7 steps to fill out a personalized receipt book.
A receipt book does more than just track purchases; it keeps your business in line with legal requirements. Learn how to fill out a receipt book in seven easy steps.
A receipt book is a transaction-tracking tool that’s filled with itemized receipts. As customers purchase items and services from your business, you can fill out the receipts to track purchases. You can have rent receipt books, goods receipt books, or even personalized receipt books to keep track of any and all types of transactions. Here are seven steps to fill out a receipt book to maintain your financial records.
1. Write the date and receipt number.
If you’re going to track transactions, then you need unique identifiers on each receipt. As a part of your receipt template, make sure you include a receipt number and a space for the date somewhere on the receipt.
Whenever a customer makes a purchase, write the date and receipt number (if it’s not already on the receipt) as the first step. If you ever need to go back and find a specific transaction, you can use the date to quickly locate the receipt in your book and the number to make sure it’s the correct one. Keeping all the receipts in your book chronologically makes them easy to find.
2. Gather contact information.
The next step for how to fill out a receipt book is to write contact information. You always want to know who made the purchase. Include the contact information for both your business and the customer in your receipt book. If there’s ever a discrepancy down the road, you can always reach out to the customer to correct the issue.
3. Describe the goods sold.
What did the customer purchase? In many cases, this will be a list of items the customer purchased from your store. List all the items purchased during the transaction. Each transaction should have a separate receipt.
However, receipt books aren’t just for physical products. For example, a rent receipt book tracks monthly housing payments made by a renter. In this case, your receipts might only have one “item” listed.
When listing goods, be as descriptive as space allows. Receipts aren’t supposed to be large documents, but you want to remember what goods were sold in as much detail as possible. If you go back through your receipt book even years later, you should be able to understand exactly what was sold.
4. List all the prices.
With your list of goods already on the receipt, add the price of each item next to the description. After all, receipt books are a financial tool. It’s important to remember how the money was spent.
If you sold more than one of the same items during a transaction, make sure you also include the quantity and multiply the individual item price by the amount to get the line total. The more detail you include in your receipt book, the better.
5. Total the cost.
At the bottom of the receipt, write a subtotal of all the items. Simply add up the prices and put the total below the line items. This is the total cost of all the goods and services purchased during the transaction. This is an easy way for both you and the customer to know what you spent on the products or services alone.
6. Add taxes and calculate the grand total.
The subtotal isn’t the real total. There are always taxes and fees that go into a transaction, and these also need to be tracked if you want to maintain legal compliance — and you really do.
Some of the additional charges on a typical receipt include:
- Sales tax
- Service fees
- Delivery charges
This is also a good place to list any discounts.
Then, under everything, list the grand total of the transaction. This is the exact amount that the customer paid, and you received.
7. Repeat for every purchase.
Most of these steps were for filling out a receipt. So, if you want to know how to fill out a receipt book, just repeat these steps for each business transaction and keep them all together. Consistency is the key.
Don’t let your receipts fall behind. When your business makes a new transaction, record it in your receipt book immediately. Over time, you’ll have a comprehensive receipt book that makes it easy to track your transactions and stay organized.
Digitize paper receipts for easy filing.
It’s not easy to search through paper receipts. And if you ever need to track down a receipt in the future, it might take hours of going through filing cabinets to get to it. For easy storage and tracking, it’s a good idea to digitize your receipts.
Digitizing your receipts is as easy as taking a picture with your cell phone. Simply download a free scanner app, and you can snap a quick picture whenever you make a paper receipt. The receipt will be converted to a PDF and stored on your device for safekeeping.
Frequently asked questions.
Is a receipt the same as an invoice?
No, receipts and invoices are two separate things. The main difference between an invoice and a receipt is that an invoice requests payment (the payment hasn’t happened yet), while a receipt confirms and proves the payment (when the payment occurs).
Can I use a digital receipt book?
Yes. Many businesses use digital software to track receipts and payments. However, having a backup receipt book is always a good idea – this is where a physical book might come in handy.
Which part of the receipt book do I keep?
If you’re using a traditional carbon copy receipt book, the customer gets the original white receipt (which is on top), and the business keeps the yellow duplicate. However, most companies today use software to make and track receipts. In that case, the customer will keep the printed version while the business saves a digital copy in their records.
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Content as a Service v2 - acrobat-hub - Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 10:18