The receipt is printed from the same form as the invoice, titled RECEIPT. It shows your business name and email, the receipt number and date, the payer's name, the line items and a total in US dollars. The payer goes in the box labelled "Bill to", which prints as "Bill to:" even though on a receipt it means "received from".

Before you hand it over, check three things the form can't do for you:

• Number. It starts as INV-001. Use a separate receipt series, such as R-0107, so a receipt can't be confused with a bill.
• Payment method. There is no field for cash, card, cheque or transfer. Add it to the description, for example "Tutoring, October, paid in cash".
• Signature. There is no signature line. For cash payments, print the receipt and sign it by hand.

A receipt confirms money that has actually changed hands, so the total must equal the amount received, not the full bill. Put the context in the description and the amount paid in the rate.

A client pays $400 toward a $1,200 invoice. Enter one line, "Part payment toward invoice INV-2026-031 (invoice total $1,200.00)", quantity 1, rate 400. The receipt totals $400.00, and the remaining $800.00 stays on the invoice.

For repeat services, one receipt per payment period is easiest to track. Eight tutoring sessions at $45 in October give one line, quantity 8, rate 45, and a total of $360.00.

Leave the tax rate at 0 when the receipt is for an invoice that already charged tax. Enter the amount paid including tax. Otherwise the tool adds tax a second time and the receipt shows more than you received.

A receipt with the details the short form leaves out. Replace everything in [BRACKETS].

• Issuing it before the money clears. For a cheque or bank transfer, wait until the funds arrive, or write "subject to clearance" on it.
• Editing a receipt already given. Issue a new one with a new number, mark the old number as void, and keep both.
• No link to the bill. Without the invoice number, nobody can tell later which charge the payment settled.
• Rounding the amount to look tidy. The receipt should match the cash counted or the bank entry to the cent.