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Payment receipt template to fill in and print

Fill in a receipt of payment: the amount, what it was for, who paid and who received it. The page writes the amount in words, takes the VAT out of the total where there is some, and marks what your receipt still lacks in the country you pick.

  • Amount in words and the VAT share, worked out as you type.
  • Runs in your browser. No account, no upload, nothing stored.
  • One receipt, or two on one page with a copy for your records.

Everything you type stays in this browser tab. Reloading the page empties the form.

Who is issuing the receipt?

What a receipt must show is national. Pick the country whose rules apply; “Another country” applies none.

For money received privately — a sale, a deposit, a loan repaid. A private person shows no VAT.

Amount

Write the amount out in words: it makes a later change to the figure visible.

Received from
Received by
Receipt details
Tax/VAT no.

Receipt

No.

Amount
In words
Received from
For

Received with thanks.

Place, date
Signature of the recipient

What the receipt still needs

Sign after printing: a receipt is the signed confirmation of the person who received the money.

The print dialogue also offers “Save as PDF”. “Print with copy” puts the original and a copy on one page. Empty fields print as blank lines, so an empty form prints as a receipt pad page.

What a receipt needs — and where the rules come from

Before any list: a receipt answers five questions for someone reading it years later — who received money, from whom, how much, for what and when — and it carries the signature of the person who received it. You can put those questions to a receipt anywhere. What a business has to add, and up to what sum a short receipt counts as an invoice, is national; the examples below are the countries the form can apply.

A receipt is a signed confirmation

In most legal systems a receipt is not a form with prescribed boxes but a written statement: I confirm that I received this amount. Germany says it in one sentence of its Civil Code: the creditor has to give a written acknowledgement of receipt on request, and the debtor bears its cost (sections 368 and 369 BGB). Written form there means a handwritten signature (section 126 BGB). Switzerland gives the payer the same right without listing contents (Art. 88 OR).

Austria is the exception that prescribes the contents: the receipt names payer and recipient, the place, the time and what the debt was for, and it is signed by the recipient, who also bears its cost (section 1426 ABGB). Pick Austria as the country and the form marks the place and the payer's name as required.

When a business issues it, it is an invoice

For a business, a receipt is usually also an invoice. Germany, for example, counts any document with which a supply is settled as an invoice, whatever it is called (section 14(1) UStG). Most VAT systems accept a shorter version for small sums — and this is where a figure carried across a border will be wrong.

The UK, from HMRC's VAT Notice 700, paragraph 16.6.1: a simplified VAT invoice is possible for a supply of £250 or less if the customer agrees. It shows your name, address and VAT registration number, the time of supply, a description of the goods or services, and for each VAT rate the total including VAT and the rate. Unlike in Germany, the VAT number belongs even on the short version. Only a VAT-registered business can issue a VAT invoice at all, and a VAT invoice is only required when you supply a VAT-registered customer (16.2.1): a receipt for a private customer does not have to be one.

Germany: up to a total of 250 euros, section 33 of the VAT Implementing Ordinance (UStDV) asks for four things — the supplier's full name and address, the date of issue, the quantity and nature of the supply, and the amount including tax as one sum with the rate, or a note that the supply is exempt. It does not apply to distance sales, intra-EU supplies or supplies where the customer owes the tax, and such an invoice never has to be an e-invoice: paper stays allowed even between businesses.

Austria draws the line at 400 euros in total, and its short list also asks for the day of the supply (section 11(6) UStG 1994); a small business under the Austrian exemption may use it for any amount. Switzerland has no such limit for receipts: only till slips from automated tills may leave out the customer (Art. 26(3) MWSTG), so an invoice as a rule names both parties with their town, the VAT registration number, the supply, the price and the rate (Art. 26(2) MWSTG).

No VAT on the receipt

Where no VAT is charged — a small business outside the VAT system, or a supply that is exempt — the receipt shows no tax, and in a business context it often has to say why. Germany requires that note expressly, on small-amount invoices as on full ones (sections 33 and 34a UStDV).

A private person never shows VAT, and neither does a business outside the system. In Germany, anyone who states tax on a document without being entitled to owes the tax stated (section 14c(2) UStG); Switzerland has the same rule unless the invoice is corrected or no tax was lost, and forbids anyone not on its VAT register to mention the tax on an invoice at all (Art. 27 MWSTG). In the UK, only a VAT-registered person can issue a VAT invoice, and HMRC charges financial penalties for the unauthorised issue of one (VAT Notice 700, 19.5.1). It is the most expensive line a receipt can carry.

Not a till, and no substitute for one

This page is a document template, not a cash register. It records nothing: no payment method, no journal, no number that outlives the tab, no daily total. That matters because many countries regulate electronic tills strictly. In Germany, anyone who records takings with an electronic till has to protect it with a certified technical security device and give a receipt for each transaction (section 146a AO), and that receipt carries data only the till can produce, such as a transaction number and the serial number of the security device (section 6 KassenSichV). In Austria, a business has to give a receipt with a running number for every cash payment it receives — card payments count as cash there — and keep a copy (section 132a BAO), and from 15,000 euros of annual turnover with more than 7,500 euros paid in cash it records its cash takings with a till (section 131b BAO). A receipt from this page replaces none of that.

Keep the copy

Keep your copy. For a business, a receipt it issues is an accounting record. Germany requires a copy of every invoice a business issues, and its accounting vouchers, to be kept for eight years (section 14b UStG, section 147(3) AO); Austria requires the copy of every cash receipt to be kept (section 132a(6) BAO). “Print with copy” puts the original and the copy on one sheet, so the copy exists the moment the original leaves your hand.

Frequently asked questions

As proof of payment: who received the money, from whom, how much, what it was for and the date — signed by the person who received it. A business that uses the receipt as an invoice has to meet its country's invoice rules as well; for small amounts many countries accept a shorter list, the UK for example up to £250 and Germany up to 250 euros including VAT.

Not in itself, but for a business it often counts as one. Germany, for example, treats any document that settles a supply as an invoice, whatever its name. Up to the national limit the short list is enough; above it the receipt needs every detail of a full invoice, and the invoice template has fields for those.

No. A private person does not charge VAT. In Germany, anyone who shows tax without being entitled to owes the amount shown (section 14c(2) UStG), and Switzerland has the same rule in principle (Art. 27 MWSTG). In the UK there are financial penalties for issuing a VAT invoice without being registered. Choose “Private person” and the receipt carries no tax line.

The signature is what makes it a receipt: the person who received the money confirms it in writing. In Germany the payer can ask for a written receipt, and written form means a handwritten signature (sections 368 and 126 BGB); Austria requires the recipient's signature expressly (section 1426 ABGB). Print first, then sign.

Nothing is stored and nothing is sent: no account, no upload, no storage in the browser. The page asks for no payment method, keeps no journal and counts nothing, so it is not a till. If you record takings with an electronic cash register, the receipt has to come from that register.

Yes. Leave the fields empty and print: every empty field prints as a blank line. “Print with copy” puts two receipts on one page, an original and a copy.