Free invoice template for tradespeople (with the legal fields)

If you invoice individuals for building work in France, the document you send is usually a note (note d'auteur / note de débit) rather than a facture, until the client is a business or asks for a formal invoice. English UI calls all of them Invoice; the French wording depends on the client type.

Either way, the required fields are the same list.

Required fields

1. Your company details — name, address, SIRET, and the VAT number if you are VAT registered (or the exemption wording if you are not).
2. The client's name and address.
3. A sequential invoice number, never reused, never renumbered, and never edited after the invoice is sent. Reverse an error with a credit note.
4. The issue date and, when it differs, the date the service was performed.
5. The work site address if it is not the client's billing address.
6. Each line: description, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and VAT rate.
7. Totals: per VAT rate, the VAT amount, and the total including VAT.
8. Payment terms, the due date, and the late-payment wording your accountant gave you.
9. Payment details — IBAN/BIC, or "cash", or "card on site".

The numbering rule people break

Your first invoice is 1 or 2026-001, and every invoice after it is +1 — no gaps, no reused numbers, even for a cancelled job (issue a credit note instead). Gaps are what an auditor looks for. Software that lets you delete an invoice "because it was wrong" is a liability; QuotePaid locks documents once sent and keeps the sequence.

What a receipt is (and is not)

A receipt is not a fourth document to write. It is the invoice with a paid stamp: which invoice it settles, the amount received, the payment method, the payment date, and the remaining balance when the client paid in part. Competitors do the same — the receipt is derived from the invoice, never re-typed.

Save the file

Keep every invoice, credit note and receipt for the retention period your country requires (ten years is the usual French figure). Exporting a CSV plus the PDFs once a year is a cheap insurance policy.

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QuotePaid generates invoices from the signed quote, keeps the numbering locked, and produces the receipt the moment you record a payment — including partial payments with the balance. Start the trial — 14 days, no card.