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Payment receipt — how to write one, with a sample

A payment receipt is the paper that says "we received your money". It is what a customer keeps to prove they paid, and what you keep to prove how much is still owed. It takes a minute to write, and arguments about "I already paid" stop when both sides have one.

What a receipt must show

• Your business name, address and phone, and a receipt number in sequence.
• Date the money was received.
• Received from: the customer's name (and company, if any) with their phone.
• Amount in figures and in words, so a digit cannot be changed later.
• Means of payment: cash, bank transfer (bank and last digits), JazzCash, Easypaisa, cheque (number and bank).
• Against: the bill or invoice number it pays, or "advance for order no. …".
• Balance still due after this payment, if any.
• Signature or stamp of the person who received it.

A filled sample

Part payments

When a bill is paid in two or three parts, every payment gets its own receipt and each receipt shows the balance after it. For the Rs 45,000 invoice above: receipt 0417 for 20,000 leaves 25,000; a later receipt for 25,000 brings the balance to zero and can say "paid in full". Never write one receipt for a total the customer has not yet paid.

Advance receipts

Money taken before the goods or the work are delivered is an advance. The receipt says so ("advance against order no. 77, delivery 15 November") and the final bill shows the advance as already received. If the order is cancelled, the receipt is what the refund is worked out from.

Receipt and invoice are not the same

The invoice lists what was sold and what is owed; the receipt records money received. One invoice can have many receipts. If a customer pays in full on the spot you can stamp the invoice "Paid" with the date, but for anything paid later or in parts, give a receipt. Cash memo, bill, invoice or receipt explains the four.

Mistakes that cause trouble

• No receipt number, so two receipts cannot be told apart.
• Amount in figures only; a 1 becomes a 7.
• Not saying which bill it pays, so a customer with three bills can claim any of them.
• Leaving the balance off; the customer thinks the matter is closed.
• Giving the receipt before the transfer or the cheque has actually arrived.

Make one now

Download the free receipt format in Word, Excel or PDF, or make the bill with the bill maker and record the payment on it. In the InvoiceMate app, recording a payment against a bill makes the receipt itself, with the balance, and sends it to the customer on WhatsApp; the invoice guide shows the bill side.