Plenty of payments do not arrive all at once. A customer pays a deposit on furniture to be collected next month. A tenant pays rent in two halves. A parent pays school fees across a term. Each of those payments needs a receipt, and each receipt needs to show not only what was paid, but what is still owed.
The two lines that matter
A part-payment receipt has two figures that ordinary receipts can skip:
- Advance (or "Amount paid"): what was paid today.
- Balance: what is still owed after today's payment.
The advance is the same figure you write out in words on the receipt. If the two ever disagree, the receipt is useless as evidence, so check them against each other before you sign.
A worked example
A customer orders a dining table for 900 and pays 300 today as a deposit.
Receipt 1, today
- Receipt number 0211
- Received from: Amaka Eze
- The sum of: Three hundred only
- Being payment for: Deposit on oak dining table, order 77
- Advance: 300.00
- Balance: 600.00
Receipt 2, on collection
- Receipt number 0234
- Received from: Amaka Eze
- The sum of: Six hundred only
- Being payment for: Balance on oak dining table, order 77
- Advance: 600.00
- Balance: nil
Notice three things. Both receipts name the same order, so they can be matched. The second receipt says "balance" in its description, so nobody mistakes it for a new purchase. And it ends with "nil", which closes the account in writing.
Habits that prevent disputes
- Always write the balance, even when it is zero. A blank balance can be read either way.
- Refer back to the order or invoice on every receipt in the series.
- Use your next receipt number, never a "receipt 0211b".
- Write the currency at the end of the amount in words, especially if you deal in more than one.
- Keep a copy of every receipt you hand out. A receipt book with carbon copies does this automatically; a PDF does it just as well.
Main and minor units
Many receipt books split each amount into the main unit and the minor unit: naira and kobo, pounds and pence, dollars and cents. It is a habit from handwritten books that still helps, because it stops a stray decimal point turning 300.00 into 30000.
Make one now
The cash receipt template with logo is laid out like a printed receipt book, with your logo and details across the top, separate Advance and Balance lines, and the amount in words in any of twelve currencies. For a simpler layout with payment method checkboxes, try the cash payment receipt. Both export a PDF, or print a pad of blanks to fill in by hand.
Collecting rent? How to write a rent receipt walks through a full monthly example.