Invoice template Canada: what a Canadian invoice must show

An invoice is not a reminder to pay. It is the document your client files against and, if you are registered, the document that shows tax collected for the CRA. Get the fields right once and the same invoice works everywhere.

The details every invoice needs

Canadian invoices are not all identical, but the ones that get paid and hold up on review carry the same basics:

• Your business name and, if you have one, your operating or trade name
• Your address, and a phone or email a client can reach
• A unique invoice number
• The invoice date, and the payment due date
• The client's name and address
• What you supplied — a clear description, quantity, and rate per line
• The subtotal before tax
• The tax, shown as its own line and its own amount
• The total due
• The terms and any late-payment interest you charge

GST/HST on the invoice

If you are registered for GST/HST, the tax has to appear as a separate amount — a single total with tax folded inside it is not enough. The rate depends on where the supply is made, so a client in one province may see a different tax than a client in another. Whether a given sale is taxable, zero-rated, or exempt depends on what you sold, not just where.

Registered businesses also need their GST/HST registration number somewhere on the invoice, since it is what lets the client claim the tax as an input tax credit. If you are not registered, do not charge GST/HST and do not label any amount as tax.

Rates and the rules around which supplies are taxable change over time. Confirm the current treatment for your filing year on the CRA's GST/HST pages before you set a template in stone.

Invoice numbering

Number every invoice, and never reuse a number. A simple running sequence works — 2026-001, 2026-002 — and it lets you account for every invoice you issued when you file, and point to a specific one when a client says they never received it. Gaps in the sequence are harder to explain than a consistent series.

Net-15 versus net-30

These are payment terms, not amounts. Net-15 means the invoice is due 15 days after the invoice date; net-30 means 30 days. The number is the count of days until payment is expected in full.

There is no legal rule that forces you to offer either. Shorter terms get you paid sooner and are easier to chase. Choose terms you can defend, put them on every invoice, and state the exact due date rather than only the term, so there is no arithmetic for the client to do.

Late interest

You can charge interest on overdue invoices, but only if you said so up front. The rate and the start date — when interest begins, and whether it compounds — should be written on the invoice or in the contract the invoice refers to. Adding a late fee to an invoice that never mentioned one is a fee you may not be able to enforce. State the rate as an annual or monthly percentage and make it clear on every invoice, not just the occasional one.

When a client does not pay

Move on it in steps rather than all at once:

1. Send a short, factual reminder with the invoice number, the amount, and the due date that has passed.
2. Follow with a dated notice that interest is now running, if your terms allow it.
3. Make a direct call and agree a payment date — a commitment is easier to hold someone to than a statement.
4. If it stays unpaid, decide whether the amount is worth small claims court, where the process is designed for exactly this.

Track which invoices are outstanding and how long they have been unpaid. The pattern that matters is not one slow payer but how much money is sitting past due at any moment.