An invoice is a legal document, not a receipt
A legally compliant invoice carries specific fields required by the tax authority in the issuing jurisdiction, and those fields are what make it deductible for the buyer. A missing field is not just a formatting issue: it is a rejected deduction, a disputed payment, or an audit trigger. This generator includes tax ID fields for both parties (GSTIN, VAT number or EIN) and region-aware tax handling: state sales tax for the US, VAT with a reverse-charge option for the UK and EU, GST with the CGST/SGST or IGST split for India, and a plain zero-tax format for agency retainer work. Like every HeroTool by Digital Heroes, it is 100% free with no limits.
Four tax presets cover most real-world invoices
Four presets cover roughly 90 percent of invoice needs for agencies and freelancers. The US sales tax preset defaults to a representative New York rate (8.875 percent) and is editable per state; sales tax is typically B2C only. The UK and EU VAT preset defaults to the 20 percent UK standard rate and exposes a reverse-charge toggle for B2B cross-border sales, required under Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC. The India GST preset defaults to 18 percent (the most common services rate) and splits into CGST plus SGST for intra-state sales or IGST for inter-state sales and exports, following the CBIC invoice-format rules; a place-of-supply selector picks the right split. The agency retainer preset ships zero tax and a line-item format suited to sprint-based billing.
A native PDF, built on your device
The PDF is rendered with pdf-lib (MIT license), self-hosted on this page with no CDN fetch, entirely in your browser. Your data never leaves your machine: no account, no email, no upload. The output is a native PDF with embedded fonts and a real text layer, so accounting software parses it correctly and the content stays searchable and copy-paste-able. Long item lists and long notes flow onto extra pages automatically, and pasted text is normalised for the PDF character set (curly quotes, long dashes and odd spaces are converted) so an export can never fail on copied content. Add a PNG or JPG logo and it appears in both the live preview and the exported file.
Frequently asked questions
Does this tool actually generate a real invoice PDF?
Yes. The generator runs pdf-lib (MIT license) in your browser to build an A4 PDF with your logo, business details, client details, line items, totals and payment terms, then writes it straight to your local disk. There is no server round trip. It is not an HTML page saved as PDF; it is a native PDF with embedded fonts and a text layer, so any accounting platform, email client or PDF reader parses it correctly and the content is searchable and copy-paste-able. Long invoices flow onto additional pages automatically.
How do I issue a GST-compliant invoice from India?
Pick the India GST preset and fill in your GSTIN (and the buyer's GSTIN for B2B) in the tax ID fields. For intra-state sales, where seller and buyer are in the same state, the tax splits as CGST plus SGST at half the full rate each: 18 percent GST becomes 9 percent CGST plus 9 percent SGST. For inter-state sales and exports the full rate goes to IGST. Choose the place of supply and the tool applies the right split and prints it on the PDF, following the invoice format set by the CBIC. If your turnover requires HSN or SAC codes, add them to each line-item description.
Does this support EU VAT reverse charge?
Yes. Pick the UK / EU VAT preset and turn on the reverse-charge option for B2B sales where both parties are VAT-registered in different member states. The PDF then shows a zero VAT line plus the legal notice "Reverse charge: VAT to be accounted for by the recipient under Article 196 of Directive 2006/112/EC", with both VAT numbers taken from the tax ID fields. For B2C, or B2B inside one country, leave reverse charge off and set the VAT rate for the buyer's country (20 percent UK, 19 percent Germany, 21 percent Spain, and so on). The tool does not validate VAT numbers against VIES; confirm them at vies.europa.eu before sending.
Which currencies does it support?
Eight: USD, EUR, GBP, INR, AUD, CAD, JPY and AED. The live preview always shows the native symbol. In the exported PDF, the standard PDF fonts cannot reliably encode non-ASCII symbols, so dollar-based currencies (USD, AUD, CAD) keep their symbol while EUR, GBP, INR and JPY amounts print with the ISO code instead (for example EUR 1,200.00). Either form is unambiguous to banks and accounting software, and the ISO code is what most cross-border payment references use anyway.
Can I send the invoice directly to my client by email?
Not from the tool itself. Generating the PDF is browser-only, with no server layer to route email. Download the PDF, then attach it to a regular email from your own account. This is an intentional design choice, not a missing feature: sending from a third-party tool injects that tool's domain into the From header or SMTP path, which can land in spam and muddies the paper trail. From-your-own-email delivery is cleaner for accounting, legal and client trust.
What happens if I need a recurring invoice?
Save the filled form as a named template (Branding and templates card), then load it each month and update the invoice number and dates: faster than most SaaS recurring-billing setup flows. The form also autosaves a draft as you type, so a half-finished invoice survives a closed tab. When volume crosses roughly 20 invoices per month, move to a proper invoicing platform (QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho Books, Stripe Invoicing); this tool is built for freelancers, agencies and small operators, not high-volume billing.
Does this tool save my invoices or client data?
Only on your device. The form autosaves a draft to your browser's localStorage so you can pick up where you left off, and named templates are stored the same way. Nothing is transmitted to a server, stored in a database or synced anywhere; the generated PDF is written straight to your local disk. Use the Reset button to start a fresh invoice, and clear this site's browsing data to wipe saved drafts and templates completely.
Does it work offline?
Yes. The PDF engine (pdf-lib) is served from this site rather than a third-party CDN, so once the page has loaded there are no external dependencies: HeroTools is a Progressive Web App and the generator keeps working without a connection. Handy on flights, and anywhere you would rather not put client billing data through someone else's network.