Receipt vs. Invoice

Main Difference

The main difference between Receipt and Invoice is that the Receipt is a written acknowledgment that a person has received money or property in payment and Invoice is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer, relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller has provided the buyer

• Receipt

  A receipt (also known as a packing list, packing slip,, packaging slip, (delivery) docket, shipping list, delivery list, bill of parcel, manifest or customer receipt), is a document acknowledging that a person has received money or property in payment following a sale or other transfer of goods or provision of a service. All receipts must have the date of purchase on them. If the recipient of the payment is legally required to collect sales tax or VAT from the customer, the amount would be added to the receipt and the collection would be deemed to have been on behalf of the relevant tax authority. In many countries, a retailer is required to include the sales tax or VAT in the displayed price of goods sold, from which the tax amount would be calculated at point of sale and remitted to the tax authorities in due course. Similarly, amounts may be deducted from amounts payable, as in the case of wage withholding taxes. On the other hand, tips or other gratuities given by a customer, for example in a restaurant, would not form part of the payment amount or appear on the receipt.

  In some countries, it is obligatory for a business to provide a receipt to a customer confirming the details of a transaction. In most cases, the recipient of money provides the receipt, but in some cases the receipt is generated by the payer, as in the case of goods being returned for a refund. A receipt is not the same as an invoice.There is usually no set form for a receipt, such as a requirement that it be machine generated. Many point-of-sale terminals or cash registers can automatically produce receipts. Receipts may also be generated by accounting systems, be manually produced or generated electronically, for example if there is not a face-to-face transaction. To reduce the cost of postage and processing, many businesses do not mail receipts to customers, unless specifically requested or required by law, with some transmitting them electronically. Others, to reduce time and paper, may endorse an invoice, account or statement as “paid”.

• Invoice

  See also Voucher: an invoice is within the European union primarily legally defined by the EU VAT directive as an accounting voucher (to verify tax and VAT reporting) and secondly as a Civil law (common law) document.An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer, relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer.

  Payment terms are usually stated on the invoice. These may specify that the buyer has a maximum number of days in which to pay and is sometimes offered a discount if paid before the due date. The buyer could have already paid for the products or services listed on the invoice. To avoid confusion, and consequent unnecessary communications from buyer to seller, some sellers clearly state in large and/or capital letters on an invoice whether it has already been paid.

  In the rental industry, an invoice must include a specific reference to the duration of the time being billed. So in addition to quantity, price, and discount, the invoice amount is also based on duration. Generally, each line of a rental invoice will refer to the actual hours, days, weeks, months, etc., being billed.

  From the point of view of a seller, an invoice is a sales invoice. From the point of view of a buyer, an invoice is a purchase invoice. The document indicates the buyer and seller, but the term invoice indicates money is owed or owing.

• Receipt (noun)

  the action of receiving something or the fact of its being received

  “families in receipt of supplementary benefit”

  “I would be grateful if you would acknowledge receipt of this letter”

• Receipt (noun)

  a written or printed statement acknowledging that something has been paid for or that goods have been received

  “always make sure you get a receipt”

• Receipt (noun)

  an amount of money received during a particular period by an organization or business

  “box office receipts”

• Receipt (noun)

  a recipe

  “she spent hours in the kitchen, trying all sorts of receipts”

• Receipt (verb)

  mark (a bill) as paid

  “the receipted hotel bill”