Invoice Templates March 11, 2026

Independent Contractor Invoice Example — Canada

If you're an independent contractor in Canada billing a corporate client, you need an invoice that satisfies CRA requirements, includes the right GST/HST details, and gives your client everything their accounts payable department needs to process payment without back-and-forth.

Below is a real independent contractor invoice example, a breakdown of every required and recommended field, and guidance on payment terms that get you paid faster.

Example: Independent Contractor Invoice

Here's a complete invoice a Canadian independent contractor might send to a corporate client for a month of consulting work:

INVOICE
From Alex Tremblay Consulting Alex Tremblay Toronto, ON M5V 2T6 [email protected] · (416) 555-0192 GST/HST #: 123 456 789 RT0001	Bill To Northgate Solutions Inc. Accounts Payable 200 Bay St, Suite 1400 Toronto, ON M5J 2J1 [email protected]
Invoice Number: INV-2026-031	Invoice Date: March 31, 2026
Contract / PO #: NSI-PO-7742	Payment Due: April 30, 2026 (Net 30)

Description	Hours	Rate	Amount
Project Management Consulting — March 2026 Per Statement of Work SOW-2026-02	40	$150.00/hr	$6,000.00
Travel — Client Site Visits (2 × $85) Per approved expense policy	—	—	$170.00
Subtotal			$6,170.00
HST 13% (Ontario)			$802.10
Total Due			$6,972.10

Payment Method	EFT / Direct Deposit
Bank	TD Canada Trust · Transit 12345 · Account 678901234
Notes	Please include invoice number INV-2026-031 in the payment reference. Late payments are subject to 1.5%/month interest per the signed contractor agreement.

Required Fields on a Canadian Contractor Invoice

CRA requires these fields on any invoice where GST/HST is charged:

Your legal name or business name — exactly as registered with CRA
Your GST/HST registration number — mandatory if you're registered (required once revenue exceeds $30,000/year over four consecutive quarters)
Invoice date
Invoice number — must be sequential and unique
Client's name or business name
Description of services — detailed enough for the client's accounting records
Amount charged before GST/HST
GST/HST rate and amount — shown separately from the subtotal
Total amount due

For invoices over $150, CRA also requires the client's name or business name. For invoices over $400, you must include the terms of payment.

Payment Terms — What to Use and Why

Your payment terms are one of the biggest levers you have over cash flow as an independent contractor. Here's what each option means in practice:

Term	Meaning	Best For
Due on receipt	Payment expected immediately	Small projects, new clients
Net 15	Payment within 15 days	Established clients, fast-paying companies
Net 30	Payment within 30 days	Standard corporate billing cycle
Net 45 / Net 60	Payment within 45–60 days	Large enterprise clients — negotiate down if possible
2/10 Net 30	2% discount if paid within 10 days, otherwise Net 30	Incentivizing fast payment from slow payers

Recommendation for most Canadian independent contractors: Net 15 or Net 30. Always include a late payment clause — even a simple "Late payments are subject to 1.5% per month interest" reduces how often clients go past due.

Contract or PO Reference

Corporate clients almost always require a Purchase Order (PO) number or a Statement of Work (SOW) reference on your invoice before they can process it. Missing this field is the #1 cause of payment delays for independent contractors billing large companies. Always ask your client contact for the PO number before sending your first invoice on a new engagement.

GST/HST on Independent Contractor Services

Most independent contractor services in Canada are taxable at the applicable rate for the province where the service is delivered:

Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI: HST 13–15%
British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec: GST 5% (+ provincial tax varies)
Alberta: GST 5% only — no provincial sales tax

If you're not registered for GST/HST (revenue under $30,000/year), do not charge or collect GST/HST. Once registered, you must collect it on all taxable services and remit it to CRA.

Expenses: Billable or Non-Billable?

Expenses should only appear on your invoice if your contract explicitly allows pass-through billing. The most common billable expenses for independent contractors are:

Travel — mileage (CRA 2026 rate: $0.70/km for first 5,000 km), flights, accommodation, per diem meals
Software licences — purchased specifically for the project
Subcontractors — if your contract permits hiring sub-contractors and billing them through

Keep all receipts. If your client asks for a detailed expense report, you'll need them. Do not charge HST on top of expense reimbursements if the original receipt already included HST — this double-charges your client.

Why Paper and Word Templates Fail Contractors

Many independent contractors start with a Word or Excel template. It works for the first few invoices. Then you hit problems:

Sequential invoice numbers are manual — easy to make mistakes that trigger CRA audit flags
HST calculations are manual — one formula error means under- or over-charging your client
No payment tracking — you don't know which invoices are outstanding at a glance
Each new client means copying, editing, and re-formatting the template
PDF export from Word looks different on every device

A proper invoicing app handles all of this automatically: sequential numbering, automatic HST by province, client database, invoice status tracking, and consistent PDF output every time.

Related Guides

Contractor Invoice Template — dedicated landing page with invoice generator
Contractor Invoice Template — Construction & Trades — holdback, progress billing, change orders
IT Contractor Invoice Guide — software, consulting, and hourly tech billing
Canadian Freelance Invoice Template — general-purpose freelance invoice
Self-Employed Invoice Canada — sole proprietor invoicing and CRA requirements
Invoice Corrections & Credit Notes — how to fix a wrong invoice