Creator Invoice Template
An invoice is not a request for money. It is a document that has to clear somebody else's accounts payable system, and that system rejects on technicalities. Eleven fields decide whether yours enters the payment queue or sits in an exception folder: your legal name and address, the brand's legal entity and billing address, a unique invoice number, the issue and due dates, the PO number if they use one, an itemised description of what you delivered, the amount and currency, applicable tax, your payment details, and the payment terms in writing.
Two of those cause most of the trouble. The PO number is the single biggest cause of a silent hold — most mid-size and large companies require one, and an invoice without it never enters the queue at all, which is why the template below asks for it before you raise the invoice rather than after. The due date is the other: write an actual calendar date, not "Net 30". Net 30 from when — the date you sent it, the date they opened it, the end of the month? An explicit date removes the argument.
Send it as a PDF, not a document the brand can edit, and put the invoice number in the email subject so it can be found later. If you agreed a late fee in the contract, restate it on the invoice itself. It costs nothing while the brand pays on time, and it turns your first follow-up from a favour you are asking into a term you are enforcing.
The template
INVOICE From [Your legal name or registered company name] [Your address] [Your email] [Tax registration number, if you have one] Bill to [Brand's legal entity name — not the trading name] [Billing address] [Accounts payable email] Invoice number: [YYYY-NNN, unique and sequential] Purchase order number: [PO number, or "not applicable"] Issue date: [DD Month YYYY] Due date: [DD Month YYYY] (Net 7 from issue date) ------------------------------------------------------------ Description Amount ------------------------------------------------------------ [Deliverable 1 — e.g. 1 x Instagram Reel, published to @yourhandle, [date]] [0,000] [Deliverable 2 — e.g. 3 x Instagram Story frames with link sticker, published [date]] [0,000] [Usage rights — e.g. 90 days paid usage on the brand's Meta ad accounts] [0,000] [Production — e.g. one-day shoot, props] [0,000] ------------------------------------------------------------ Subtotal [0,000] Tax [rate]% [000] ------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL DUE [0,000] ------------------------------------------------------------ Payment details Account name: [name] [Bank details / IBAN / routing and account number] Reference: [invoice number] Payment terms Payment is due by [due date]. A late fee of 1.5% per month applies to any balance outstanding after that date, as agreed in our contract dated [date]. Thank you — [Your name]
Filled in
The same template with every placeholder replaced, so the shape is obvious before you do the work. The brand and the creator are invented; the structure is not.
INVOICE From Priya Raman 14 Hillview Road, Bengaluru 560001 [email protected] Bill to Northwind Bakehouse Private Limited 4th Floor, Prestige Tower, Mumbai 400051 [email protected] Invoice number: 2026-014 Purchase order number: PO-88213 Issue date: 3 September 2026 Due date: 10 September 2026 (Net 7 from issue date) ------------------------------------------------------------ Description Amount ------------------------------------------------------------ 1 x Instagram Reel, published @priyabakes, 1 Sep 2,340 3 x Story frames with link sticker, 1 Sep 930 90 days paid usage, Meta ad accounts 1,962 One-day shoot, props and ingredients 350 ------------------------------------------------------------ Subtotal 5,582 Tax 18% 1,005 ------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL DUE INR 6,587 ------------------------------------------------------------ Payment details Account name: Priya Raman [Bank details] Reference: 2026-014 Payment terms Payment is due by 10 September 2026. A late fee of 1.5% per month applies to any balance outstanding after that date, as agreed in our contract dated 18 August 2026. Thank you — Priya
Frequently asked questions
- What is a PO number, and do I need one?
- A purchase order number is the reference a company's finance system uses to authorise a payment before it happens. Most mid-size and large brands require one, and an invoice that arrives without it never enters the payment queue — it sits in an exception folder nobody checks. Ask for the PO number, the correct billing entity and the accounts payable email as soon as the contract is signed, not when you raise the invoice.
- Should I write "Net 30" or an actual date?
- Write an actual calendar date. "Net 30" alone is ambiguous — thirty days from when? The date you sent it, the date it was opened, or the end of the month it was received in? Every one of those is a real interpretation somebody has used to pay late. Put the date in, and put the terms in brackets after it so both readings agree.
- Can I charge a late fee on an unpaid brand invoice?
- Only if it was agreed in writing before the work happened, which is why it belongs in the contract and then gets restated on the invoice. 1.5% per month is standard and is rarely challenged at contract stage. Its real value is not the money — it converts your first chase from a favour you are asking into a term you are enforcing.
- Why does this template default to Net 7?
- Because a shorter term is easier to defend than to introduce later, and because the creator-economy norm of Net 30 quietly becoming Net 60 or Net 90 starts from whatever number you put on the first invoice. If the brand pushes back, Net 30 is a concession you can make in exchange for something. Starting at Net 30 leaves you nowhere to go.
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