Free Receipt Template — PDF & Word
A blank receipt you can download and use right now — the document that confirms money has been received, rather than asking for it. Same form in two formats: a print-ready PDF and an editable Word file. Every field is listed below, so you know exactly what you are downloading.
Download the receipt template
Free for personal and commercial use. No signup, no email, no attribution required.
Files generated on from the same template configuration described on this page, and regenerated whenever the layout is revised — so the file you download always matches the field list below. There is no Excel version of the receipt: the totals lines are completed by hand.
What's inside this template
The document is headed RECEIPT on A4, with the line "Proof of payment received — not an invoice or a request for payment" printed under the title. It lays out in this order:
- Three reference fields at the top — Receipt no., Date of payment and Payment method. The date field is deliberately the payment date, not the invoice date, because that is the fact a receipt records.
- Two party blocks — Received by (seller) and Received from (customer), four blank lines each for name, address and contact details. The wording runs the opposite way to an invoice's From / Bill to, because the money has already moved.
- A Reference (invoice / order no.) field — the line that ties the receipt to the invoice or order it settles, so the pair can be matched later without guesswork.
- An item table with four columns — DESCRIPTION, QTY, UNIT PRICE and AMOUNT. Blank rows come ready to fill: six in the PDF and seven in the Word file.
- Three totals lines — Subtotal, Tax and TOTAL PAID, right-aligned under the table. No tax rate is pre-filled — the correct one depends on the underlying sale and your jurisdiction.
- A Notes area — two blank lines for anything the reference field could not hold, such as a part-payment note or the remaining balance.
- A printed reminder at the bottom — "Issue a receipt when payment is received; the invoice asks for payment, the receipt proves it happened. Keep both together."
About the file itself
Both files are built from one configuration and regenerated on every site build, so the download and the field list above cannot drift apart. The only branding is a single plain-text footer line crediting this site — there is no watermark laid across the page, no logo and no locked region. In the Word version you can delete that footer line like any other paragraph; in the PDF it is fixed, so use the DOCX if you want it gone.
Which format should you pick
- PDF — when you are printing the receipt, handing one over at the counter, or completing it by hand. It opens anywhere and nobody can nudge the fields out of place.
- Word (DOCX) — when you want this to become your receipt. Add a logo, change the wording, save it as your house version and reuse it. Opens in Word, Google Docs and LibreOffice Writer, and it is the only one of the two you can type into before printing.
- Either way, send it as a PDF. Fill in the Word file, then export or print to PDF before it goes out. The customer gets a fixed document, and you keep an unaltered copy of exactly what you acknowledged receiving.
When to issue a receipt
A receipt is issued after the money arrives. That is the whole distinction the template prints on itself: the invoice asks for payment, the receipt proves it happened. The usual moments are a cash or card payment taken in person, a bank transfer landing, a deposit paid up front, or the final settlement of an open invoice.
Three fields carry most of the weight. Date of payment is the day the money was actually received, which is often not the invoice date. Payment method — cash, card, bank transfer, cheque, online — is what makes the entry traceable back to a bank line months later. Reference (invoice / order no.) points at the document being settled, so the invoice and the receipt stay a matched pair in your records.
A receipt does not replace the invoice, and it is not a correction of one. If a part payment comes in, the receipt records the amount you actually received and names the invoice it applies to; the balance stays on the invoice. If an amount already invoiced needs reducing, that is a credit note, not a receipt.
For the full comparison — which document proves what, who issues each one, and when a single paid-marked invoice can stand in for both — read Invoice vs Receipt.
Frequently asked questions
Is this receipt template really free?
Yes. Both files are free for personal and commercial use, with no signup and no email wall, and you can issue as many receipts from them as you need. The licence asks for no attribution: each file carries one plain-text footer line crediting this site — not a watermark laid across the page — and in the Word version you can simply delete that line. In the PDF it is fixed.
Is there an Excel version with working formulas?
Not for the receipt — it ships as a PDF and a Word file only, so the Subtotal, Tax and TOTAL PAID lines are completed by hand. If you want the arithmetic done for you, use the online Receipt Generator instead: it totals the lines in your browser and hands back a finished PDF.
Is a receipt the same as a paid invoice?
They are different documents doing different jobs: the invoice requests payment, the receipt records that the payment happened. In practice one document is sometimes used for both — an invoice marked paid with a zero balance, the payment date and the payment method on it. Which route suits you depends on your bookkeeping and local requirements; the Invoice vs Receipt guide sets out both side by side.
Can I edit the Word file and add my own logo?
Yes. The DOCX is an ordinary, unlocked Word document — open it in Microsoft Word, Google Docs or LibreOffice Writer, insert your logo, change the wording or the column headings, and save it as your own house receipt. Nothing is password-protected or read-only.
These templates are a general-purpose business document, not legal, accounting or tax advice. Receipt and record-keeping rules differ by country, and some jurisdictions require specific details on a proof of payment — check the requirements that apply to you, or ask a qualified professional, before issuing one.