How to create an invoice and save it as a PDF

What you need before you start

Your name or business name, address and contact details
The client’s name and address
An invoice number (many people use a pattern such as 2026-001)
The items or services, quantities and unit prices
Your tax rate, if you charge tax, and whether your prices include it
How the client should pay you (bank details or a payment link)

Example invoice

A freelancer bills a client in US dollars:

Description	Qty	Unit price	Amount
Website design	1	1,200.00	1,200.00
Hosting (12 months)	12	15.00	180.00

Subtotal: 1,380.00
Discount 10%: −138.00 → 1,242.00
Tax 20% (prices exclude tax): 248.40
Total: USD 1,490.40

Step by step

Open the invoice generator.
In Document settings, choose the Document language (the language of printed labels such as “Invoice” and “Subtotal”), the Currency, a Template, an Accent color and the Paper size (A4 or Letter).
Under Number and dates, enter the Invoice number and Issue date, then pick Payment terms to fill in the Due date.
Fill in From (your details) and Bill to. You can add a Logo; it is embedded in the PDF without being uploaded.
Add Line items with Add item. Use the arrows to reorder them.
Set a Discount (fixed amount or percent), then the Tax name, Tax rate (%), whether Prices are tax exclusive or inclusive, and the Tax rounding.
Add Payment details and Notes, check the Preview, and press Download PDF.

For the example above: currency USD, items as listed, discount Percent 10, tax name VAT, rate 20, Tax exclusive. The preview should show the same totals as the table.

Language and currency are separate

The document language only changes the fixed labels. Your own text (company names, item descriptions) is printed exactly as typed, and the currency, tax rate and amounts do not change when you switch the document language — or the language of this website. Choosing a currency changes the symbol and decimal places; it does not convert amounts between currencies.

You can, for example, use the site in English, print the invoice labels in Japanese and bill in JPY. Text in English, Japanese and Korean can be mixed in one PDF.

Saving your work

Nothing is saved automatically. You have two options:

Save draft in this browser keeps one draft on this device until you press Delete saved draft. It contains personal information, so avoid it on shared computers.
Export as JSON file downloads the invoice data so you can open it later with Import JSON file, on any device.

How the totals are calculated

Each line amount is rounded to the currency’s smallest unit (cents for USD, whole yen for JPY), the discount is applied to the subtotal, and tax is calculated once on the discounted subtotal. With tax-inclusive prices, the included tax is worked out from the total (total × rate ÷ (100 + rate)). Your accounting software or tax office may round differently — check if exact rounding rules apply to you.

Common problems

The total is off by one cent or one yen. Check the Tax rounding setting (round, round down, round up) and whether prices are tax inclusive or exclusive.
“The discount is larger than the subtotal”. A fixed discount cannot exceed the subtotal; it is capped there.
I need different tax rates for different items. One rate per invoice is supported. Split the work into separate invoices if you need several rates.
Does this make a legally valid tax invoice? It creates a general invoice. Some countries have extra requirements — for example Japan’s qualified invoice system or Korea’s electronic tax invoices, which are issued through the national tax service’s system. This tool does not check or guarantee compliance.
A symbol shows as a code in the PDF. If the PDF font lacks a currency symbol, the ISO code (such as INR) is printed instead.