Receipts customers and auditors both accept
The receipt is the sale's public record. Tax must be visible by component, tender matters for reconciliation, and the return policy line saves counter arguments.
What it must contain
- Business name and tax number
- Date, time and receipt/invoice number
- Items, quantities, prices
- Tax by component, then total
- Tender (cash/card) and change
- Return policy reference
SeroBooks prints thermal and full-page receipts from the same sale, both formats correct.
The mistakes that cost money
A receipt that does not show the tax separately is not much use to a business customer claiming it back, and a receipt without a date is not much use to anyone. If you are registered, the registration number belongs on it for the same reason it belongs on an invoice.
For returns, the receipt is your evidence of what was sold at what price — which is why 'no receipt, no refund' is a policy rather than an inconvenience, and why the copy you keep matters as much as the one you hand over.
When a template stops being enough
Receipts are generated at volume, at speed, usually at a counter with someone waiting. That is the case a printed template genuinely cannot serve — nobody fills in a Word document while a queue forms.
The second reason is the return path: a receipt that ties back to a recorded sale lets you cap a refund at what was actually bought, at the price actually charged. A standalone printed receipt is just a claim.
Templates are training wheels. The software is the bicycle.
Free to start, on Windows, Mac, iPad and Android. No credit card.