A receipt does one job: it proves money changed hands. Knowing how to write a receipt properly matters because your customer may need it for an expense claim, a tax return, or a warranty claim years later.
Issue it when the money clears
Not when it is promised, and not when the transfer is initiated. A receipt issued against a payment that later bounces is a document you have to withdraw, which is worse than being a day late.
For cash, issue it there and then. For bank transfers, wait for the credit.
What has to be on it
- Your business name, address and contact details.
- The customer’s name.
- The date the payment was received, which may differ from the invoice date.
- What the payment was for, and the invoice number it settles.
- The amount received.
- How it was paid: cash, transfer, card, mobile money.
- Your tax registration number, where your jurisdiction requires it.
The payment method matters more than people expect. It is the field that lets both sides trace the transaction if a query comes up months later.
Linking it to the invoice
Always reference the invoice the payment settles. Without it, neither your records nor the customer’s can match the two, and an accounts team will have to ask.
Put the invoice number in the Details box:
Date 20 August 2026
Payment method Bank transfer
Invoice number INV-2026-0042
Reference ACME-0820Four fields, and the payment is traceable from either end.
Part payments
Common, and easy to get wrong. Record what was actually received, not what is owed.
Received from Acme Trading Co
For Invoice INV-2026-0042, part payment
Amount received 150,000
Balance outstanding on INV-2026-0042 158,400Showing the remaining balance is not required, but it prevents the customer assuming the account is settled. If you would rather keep the receipt to a single number, put the balance in the notes instead.
Cash
Cash needs more care than anything else, because there is no independent record.
- Write the receipt at the moment of payment, in front of the customer.
- Keep a copy. If you are working from a book, that is the carbon; if you are working from a sheet, save the file.
- Never issue a receipt for cash you have not counted.
Tax
If you are registered, the tax treatment follows the invoice, not the receipt. The receipt records payment against a document where the tax was already charged.
Many jurisdictions still want the registration number on the receipt, and some require specific wording. Check locally rather than assuming, since this is one of the areas that varies most.
A receipt is not an invoice
An invoice asks for money. A receipt confirms it arrived. Some businesses send one document doing both, which causes problems in the customer’s accounts because there is nothing to match against.
The distinction is set out in receipt or invoice.
Numbering
Give receipts their own sequence, separate from invoices. REC-0001 upward. Mixing them into the invoice sequence makes both harder to audit, and leaves gaps in the invoice numbering that look like missing documents.
See numbering your documents for the general rules.
Keeping the record
You will need your copy more often than the customer needs theirs, usually at year end. Save each receipt to your own disk with Save as file, since nothing is kept for you here.
Refunds and returns
A refund is not a receipt with a minus sign. It is its own event, and how you record it depends on what happened.
If you are returning money against an invoice, issue a credit note reducing what was owed, then record the refund itself. The credit note is what the customer’s accounts need; the refund record is what your bank statement will match against.
If it was a cash sale with no invoice, a receipt marked as a refund, referencing the original receipt number, is usually enough. Keep both.
Duplicates
Customers lose receipts. Reissuing one is fine, but mark it clearly:
Duplicate of receipt REC-0184, issued 20 August 2026.
An unmarked second copy of the same receipt can be presented twice, which is a problem for whoever is reimbursing them.
What customers use it for
Worth knowing, because it tells you what to include. Expense claims need the date, the amount, the payment method and your details. Warranty claims need the item description and the date. Tax records need your registration number where applicable.
Covering all three costs you nothing at the time and saves a request later.
Next
For a reusable layout, see a receipt template you can reuse. For the difference between the two documents, see receipt or invoice. Or open the receipt generator.