The Canadian invoice, done right
A Canadian invoice is a tax document. Miss the GST/HST registration number and your customer's input credit claim is at risk; blur the tax breakdown and yours is.
What it must contain
- Your business name and GST/HST registration number
- Invoice number (sequential — gaps invite questions) and date
- Customer name; ship-to when it differs (place of supply!)
- Line items with quantities and unit prices
- Tax shown by component — GST, PST, HST as applicable
- Payment terms and due date
Use the free generator to produce one now — or let SeroBooks number, tax and post them automatically.
The mistakes that cost money
Three recur. A missing GST/HST registration number puts your customer's input tax credit at risk, which turns your invoice into their problem. A tax line shown as a single blended figure in a province that levies two taxes leaves both sides unable to reconcile it. And duplicate or reused invoice numbers make a year impossible to audit cleanly.
The fourth is subtler: terms stated as 'due on receipt' when you actually expect payment in thirty days. Vague terms are unenforceable and make chasing awkward.
When a template stops being enough
A template is fine while you can hold the whole picture in your head — a handful of invoices a month, all paid promptly. It stops working when you need to know what is outstanding and how overdue, because a folder of documents cannot age, cannot tell you what was paid, and cannot post itself to a ledger.
The tell is usually a spreadsheet appearing beside the folder to track payment status. That spreadsheet is a second set of books, and reconciling it against the folder is the work software removes.