Stay professional and compliant with our free invoice template

An invoice is a digital or paper statement that clearly details how much a customer needs to pay for a good or service.

In New Zealand, if you have registered for GST, you should issue tax invoices when you sell goods or services. If the transaction is worth $50 or less (GST inclusive), you can provide a receipt instead. 

Invoices are more than just a way for your customers to pay you. They also help manage your cash flow, track your time and understand your tax. 

Managing your cash flow

Invoices can show you patterns in your sales so you can see when people are buying certain products, and what products are selling best.

They can also flag financial challenges and help you prepare for them, like when sales drop or when customers aren't paying on time.

Tracking your time 

Invoices can help you track your time and set your prices. By including how long it takes to source, build or provide your products and services on your invoices, you can keep a track of what you spend your time doing – and then set your prices to reflect that.  

Including your time on invoices also helps to set expectations with your customers so that they know how time factors into the cost and what to expect in the future. 

Understanding your tax

Invoices can help you understand your tax obligations and manage your GST credits.

By storing and organising your invoices – both the ones you send to customers and any that you get from suppliers – you'll get a clearer idea of how much GST you need to pay and if you qualify for any GST credits. 

On each invoice you need to include:

• your business name
• your customer’s name and address
• the invoice number, date sent and due date
• a description of the goods or services provided, eg date, quantity, rate and hours
• the amount payable
• payment details, eg your bank account or a credit card payment slip.

If you’re GST-registered, you also need to include:

• your GST number
• the words “tax invoice” in a prominent place
• for supplies worth $50-$1,000, state GST is included in the amount payable
• for supplies worth more than $1,000, either:
  • specify the amount charged, the GST added and the total amount payable, or
  • state GST is included in the amount payable.

There are 2 types of invoices:

• a regular invoice
• a tax invoice

You use a tax invoice when your business registers for GST. A tax invoice shows that GST was included in the price of some or all of the goods and services sold.

Regular invoices do not include a GST component because the business is not registered for GST.