How to invoice a trucking load so it gets paid the first time

Why freight invoices get held

A shipper or broker pays freight bills in batches. Someone in accounts payable matches each invoice against a load in their own system, checks it against the rate they agreed to, looks for proof that the freight arrived, and approves it for the next payment run. Anything that stops that match sends the invoice to a pile marked "needs review", and that pile is where days sales outstanding grows.

The common reasons are boring and avoidable: the invoice quotes a different load number from the one on the rate confirmation, the proof of delivery is missing or unsigned, a detention charge appears with no times to support it, or the invoice went to a general inbox instead of the address the customer asked for. None of these are disputes about the work. They are paperwork gaps, and fixing them before you send is far cheaper than chasing them afterwards.

So the goal of a good freight invoice is simple: make it possible for a stranger in another office to approve it without writing back to you.

What to put on a freight invoice

There is no single legal template for a trucking invoice, but the fields below are what brokers and shippers look for. Put the customer’s references where they can see them without reading the whole page.

• Your legal business name, address and contact details, plus your carrier or authority numbers if the customer asks for them.
• Invoice number and invoice date. Use one numbering sequence and never reuse a number, even for a voided invoice.
• Bill-to: the customer’s legal name and the accounts payable address or email they gave you, which is often not the dispatcher you worked with.
• The customer’s references: their load or order number, PO number, pickup number and the BOL number, written exactly as they appear on the rate confirmation.
• Origin and destination with the pickup and delivery dates, so the load is recognisable at a glance.
• Charges, one per line: linehaul, fuel surcharge if it is billed separately, and each accessorial.
• Sales tax where it applies, shown as its own amount (more on GST/HST below).
• Payment terms and how to pay: the due date, the remittance details, and whether you accept card or bank payment online.

The documents that go with it

An invoice on its own is a claim. The documents behind it are the evidence. Most customers want the following, combined into one PDF in this order:

1. The invoice.
2. The signed bill of lading or proof of delivery, legible, with the consignee’s signature, the date and any exceptions noted at delivery.
3. The rate confirmation the customer sent you, so the rate on your invoice can be checked against the rate they agreed to.
4. Receipts or records for accessorials: lumper receipts, scale tickets, or the in and out times that support detention.

Scan pages flat and in colour where stamps matter. A photo of a crumpled BOL taken in a dark cab is one of the most common reasons a load is set aside. If your drivers send paperwork from a phone, ask them to photograph it on a flat surface with the whole page in frame.

Keep the originals or the scans with the load record. In Canada, the Canada Revenue Agency generally expects business records and their supporting documents to be kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and for longer in some situations.

Accessorials: bill them on their own lines

Detention, layover, lumper fees, tarping, extra stops, driver assist and truck-ordered-not-used are real costs, and they are where invoices are most often cut back. Three habits help:

• Agree the rule first. The rate confirmation should say how much free time is allowed and what each accessorial pays. Bill to that rule, not to what feels fair.
• One line per charge, with a short description such as "Detention at consignee, 3 hours after 2 free".
• Attach the proof. In and out times from the bill of lading, the driver’s log or the facility’s gate record; the lumper receipt with the amount and facility name.

Lumper fees are often reimbursed rather than marked up, and some customers want the original receipt before they pay them. If a customer disputes an accessorial, a separate line lets them short-pay that one item instead of holding the whole invoice.

GST/HST on a Canadian freight invoice

If you are registered for GST/HST, your invoice is also the document your customer uses to claim back the tax you charged them as an input tax credit. The CRA sets out what that document must show, and the list grows with the invoice total.

For a total under 100 (in Canadian dollars), the invoice needs your business name, the invoice date and the total. From that point up, it also needs your GST/HST registration number, the total GST/HST charged (or a statement that the price includes it) and, when an invoice mixes taxable and exempt items, which is which. For totals of 500 or more, add the buyer’s name, a brief description of the service and the payment terms. Most freight invoices are over that level, so in practice every field applies.

Which rate to charge depends on the place of supply rules for freight, and some freight, such as continuous movements that cross the border, can be zero-rated. That is a topic of its own: see GST/HST for trucking companies. US carriers billing US customers generally have no federal sales tax line on a freight invoice; ask your accountant about any local rules that apply to you.

When and how to send it

Send the invoice the day the load delivers, or the day you receive the proof of delivery. Every day the invoice waits is a day added to when you are paid, because most customers count their terms from the date they receive a complete invoice, not from delivery.

• Use the address the customer asked for. Large brokers often require invoices through their own portal or a specific billing inbox.
• One load per invoice unless the customer asks for consolidated billing. It keeps matching simple.
• Name the file usefully, for example the invoice number and the customer’s load number.
• Follow up on a schedule. Check your receivables aging every week and contact the customer before an invoice goes past its due date, not after.

If you factor your receivables, the order changes slightly: the invoice and documents go to your factor, and your customer is told to pay the factor. See freight factoring explained.

How TruckerPro Finance handles it

In TruckerPro Finance, the invoice starts from the load. The customer, the references and the charges you entered on the load become the invoice lines, so nothing is typed twice. When the load is delivered, you open its invoice and email it to the customer as a PDF.

For charges that are not tied to a load, there are custom invoices and recurring invoices on a schedule, and credit notes when something needs to be reversed. Payments are recorded against each invoice, one at a time or in bulk, and the receivables aging is refreshed daily so you can see what is due and what is late.

Customers can pay an invoice online by card, and by US ACH debit or Canadian pre-authorized debit where your own Stripe account offers them; the payment is recorded on the invoice. All of this is included from the Starter plan. Compare the plans to see what each one adds.