Excel remains the most popular tool for invoicing when starting out, because it calculates, is customizable, and costs nothing. This free template saves you the trouble of building it yourself.
Download it, fill in your header once, and use it for every new invoice.
A spreadsheet does not exempt you from any legal requirements. Before discussing formulas, here's what must be included in the document.
Your complete identity Company name, legal form, address, SIRET number, and depending on your situation, your RCS number or your trade register number. A sole trader adds the abbreviation "EI" to their name.
Customer contact details : exact company name and billing address, which is not always the delivery address.
A number and a date : the number follows a continuous sequence, without gaps or duplicates, and the issue date accompanies the date of performance of the service.
The details of the lines : description, quantity, unit price excluding tax, total per line.
Totals and VAT Total excluding tax, VAT rate and amount per rate applied, total including all taxes. If you are subject to the basic exemption, the statement "VAT not applicable, art. 293 B of the French General Tax Code" replaces the VAT lines.
Payment terms : due date, accepted payment methods, late payment penalty rates and fixed recovery compensation for business customers.
The file follows this top-to-bottom structure, in the order a customer reads an invoice.
A header area For your information, which you only fill out once before saving your template.
A client block to be completed with each invoice, including the number and both dates.
A table of lines with one line per product or service.
A footer for the totals, the VAT amount corresponding to your situation and the payment terms.
Three calculations are sufficient to cover almost all cases. The function names below are those of the French version.
The total of a line is calculated by multiplying the quantity by the unit price, i.e., a formula of the type =B5*C5.
Total excluding taxes add the lines with =SOMME(D5:D20)Plan for a wide range from the start, so that you can add lines without breaking the formula.
VAT and the total including tax These are obtained by multiplying the total excluding tax by the rate, then adding the two together. Place the rate in a dedicated cell rather than writing it in the formula: on the day it changes, you only have one value to modify.
One final adjustment prevents many problems: format the amount cells as currency with two decimal places. Rounding the display, which hides cents, produces totals that don't add up exactly, and these discrepancies will appear in the accounting records.
Overwrite your previous bill. This is the most common mistake. You open the file, edit the lines, save, and last month's invoice has disappeared. Always work by duplicating the template, and name each file with its invoice number.
Losing track of the numbering. A spreadsheet doesn't automatically generate numbers. Keep a separate tab or file listing the number, date, client, and amount. This record is also what you'll be asked for in case of an audit.
Send the editable file. A spreadsheet submitted as is can be modified after sending. Always export it as a PDF before sending.
Break a formula by inserting a line. Adding a row in the middle of the table rarely extends the calculation ranges as expected. Check the total after each insertion.
Forget about archiving. A copy of each invoice issued must be kept. One file per year, saved somewhere other than the computer's hard drive, is sufficient.
Spreadsheets are suitable as long as the volume remains small and billing is simple. Three signs indicate that they are becoming expensive.
The first is the time spent: when monthly billing takes half a day, the apparent gain from the free service has already evaporated.
The second issue is payment tracking. A spreadsheet doesn't know who has paid or who needs to be contacted again, and this tracking ends up in a second file that becomes out of sync with the first.
The third one is regulatory, and it has a date.
The reform of electronic invoicing is being rolled out in two stages.
Since September 1, 2026All businesses must be able to receive their invoices electronically if their supplier is required to issue them in this way.
Effective September 1, 2027The obligation to issue in electronic format extends to small and medium-sized enterprises as well as micro-enterprises.
The impact this has on an Excel file is clear. An electronic invoice, as defined by the reform, is not simply a formatted document exported as a PDF; it is a structured file transmitted via an approved platform. A spreadsheet, however neatly organized, will not meet this requirement when it becomes mandatory.
The template therefore remains perfectly usable today, and it helps you to include the correct information. To know precisely which date you will be affected, the simulator answers in a few questions, and the article on Peppol explains the network through which these invoices will circulate.
Does the template work with Google Sheets or LibreOffice? Yes. The formulas used are standard and behave the same way in these tools.
How to manage multiple VAT rates on the same invoice? Add a column of rates to the table, then calculate a subtotal for each rate in the footer. Regulations require that the breakdown for each rate applied be shown.
Can I invoice in a foreign currency? Yes, by indicating the currency and, for accounting purposes, the equivalent value in euros with the conversion rate used and its date.
How do I correct an invoice that has already been sent? We do not modify it. We issue a credit note that cancels it in whole or in part, using its references, then a new correct invoice.
How long should I keep my invoices? A copy of every invoice issued must be kept, and this obligation does not depend on the size of the company. Plan for long-term archiving from the very first invoice.
