A receipt is a document that shows that something was sold. When your clients pay in cash or card at the point of sale, you have to issue a receipt.
A receipt is a form of sales documentation. Unlike an invoice, it’s not a request for payment, but rather proof that the payment has already happened.
When do you use receipts?
If you have a point of sale system (POS), where the clients pay with cash or card when they buy something, you have to issue them a receipt.
The same goes if you have an online store where the clients pay during the checkout process. In this case, you would send them a digital document after they have paid.
The clients might also request this documentation for their personal record, or so that they later can make use of your warranty or returns policy.
If you send goods or provide a service, and need to request payment afterwards, you’d send an invoice instead. The invoice includes much of the same information as a receipt, but it requests payment from the client, and has instructions for how to pay and when to pay by.
What do you have to include on a receipt?
The document needs to have all the details of the sale. This includes:
- Your business name and contact details
- A unique receipt number
- The date the payment was received
- Details about the product or service
- The amount that was paid and the payment method that was used
You should also include the word ‘receipt’, so that it’s clear that it’s not a payment request. To be extra clear, you can also include a sentence stating that the payment was received.
Unlike an invoice, this document doesn’t need a due date, but it should instead state the date that the payment was made.