Tailor receipt format: what to put on the slip

A grocer's receipt records a finished sale. A tailor's slip starts its life before the work exists. It goes home in a customer's bag holding a promise: this cloth, this garment, this date, this balance. Weeks later it comes back across the counter, often creased, and it has to settle any argument.

Owners do go looking for this. One asked on a retail forum for a way to produce a printable alteration ticket, and the thread had no answer when we read it. A plain paper format does the job, so here is one. All names and figures below are made up.

One slip, three moments

The same slip does different work on different days. Design it around these.

• Drop-off. It records what you received and what you agreed to make.
• Each payment. It records the money and the new balance.
• Collection. It records that the customer took the garment and owes nothing.

What to include

Top of the slip

• Shop name, address and phone number. The customer will need these in three weeks.
• Tax number, if you have one.
• A printed running number. This is the order number, and it goes on the job ticket too.
• Date taken in, and who took it.

The customer

• Name and phone number.
• Company name, if a business is paying. A company may need more than a slip, so raise a proper invoice as well.

The work

Give each garment its own line, with what will be done and the price. "1 sherwani, plain lining, one fitting" prevents more trouble than "sherwani". For alterations, name the job: "shorten sleeves 2 cm".

Note where the cloth came from. If the customer brought it, record the length and any flaw you saw. Our guide to building a price list covers the checks to make at drop-off.

Measurements reference

Do not write the measurements on the customer's copy. Write a reference: "Measured 3 March, set 2". The figures stay in your book or system. A slip is easily lost, and a customer's measurements are private. A reference also tells the cutter which set to use.

Dates

Give the next fitting date and the ready date, on separate lines. Promise a ready date you can keep, and leave room to add a second fitting. Avoid "next week".

Money

Show the total, the deposit and the balance. Add a small payment table if customers pay in parts. State whether prices include tax.

A sample layout

Example only. One order, with two payments made so far.

Check the sums: 700 plus 100 is 800. Less 400 and 150 leaves 250. Write the balance again every time money changes hands, so the latest line is always the true one.

The terms block

Keep it to a few short lines at the foot, in plain words. Decide your own terms, and ask a local adviser if you need the wording to hold up. These are the ones worth having.

• Deposit: whether it can be returned, and when.
• Changes: what happens to the price if the customer changes the design after cutting.
• Fittings: how many are included.
• Uncollected work: how long you hold a garment, and what happens then. Rules on this differ by place, so check yours.
• Customer's cloth: what you accept responsibility for.
• Collection: bring this slip. Say what happens if it is lost, such as showing the phone number on the order.

At collection

Have the customer check the garment, then record three things on your copy: the date, "paid in full", and their signature. If someone else collects, note the name.

If the customer sees a fault, write it down before they leave, and turn it into a job.

Keep a copy

A carbon-copy book is cheap and it works. The top sheet goes with the customer, the second stays bound in order. Never tear out a spoiled slip. Cross it through and keep it, so that the numbers stay unbroken. A gap in the sequence is the first thing to look at when cash does not add up.

Clip a matching ticket to the garment itself. The customer's slip and the workshop's job card should share the same order number.

Receipt, invoice or tax invoice

A receipt says what was paid. An invoice says what is owed. A tax invoice is a legal document, and its required contents depend on where you trade. Do not assume this slip meets those rules. Ask your tax authority or adviser what you must issue, to whom, and when.

Deposits deserve a question of their own. In the UK, for example, the HMRC VAT guide says "VAT is due on all charges, deposits and fees which are full or part payments for a supply." If you charge tax, ask how your rules treat money taken before the garment is finished.

For a printable starting point, our free tailor invoice template has deposit, other payments, balance and signature lines. Filled in, it serves as both bill and receipt for an ordinary customer.

Tailoq does not print receipts, so keep your slip book. It does record deposits, later payments and the balance on each order, and it can hold handover proof with a photo and signature. That gives you a second record to check against the paper.