Proofreading Invoice Template
Proofreading invoices are small, frequent and often international, which makes the boring fields the important ones. Most late payments in this trade are not disputes, they are invoices that lacked something the client accounts process needed and sat in a queue nobody was watching.
See the coursesEverything on this page is yours to copy and adapt. The courses cover the decisions behind it: what to charge, what to promise, and what to put in writing.
What yours needs to cover
- ✓ The identifying fields: a sequential number, an issue date and a due date as a real date
- ✓ A description that names the document and the service, so it can be approved without a reply
- ✓ A reference to the purchase order or quote, which is what unblocks business clients
- ✓ Currency stated explicitly, because a bare number is ambiguous across borders
- ✓ Tax handling appropriate to where you and the client are
- ✓ Payment methods that do not cost you a large share of a small invoice
- ✓ A late-payment line, stated once and plainly
How to use it
- Number invoices sequentially from the first one, without gaps.
- Give a due date as a date, never as "30 days", which starts an argument about from when.
- Name the document and the service in the description so approval needs no context.
- Send it on delivery, not at the end of the month, because the goodwill is highest the day the work lands.
Proofreading Invoice Template FAQs
When should I invoice?
On delivery for established clients, and with a deposit up front for new ones. Waiting until month end adds weeks to your own cash cycle for no benefit and puts the ask further from the moment the client was pleased with the work.
How do I handle international payments?
State the currency on the invoice, agree who bears the transfer cost before the job, and use a method whose fee is proportionate. On a small invoice a fixed international transfer fee can take a painful share of the total, which is a pricing decision as much as an admin one.
What about tax?
It depends entirely on where you are registered and where the client is, and it changes. Get this right locally before your first invoice rather than after your first tax year, and treat anything you read online, including this, as a prompt to check rather than an answer.
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