Free Trade Counter Receipt Template

What a trade counter receipt is for

A trade counter sells parts across a counter to tradespeople and walk-in customers, often on account rather than for immediate payment. The receipt has to do two jobs at once: record what was taken, and tell the customer how to pay for it. That is why this layout carries a block of bank details on the face of the document rather than on a separate remittance slip that can be lost.

• Your business name, address and contact details at the head
• The date, the customer and a contact number for them
• Account name, bank, account number, branch, branch code and SWIFT code
• Quantity, description and unit price for every line taken
• An amount per line, with the subtotal calculated for you
• A VAT row at whatever rate applies where you trade
• A clear total, set apart from the rest of the grid
• How the customer paid, or intends to
• Your returns terms, so they are agreed at the point of sale

Why the amount column is split in two

The grid divides the amount into a wide column for the whole units and a narrow one for the minor units, and the same division carries down through the subtotal, VAT and total rows. It is a convention from printed pads: when figures are written in by hand, the split keeps every decimal point in the same place down the page, so a column can be added up by eye without anybody having to line up the dots.

The builder fills both halves for you when you enter a price, and leaves the narrow column empty for currencies that have no minor unit.

Printing a pad to fill in by hand

Counters are busy, and typing a receipt while somebody waits is often slower than writing one. The grid always draws its thirteen ruled rows whether or not you have entered anything, and the account block keeps its rules when its fields are empty, so an otherwise blank receipt prints as a usable form.

A practical middle ground is to fill in the parts that never change, which is most of the sheet, and print a pad of those. Your business details, bank details and returns terms are then already on every copy, and only the lines and the customer are written in.

Returns terms belong on the receipt

Parts are returned more often than most goods, and the argument at the counter is usually about what was agreed at the time of sale. Terms printed on the receipt itself are harder to dispute than terms displayed on a wall behind the till, because the customer left holding a copy of them.

The template ships with a general returns policy covering the period, the condition, the packaging and the proof of purchase, and every line of it is editable. It is a starting point rather than legal advice: what you can and cannot require differs by country, so check what applies where you trade.

VAT, and the word "inclusive"

The middle total row is labelled V.A.T Inclusive by default, and you can rename it. The arithmetic is the ordinary kind: the subtotal is the sum of the lines, the VAT row is that subtotal at your rate, and the total is the two added together.

If the prices you enter already contain VAT, set the rate to zero so the total matches what you actually charged, and keep the VAT figure in your own records. Doing it the other way round would add the tax twice.