What a UK trade invoice must include

The non-negotiable details

If you are a sole trader or limited company in the UK, every invoice you issue should carry the following. Miss one and you give an accounts department a reason to park it.

• The word "Invoice" — not "statement" or "receipt". It sets the payment obligation.
• A unique identifying invoice number. Running them in order is good record-keeping and makes your bookkeeping easier; duplicates cause arguments. VAT invoices have additional numbering requirements for the series you use.
• Your trading name, address and contact details. Limited companies must also show the registered company name and number.
• The customer's name and billing address — the person or business legally responsible for paying, which is not always the person who let you in.
• The invoice date and the supply date (when the work was completed).
• A clear description of the work, broken into lines rather than one lump sum.
• The amount due and the payment due date, stated as a date, not "30 days".

The extras that actually get you paid

Legally optional, practically essential. These are the fields that stop the "who do I pay and how?" email.

• Bank name, account number and sort code, on the invoice itself.
• A payment reference — normally the invoice number.
• The site address, if it differs from the billing address.
• Any deposit already paid, and the remaining balance in bold.
• Your logo, so the invoice looks like it came from a real business.

Line items: split labour and materials

Customers query totals, not lines. Showing "Labour — 2 days" and "Materials — consumer unit and cabling" separately makes the price feel measured rather than plucked out of the air, and it makes any variation easy to justify later.

If the job changed on site, add the variation as its own line with a short note. It is far easier to defend than a total that quietly grew.

How long should you keep invoices?

Sole traders and companies should keep business records for at least six years. Storing them in an app rather than a van glovebox means they are still there when your accountant or HMRC asks.

Doing this without a template

A spreadsheet template works until you are quoting from a customer's kitchen. Telaro keeps your company details, logo, bank details and numbering sequence saved, so a compliant invoice is a few taps rather than a re-typed document.