Invoices, receipts, and expense papers

A sales invoice is the bill you give (or send) when you sell goods or services. It lists what was sold and what the buyer should pay. A purchase invoice is the bill you receive when you buy something for the activity you are tracking. A receipt often shows that money was paid. The CRA groups invoices, receipts, contracts, cash-register slips, and other business papers together as records of a sale or purchase.

This is different from the bookkeeping course, which explained day-to-day recording and what a purchase receipt should show for income-tax records. Here the focus is the papers themselves: how to read them, what to put on a bill you send, and how they connect to GST/HST.

A simple habit:

• Keep sales papers (invoices you send, copies of receipts you give) in one place.
• Keep purchase and expense papers (invoices and receipts you receive) in another place.
• Write the date on anything that does not already show one clearly.
• Do not guess missing numbers.

An estimate or quote is not the same as an invoice. An estimate is a planned price before the work is done. After the work or sale, the invoice (or receipt) is the record of what was actually charged.

The CRA says that if GST/HST applies to a sale, you must let customers know — on a receipt, invoice, contract, or even a posted sign. Lesson 2 explains that wording. This lesson does not tell you whether your activity must charge tax.

Ask your adult learning council if you want help practising a simple invoice layout on paper or in a spreadsheet. This course does not certify any software.