registered. 
• The total will be automatically calculated. 

10. Check the totals, and double-check your maths. 

11. Enter the due date. 

• Ordinary this should not be less than 7 days after the date the invoice was issued, although many companies expect 30 days or the 20th of month following. 

12. Under additional notes put your bank details. 

• Put your bank account name and number here. 

13. Once sent, file a copy for your tax records. 

Invoice Templates 

There are two invoice templates in the attachments section below. Please note you will need a PDF reader. We recommend Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.