In conversation the two words are interchangeable. In a purchase ledger they are not, and the difference is not pedantry — it decides whether you can reclaim the VAT.
The distinction in one line
An invoice is a request for payment. A receipt is proof that payment happened.
That's it. Everything else follows from the timing: an invoice is issued before money moves and creates a liability you owe; a receipt is issued after and confirms the liability is settled.
Which is why the same purchase can generate both, and why a supplier who emails you an invoice in March and a receipt in April has sent you one transaction, not two. Posting both is one of the more common causes of duplicate entries.
Why bookkeeping treats them differently
| Invoice | Receipt | |
|---|---|---|
| Issued | Before payment | After payment |
| Creates | A payable | Nothing — it clears one |
| Goes to | Purchase ledger, as a bill | Matched against payment, or coded direct |
| Usually names you | Yes | Often not |
| Payment terms | Stated | Not applicable |
The last two rows are where the practical trouble sits.
The VAT problem
To reclaim input VAT you generally need a valid VAT invoice. HMRC sets out what that must contain, and the list is longer than most till receipts manage: the supplier's VAT number, an identifying invoice number, the date, a description of what was supplied, the amount excluding VAT, the rate applied, and the VAT amount.
A card slip from a builders' merchant showing a total and "VAT included" is not a valid VAT invoice. Neither is a bank statement line, and neither is a supplier's statement of account.
There is a concession worth knowing: for retail supplies under £250 including VAT, a simplified VAT invoice is acceptable. It still needs the supplier's name, address and VAT number, the date, a description, the rate, and the total including VAT — but it does not need your details or a separate VAT figure. Most fuel receipts and trade counter slips are designed to meet this, which is why they carry a VAT number in small print.
Above £250 the full requirements apply, and a receipt alone will usually not satisfy them.
Check the threshold and the required particulars against current HMRC guidance rather than this page. The £250 figure has been stable for a long time, but it is the sort of thing that changes without anyone announcing it to you, and getting it wrong is expensive at the wrong end of an inspection.
What this means in practice
Ask for an invoice when the value is material. Most trade suppliers will issue one on request. It is much easier to ask at the counter than to reconstruct it eight months later.
Don't post a receipt as a bill. If it is proof of a payment already made, it does not belong in the purchase ledger as an outstanding payable. It belongs coded against the payment.
Watch the pairs. Card payments to a supplier who also invoices you are the classic duplicate. Same amount, same supplier, two documents, two entries, one purchase.
Keep both if you have both. The invoice supports the VAT reclaim. The receipt supports the payment. They evidence different things and an inspector may want either.
Where it gets genuinely ambiguous
Pro-forma invoices are neither. A pro-forma is a quotation dressed as an invoice — it is not a demand for payment and does not support a VAT reclaim. If you pay against one, ask for a proper VAT invoice afterwards, because you will need it. Suppliers frequently forget to send it.
Card machine slips versus itemised receipts. The slip from the terminal shows a total and nothing else. The itemised receipt shows what was bought and often the VAT breakdown. People keep the wrong one, because the terminal slip is the one handed over first — and a photo of a crumpled slip is what eventually reaches the bookkeeper.
Subscription and platform charges often produce a document titled "receipt" that actually contains everything a VAT invoice needs. Judge it by its contents, not its heading. The reverse is also true: plenty of documents titled "invoice" are missing a VAT number.
Digital-only suppliers may put the VAT invoice behind a login rather than emailing it. It still exists, and someone has to go and get it.
A short check before you file
For anything you intend to reclaim VAT on:
- Supplier's VAT number is on the document
- There is a date and an identifying number
- What was supplied is described, not just totalled
- VAT is shown as an amount or a rate you can compute
- Above £250, your business is named as the customer
- It isn't a pro-forma, a statement, or an order confirmation
Six checks, and they are the same six every time — which is exactly the kind of work that should not be done by a person reading each document.
Cribble reads receipts as well as invoices, and scores each field it extracts rather than returning one figure for the document. A missing VAT number on something you intend to reclaim against is the kind of gap that shows up as a flagged field rather than as a surprise at quarter end.