Invoice Requirements Checklist for Canadian Sole Proprietors

Use this checklist before sending any invoice as a Canadian sole proprietor or freelancer. For the reasoning behind each item, see our full how to invoice in Canada guide — this page is meant to be the fast, scannable version you check against right before hitting send.

Business details

• Your legal or business name
• Your business address or contact information
• Your GST/HST number, if registered — required once a sale hits $100, since your client needs it to claim their own input tax credit

Client details

• Client's name (or company name), matching who they'll need it to match for their own tax records
• Client's billing address, if they require one for their own records

Invoice mechanics

• A unique, sequential invoice number
• The invoice date
• The payment due date and your accepted payment methods
• A clear description of each item or service, with quantity and rate — specific enough that someone unfamiliar with the project could tell what was delivered

Tax lines

• Subtotal before tax
• GST/HST (and PST, where it applies separately) shown as its own line, not folded into your rate
• The correct rate for your client's province, not necessarily your own — see our rates by province guide
• PST/QST applied only if the specific good or service is actually taxable in that province — not automatically alongside GST/HST
• The final total

Record-keeping

• Keep a copy of every invoice you send — the CRA generally expects business records to be kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, not six years from the invoice date
• Keep your invoice numbers sequential across your whole business, not restarted per client, so nothing looks skipped if you're ever audited
• Store copies somewhere backed up, not only on one device — a folder per tax year is enough; you don't need dedicated accounting software

Working from a template that already tracks your invoice numbers and calculates the right tax lines means this checklist is satisfied by default, rather than something to double-check by hand on every invoice.

Final check before you hit send

A last pass worth doing on every invoice, even a template-generated one:

1. Does the math add up — subtotal plus each tax line equals the total?
2. Is the client's name spelled correctly and matched to the right billing entity?
3. Does the invoice number follow on from your last one, with no gap or repeat?
4. If you're GST/HST registered, is your number visible on the invoice?

Frequently asked questions

Do I need every item on this list for every single invoice, no exceptions? The business details, invoice mechanics, and correct tax treatment are non-negotiable. Client billing address is the one item that's genuinely optional unless your specific client's accounts-payable process requires it.

What if I'm not GST/HST registered — do I skip the tax-lines section entirely? Yes — if you're not registered, you charge no GST/HST/PST and show no tax lines at all; adding them without being registered is itself a mistake, not a safer default.

Is a checklist like this actually something the CRA checks? The CRA doesn't audit against this exact list, but nearly every item on it exists because it maps to a real documentary requirement (input tax credit thresholds) or a real record-keeping obligation (the six-year retention rule) — skipping items increases audit friction even when no single omission is itself illegal.

Official source: CRA – Documentary Requirements for Claiming Input Tax Credits