30 guides

Invoicing, in practice

Writing about the part of invoicing that is not the document — getting paid, invoicing across borders, asking for money up front, and knowing which tool the job actually needs.

Latest · 28 Aug 2026

Can I invoice without a company?

Invoicing as an individual or sole proprietor in India — what you can legally issue, what to put where a company name would go, and when a structure starts to matter.

5 minute read
28 Aug 20266 min

Do freelancers need GST registration?

What triggers registration, what changes on your invoice once you are registered, and the mistake that is genuinely expensive to make.

28 Aug 20265 min

How to cancel an invoice

When an invoice can simply be cancelled, when it needs a credit note instead, and why deleting the number is the one thing never to do.

28 Aug 20266 min

Invoicing a government department

Why public-sector invoices take longer, the fields that are non-negotiable, and how GeM and portal submission change what counts as sending an invoice.

28 Aug 20266 min

Invoicing for retainers and recurring work

How to describe a retainer so it does not get queried every month, when to invoice, and what to do about the work that exceeds the retainer.

28 Aug 20265 min

Numbering invoices across clients and branches

When to run one series and when several are allowed, how to keep them consecutive, and what to do when invoices come from two systems.

28 Aug 20264 min

Sending an invoice on WhatsApp

WhatsApp is how a great deal of Indian business actually happens. How to use it for invoices without losing the paper trail.

28 Aug 20265 min

How to show a discount on an invoice

Line-level versus invoice-level discounts, why the order matters for tax, and the discount that has to be agreed before the supply to count.

28 Aug 20265 min

HSN and SAC codes on invoices

What the codes are, who has to show them and to how many digits, and where to put them when your invoice template has no dedicated field.

28 Aug 20266 min

Invoice format in Excel

The five errors an Excel invoice template produces reliably, when a spreadsheet is genuinely the right tool, and what to check before sending one.

28 Aug 20265 min

Invoice terms and conditions

The four clauses worth having, wording you can use directly, and why an invoice cannot introduce a term your agreement does not contain.

28 Aug 20265 min

Invoicing for goods vs services

Different deadlines, different documents, different fields — the practical differences between billing a product and billing work.

28 Aug 20265 min

MSME payment rules for suppliers

Why Udyam registration changes how quickly you have to be paid, what to put on your invoice once you have it, and why buyers now care.

28 Aug 20265 min

Part payments and progress billing

How to invoice a project in stages, show a part payment without ambiguity, and keep the running balance clear across several documents.

28 Aug 20265 min

Reverse charge on invoices

When the recipient pays the tax instead of you, what your invoice must say, and why the field has to be filled in either way.

28 Aug 20264 min

Rounding off an invoice total

Why invoice totals are rounded to the nearest rupee, where the adjustment should appear, and the rounding error that quietly breaks reconciliation.

28 Aug 20265 min

TDS on professional fees

Why a client pays less than the invoice says, what to do about it on the document, and how to reconcile the difference rather than chase it.

28 Aug 20266 min

What is place of supply?

The single field that decides whether you charge CGST and SGST or IGST — how to determine it, and what happens when you get it wrong.

28 Aug 20267 min

When a client refuses to pay

The escalation path from a stalled invoice to formal recourse in India, and the evidence worth having before you need any of it.

28 Aug 20264 min

What to write when sending an invoice

A subject line that survives a full inbox, a body that takes ten seconds to read, and the four details that belong in every one.

27 Aug 20267 min

The best free invoice generators in India

What separates a genuinely free invoice generator from one that watermarks your PDF or holds it behind a sign-up — and how to judge one in thirty seconds.

26 Aug 20268 min

How to get invoices paid faster

Late payment is usually a process failure, not a cash-flow one. The eight changes that move money soonest, in the order worth making them.

25 Aug 20266 min

Payment reminder email templates

Five reminder emails for each stage of an overdue invoice, from the day it falls due to the point you stop work — with notes on why each is worded that way.

24 Aug 20266 min

Nine invoice mistakes that delay payment

The specific, fixable errors that stop an invoice being approved — from a missing PO number to a rupee sign that did not render in the PDF.

23 Aug 20268 min

How to invoice international clients from India

Currency, bank details, the export endorsement, FIRC evidence and the practical differences that decide whether an overseas invoice gets paid without friction.

22 Aug 20266 min

Asking for an advance

How much to ask for, how to word it so it does not cost you the job, and how to document an advance so the final invoice is unambiguous.

21 Aug 20265 min

Invoice vs receipt vs bill vs challan

Four documents people use interchangeably, what each one actually does, and which to send when a client asks for “the bill”.

20 Aug 20266 min

Invoicing software or a free generator?

An honest comparison: what paid invoicing software does that a browser tool cannot, and the point at which it becomes worth the subscription.

19 Aug 20265 min

How long to keep invoices

What GST and the Companies Act expect you to retain, how long for, and a filing system that survives a laptop being replaced.

18 Aug 20265 min

UPI and payment links on invoices

How to make paying an invoice a single action, which details to include for each method, and the limits worth knowing before you rely on UPI.