Which document do you actually need?

Six documents, one generator. The arithmetic is identical in every case — what changes is the word at the top, the label on the amount, whether a due date and bank details belong there, and in one case a sign. Picking the wrong one is not a cosmetic problem: a receipt cannot be used to request payment, and a quote does not create a debt anyone can chase.

Last reviewed 17 Sep 2026.

The six documents, side by side

Pick a type and the generator adapts: the heading, the numbering prefix, the highlighted amount label, the fields that appear, and the sentence printed under the totals. Your draft is kept, so you can compare the same job as a quote and then as an invoice.

Invoice
INV-2026-0001
A dated request for a specific amount, issued after the goods or services have been delivered. It is the document that creates the payment obligation and the record of the sale.
Issued by
You issue it. Your client receives it and their accounts payable team pays it.
Total shown as
Total due
Due date
Due date
Create a invoice
Quote
QUO-2026-0001
A time-limited price offer for a defined scope. It states what you will do and what it will cost, and it creates no obligation on either side until it is accepted.
Issued by
You issue it. A prospective or existing client reads it and either accepts it or does not.
Total shown as
Total quoted
Due date
Valid until
Create a quote
Receipt
RCT-2026-0001
An acknowledgement that money has arrived, matched against the invoice or receipt it settles. It closes the transaction from the payer side and is the document they file.
Issued by
You issue it to the payer. The payer is the one who needs it, because the payment has already happened.
Total shown as
Total received
Due date
Not applicable
Create a receipt
Proforma Invoice
PI-2026-0001
A request for payment in advance of delivery. It carries the commercial detail of an invoice but is explicitly not one: no tax point arises, so it is usually not a valid tax document and should not be reported as a sale.
Issued by
You issue it before starting. It is the document a client processes to release a deposit or to open a purchase order.
Total shown as
Total requested
Due date
Due date
Create a proforma invoice
Credit Note
CN-2026-0001
A reduction against an invoice you have already issued, used for a cancelled order, a return, a billing error, a goodwill gesture or an agreed discount. It is issued in its own sequence with its own number.
Issued by
You issue it. Your client files it against the original invoice, usually by sending it back to whoever paid the first one.
Total shown as
Total credited
Due date
Not applicable
Create a credit note
Delivery Note
DN-2026-0001
A despatch record that travels with the goods, letting the recipient check what arrived before anyone signs for it. It exists to catch transit damage and short delivery at the door, not to request money.
Issued by
You issue it with the shipment. The recipient, a warehouse, or the courier signs it as proof of what was handed over.
Total shown as
Goods value
Due date
Not applicable
Create a delivery note

Which one, in one line each

Question	Invoice	Quote	Proforma	Receipt	Credit note	Delivery note
Asks for money	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Has a due date	Yes	Valid until	Yes	No	No	No
Carries bank details	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	If refunding	No
Records a sale	Yes	No	No	Settles one	Amends one	No
Starts its own number series	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

The mistakes these documents exist to prevent

Invoice

The work is done (or a milestone in it is done) and you are now asking for money. This is the normal document for ongoing client work, one-off projects, and any time a client needs a document to put through their payment system.

Not for this: Do not send an invoice to ask for money you have not earned yet - use a proforma invoice or a quote. Do not send one for goods you have not dispatched - use a delivery note. Do not send one after the money has arrived - issue a receipt instead.

This is the document that moves revenue into your accounts and starts the clock on the debt. Once issued, a mistake is corrected with a new document, never by editing this one - see the credit note entry.

Quote

Before any work starts, when the scope is agreed but the price has not been signed off. Also useful as the written basis for a recurring scope, because you can reissue the same lines each period and change only the numbers.

Not for this: Do not use a quote for work that is already finished - that is an invoice. If the client has already paid, the document they need is a receipt, not a quote. And if the price genuinely cannot be fixed yet, a quote with a wide range is worse than a short written scope note.

A quote is not revenue and is not a tax document - nothing is recorded until an invoice is issued. Keep it anyway: it is the evidence of what was agreed, and it is the file you turn into an invoice.

Receipt

Straight after a payment lands, for cash, bank transfer or card payments, and whenever the payer asks for proof. It is also the document that closes off a retail or in-person sale, where there is no accounts payable department to send an invoice to.

Not for this: A receipt does not replace an invoice - it confirms the settlement of one. If you have not been paid, an invoice is what the payer needs. And a receipt is not a bill: if you are the one paying a supplier, that document is their invoice, not your receipt.

A receipt evidences payment; it is not itself the source record of the sale. Your ledger entry is created by the invoice, and the receipt is the supporting document that proves it was settled.

Proforma Invoice

When you want money before you spend money - a deposit on a project, payment before a print run, or the first instalment on a retainer. It is also the document large buyers need in order to raise a purchase order at all, before the work has begun.

Not for this: Do not treat a proforma as revenue and do not deliver against it expecting the tax position to be settled - you still need a real invoice on delivery. And if no payment is expected yet, a quote is the cleaner document, because a proforma is asking for money.

Money received against a proforma is normally recorded as a customer advance or liability, not as revenue. It becomes revenue - and the tax becomes chargeable - when you issue the real invoice for the delivered work.

Credit Note

When a billed invoice cannot simply be deleted or edited - because it may already have been paid, reported, or matched against a purchase order. The correction is a new document that points back at the old one.

Not for this: If the invoice has not been issued yet, fix it before you send it. Never reuse the original invoice number for a correction, and never edit a document that has left your hands. And if the client simply has not paid yet, a revised invoice under a new number is usually cleaner than a credit note.

A credit note amends a previous sale. Keep it in the same sequence as invoices, reference the original number, and account for the tax reduction in the period it is issued rather than rewriting history.

Delivery Note

When you ship physical goods, especially multi-box or high-value consignments, and whenever a signature is needed at the point of delivery. It is also useful for services, as a written record of exactly what was handed over and when.

Not for this: A delivery note is not an invoice and does not create a payment obligation, so never send one in place of a request for money. If you need to be paid, send the invoice - ideally separately, so the delivery note can travel with the goods and the invoice can go straight to accounts payable.

A delivery note is not a sales document and is not a tax point on its own. The invoice is the document that records the sale; the delivery note is the evidence that the goods physically moved.

What is on every document

All six share the same skeleton, so the fields you type once are the fields that matter whichever type you pick:

Issuer block
Your name, address, email, phone and tax or company number, with an optional logo.
Counterparty block
Who receives it, with enough address detail to identify the legal entity.
Document number
Sequential, with no gaps or duplicates. This is the key everything else is matched on.
Dates
The date it was issued, and — where it means something — the date payment is due or the offer expires.
Line items
Description, quantity, unit price and line total. Specific enough for a buyer to match against what they approved.
Totals
Subtotal, any discount, tax at a stated rate, shipping, and one figure they can actually pay.
Notes and terms
Late-payment terms, deposit arrangements, anything the document needs to stand on its own.
Payment details
Where the money goes, on the types where money is being asked for.

The generator covers all of these. The invoice requirements guide goes into the tax registration numbers different jurisdictions insist on, and invoice vs receipt vs quote covers the timing in more depth.