How to write a receipt

Step 1 — Label and number it

The document must say Receipt. A slip of paper with a figure on it is not a receipt, and neither is an invoice marked “paid” by hand.

Give it a unique number in its own sequence — RCT-2026-001 — kept separate from your invoice numbers. Sequential numbering is what makes a set of receipts reconcilable.

Step 2 — Date it correctly

Use the date the payment was received. This is not necessarily today, and not the invoice date.

For a transfer, the date the funds cleared. For a cheque, businesses differ on whether to date it at receipt or at clearance — pick one convention and apply it consistently, because mixing them makes month-end reconciliation guesswork.

Step 3 — Identify the payer

The payer's name, and their company where they are paying on its behalf. If a director settles a company invoice from a personal account, record both — the company as the account being cleared, the individual as the person who paid.

This matters more than it sounds. Payments from unexpected accounts are a common source of reconciliation problems, and the receipt is where the link gets recorded.

Step 4 — Amount and method

State the amount received clearly, with the currency. For larger cash sums, writing the amount in words as well as figures is a sensible precaution against later alteration.

Then the payment method: cash, bank transfer, card, cheque or mobile money. For transfers, note the reference. For cheques, the cheque number. This is the single field that distinguishes a receipt from a copy of the invoice, and the one most often left off.

Step 5 — Say what it was for

Reference the invoice number wherever one exists. Where there is no invoice, describe the payment specifically enough to be identifiable in six months: “Deposit for wedding catering, 14 March” rather than “deposit”.

Step 6 — Show the balance

If this payment settles the account in full, say so. If it does not, state the balance outstanding and the invoice it relates to.

Omitting this is the most consequential mistake on a receipt. A customer holding a receipt with no balance stated reasonably believes they are square, and the conversation that follows is avoidable.

A worked example

Mistakes to avoid

• No payment method recorded.
• Dated when written rather than when paid.
• No invoice reference, on an account with several open invoices.
• Balance omitted on a part payment.
• Numbers reused, or a receipt destroyed rather than voided.
• Handwritten alterations without initials — these void the document's evidential value.