Free rental invoice template

Rental invoice or rent receipt?

A rent receipt is for a tenant who pays rent on a home or office they use. It proves a payment that has already happened.

A rental invoice bills a customer for a hire: equipment, a vehicle, a venue, a room or a short-term property. You send it when the hire is booked or when it ends, and the balance is due by a set date. Use an invoice while you are still waiting for the money. Use a receipt once it has arrived.

What a rental invoice needs

• Rental period. The start and end dates, and the pickup and return times if late charges depend on them.
• Item details. Make and model with a serial number, plate number or room name, so the customer knows exactly what they had.
• Rate basis. Say whether each line is per hour, per day, per week or per month.
• Usage limits. For vehicles and machines with a mileage or hours limit, state the limit and the charge for going over it, if your rental agreement has one.
• Deposit paid. Any money the customer paid in advance.
• Damage and late return terms, in the notes or as a reference to the signed rental agreement.
• Payment terms. Many short hires are due on return. Longer hires are often billed monthly.

The reference field is a good place for the agreement number or the job address.

Pricing by period

Check the maths before you send it. Seven days at the daily rate is $665, against $475 at the weekly rate, so the weekly line is the one that should appear for a full week. If the hire runs past a week, charge the extra days at the daily rate, as in the example, unless your rate sheet says something else.

Deposits, damage and late returns

Keep two kinds of money apart.

• Booking deposit. Money the customer pays in advance to hold the item or the date. Enter it as a deposit, and the PDF shows the amount paid and the balance due.
• Security deposit. Money held against damage or loss and usually returned when the item comes back in good order. Keep it out of the invoice total. Record it in the rental agreement and refund it separately.

Damage is billed at the actual repair cost, on its own line, with the repair invoice or photos attached. Do not add a guessed amount.

Late returns are usually charged per extra day or per hour, at a rate written in the agreement before the hire starts. If you allow a grace period, such as one hour, write it down too.

Sales tax on rentals

Rentals are taxed in different ways. Some states tax equipment and vehicle rentals, some tax only certain items, and some add a separate vehicle rental tax on top of sales tax. Venue and property rentals can follow other rules again.

Ask your state's department of revenue how your type of rental is taxed. In Duebolt you can set a rate on each line, so a vehicle line can carry a different rate from the delivery line. The example above leaves tax at 0%, so replace it with your own rate.