Self-employed invoice template — what a sole trader actually needs

Sole trader invoicing is simpler than the templates aimed at companies suggest: no company number, no registered office, usually no VAT. Here's the legal minimum, the free downloads, and the traps.

Download the template (Word .docx)

Also available as Excel with auto-totals and print-ready PDF — or fill one in online and save it as PDF.

What you must include

• The word "invoice" and a unique, sequential invoice number
• Your name (and trading name if you use one) and your business address
• The client's name and address
• Invoice date, clear description of the work, and the amount for each item
• Total amount due and your payment details (bank, sort code, account number)

What you can leave off

• Company number / registered office — you don't have them; that's limited companies only.
• VAT — unless you're VAT-registered (compulsory above the HMRC turnover threshold, £90,000 as of 2024). Not registered = no VAT line at all.
• UTR and National Insurance number — never put these on an invoice; clients don't need them and it's an identity-theft risk.

Getting paid on time

Put a due date on every invoice ("payment due within 14 days" is common; 30 is the default many big clients assume), name the reference you want them to use, and number invoices sequentially so chasing is unambiguous. Late payers can legally be charged statutory interest at 8% + Bank of England base rate, plus a fixed recovery fee — sometimes just quoting that in your terms is enough.

Keep copies

HMRC expects you to keep invoicing records for at least 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they belong to. A folder of PDFs named invoice-0001-client.pdf is enough at small scale — that's also why you send PDFs, not editable files: see the PDF version.

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