Free Contractor Receipt Template & PDF Generator

How to write a contractor receipt

1. Add your business details

   Company name, address, phone, email, license number and logo. Saved in your browser and shared with the invoice, estimate and change order generators on this site.

2. Enter who paid

   The customer's name and contact details go in the "Received from" block. Add the job address if the payment is for work at a different property.

3. Set the receipt number and payment date

   The number is prefilled and increments after each download. The date is the day the money changed hands, not the day you got around to writing it up.

4. Record how the payment was made

   Pick the method (cash, check, card, ACH, Zelle, Venmo, PayPal), enter the reference (check number, last four digits or confirmation number), and the invoice or estimate number the payment applies to.

5. List what the payment covers and any remaining balance

   One line per thing paid for, or one line naming the invoice. Enter the remaining balance if this is a partial payment; leave it at zero for paid in full.

6. Download the PDF and hand it over

   Download, then print it, text it or email it. Keep a copy in the job folder with the invoice it paid.

What to include on a contractor receipt

When does a contractor need a receipt instead of an invoice marked paid?

Whenever money changes hands without leaving its own record: cash at the door, a check handed over in the driveway, a Zelle sent while you are standing there. Also whenever the customer asks, whenever the payment is partial, and whenever the customer has to show the payment to someone else, such as an insurance adjuster, a landlord, an HOA, a spouse or a tax preparer. An invoice with PAID written across it is fine when the payment ran through a card processor that emailed a confirmation; a receipt is what you give when nothing else did.

The distinction is simple. An invoice asks for money and says what is owed and by when. A receipt confirms money was received and says how much, how, when and against what. You send the invoice when the work is done and the receipt when the payment lands, and the receipt should name the invoice it paid so the two documents find each other later.

In my own business the receipt that matters most is the deposit receipt, because it is the first document the customer gets after signing and it sets the tone. A clean, numbered receipt that references the estimate and states the balance due on completion tells the customer they hired a business. A scrawl on the back of a card tells them something else.

What should a payment receipt include?

Who paid, who was paid, when, how much, by what method, with what reference, applied to which invoice or estimate, for what work, and what remains owed. This template prints all of it: your business block at the top, "Received from" with the customer's details, the receipt number and payment date, a line-item table for what the payment covers, and a totals block showing amount paid, method, reference, applied to and remaining balance, with a PAID stamp across it.

• Method and reference. Pick the method from the list and type the reference: the check number, the last four of the card, the Zelle or ACH confirmation. On a cash payment the reference is "cash"; if the amount is large, the denomination count is worth writing down.
• Applied to. The invoice or estimate number. A payment with no home is the one that ends up double-counted or lost.
• Remaining balance. For a partial payment, what is still owed. For the last payment, zero, and the stamp says PAID.
• What it was for. One line naming the invoice is enough on a final payment. On a deposit, name the estimate and the job.
• Notes. Who received the money, and anything unusual: a post-dated check, a payment split between two methods, a partial payment the customer promised to complete on a date.

Load the general contractor example from Start from an example to see one filled in: a final payment by check on a bath remodel, referencing the invoice and a signed change order, remaining balance zero.

How do I handle cash payments and keep records?

Write the receipt on the spot, give the customer a copy and keep one, then deposit the cash and keep the deposit slip. That is the whole system, and it exists because cash is the one payment method that produces no record of its own. The IRS lists receipt books, deposit information for cash and credit sales, and invoices among the supporting documents for gross receipts, and says the point of keeping them is that they support the entries in your books and on your tax return. A receipt you issued and a deposit that matches it are exactly that support.

How long to keep them: the IRS's general rule is three years, stretching to six years if you failed to report income that is more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return, seven years for a bad-debt deduction, and at least four years for employment tax records. Keep the receipt with the invoice it paid and the signed estimate behind that, one folder per job, and you will never have to reconstruct a payment from memory.

One more habit: never take cash without a receipt because the customer "doesn't need one". The receipt is for you as much as for them. It is what proves the deposit in your account is job income and not something else, and it is what settles the argument six months later about whether the second payment was $1,500 or $1,800.

How do I write a receipt for a partial payment or a deposit?

The same way, plus two fields: Applied to and Remaining balance. A deposit receipt reads "Deposit, 25% of contract per estimate EST-0031", applied to EST-0031, remaining balance the rest of the contract total, due on completion. A progress payment receipt names the draw ("Draw 2 of 3, rough-in complete"), applied to that progress invoice, remaining balance whatever is left. The final receipt applies to the final invoice, remaining balance zero, stamped PAID.

The remaining balance on the receipt should match the balance due on the invoice it paid, which is why it helps to make both documents on this site: the invoice generator subtracts payments received from the total and boxes the balance due, and the receipt repeats that number. When they disagree, one of them is wrong, and finding out now is cheaper than finding out at the final walkthrough.

On deposits specifically: the amount you can take is capped in some states. California, for one, requires home improvement contracts to state that the down payment may not exceed $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less; other states set their own limits. The contractor deposit guide lists the caps we verified and the amounts that make sense by job type. The receipt is proof you took what you said you would take, and no more.

How do I document a refund?

With a new document, never by editing the old one. If a job is cancelled and you return part of the deposit, make a receipt whose line reads "Refund of deposit, less $400 materials ordered, job cancelled by customer 9/2", with the method and reference of the refund payment (the check number you wrote, the card refund confirmation), applied to the original receipt or estimate number, and a note that says "Refund issued". Keep it in the folder next to the original deposit receipt. Two documents that tell the whole story beat one document that has been changed.

Refund by the same method the customer paid where you can; a card refund goes back to the card, a check gets a check. If the customer paid cash and you refund by check, write both facts on the refund receipt. And if the deposit is non-refundable past a certain point, that has to have been in the signed estimate, not announced at the refund.

How do I send a receipt to a customer?

Hand it over if you are there, text it if you are not, and email it if the customer needs to forward it to anyone. The PDF from this page prints cleanly and attaches to a text or an email like any file. Under the federal E-SIGN Act a record may not be denied legal effect solely because it is electronic, so the texted PDF is as good as paper; keep the sent message with its timestamp.

FAQ

• IRS — What kind of records should I keep
• IRS — How long should I keep records
• IRS — Form 8300 and reporting cash payments of over $10,000
• Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §7159 — Home improvement contracts (down-payment statement)
• 15 U.S.C. §7001 — E-SIGN Act, general rule of validity