How to Make a Receipt When Self Employed

Along with potentially having to pound the pavement for work as a self-employed professional, people who serve as their own bosses also have to serve as their own collection agents. When you’ve completed a job, a receipt is your link to receiving payment, but paying for expensive invoicing software may be out of your budget. Instead, make receipts using Windows Paint, a small graphics program included with Windows operating systems. In Paint, you not only get to create professionally-printed receipts, but can customize them for each client while keeping a time-saving template handy for future use.

Start Paint. Click the Paint button’s drop-down menu and select “Properties.” Enter the dimensions for the receipt in the “Width” and “Height” boxes. For a standard page-size receipt, type “8.5” and “11” respectively. Click the “OK” button and Paint resizes the workspace.

Check the color in the “Color 1” box on the ribbon. If it is not black by default, click the small black square at the top left of the “Colors” portion of the ribbon.

Click the “A” icon on the ribbon in the “Tools” section. Click the top left corner of the receipt canvas. Choose an easy to read font, such as Arial, and a font size.

Type your name. Type a job title, if desired, such as “Freelance Mason” or “Writer.” Press the “Enter” key. Type your address, website and any other information you would have on the receipt.

Click the cursor below where you typed your name, in the center of that line. Type “RECEIPT.”

Click the cursor on the left of the page below the word “RECEIPT.” Type “Client.” Press the “Enter” key. Type “Job Date.” Press the “Enter” key. Type “Job Description.” Press the “Enter” key. Type “Payment Due.” Press the “Enter” key. Type “Taxes Paid by Payee?”

Click the line tool in the “Shapes” section of the ribbon. Press and hold down the “Shift” key. Click the cursor next to the “Client” line, click and draw a line to the right side of the page. Release the “Shift” key.

Draw lines next to each of the categories, except the taxes one. Click the rectangle shape in the “Shapes” section and draw a small square to the right of the taxes category, which will serve as a check box.

Click the “A” icon once more and click in the white space on the bottom of the receipt. Type “Comments.”

Click the Paint button and select “Save As.” Enter “ReceiptTemplate” into the “File name” box. Click the “Save” button.

Reopen the receipt template for each occurrence. Click the "A" icon to get a text box, then click each line of the form, such as "Client" and type in the official information. If the client pays you in full, without taking out government taxes, leave the taxes check box unchecked. If the client submits your taxes for you, use the line tool to draw a line to serve as a check mark.

Resave the receipt each time with a new title, such as “JonesReceipt” so your template always remains available.