Free Receipt Generator (PDF Download)
Create a receipt for free. Enter the payer, amount and payment details and an A4 preview builds instantly — save it as a PDF. Japanese stamp duty is calculated automatically.
What this receipt generator does
This receipt generator lets you build a receipt in your browser just by entering the recipient, the amount, a memo and your business details, and save it straight to PDF. The A4 preview on the right updates as you type, so you can check exactly how it will look before you print — handy for issuing one on the spot even if you have run out of paper receipt pads.
Where an invoice sets out an amount that is still owed, a receipt proves an amount that has already been received. The details required are different too: a receipt needs a memo describing what the payment was for, and a check on whether a revenue stamp is required, which in Japan applies to receipts of 50,000 yen (excluding tax) or more. This tool calculates the stamp duty amount automatically from the amount received.
There is no sign-up and no file upload. Everything you type stays inside your browser, and the draft is only ever saved on your own device — so you can put together a document with a client's name and an amount on it without handing that information to a server anywhere.
How to create a receipt
- Enter the date, number and amount Check the issue date and receipt number, then enter the amount received. A toggle lets you switch between tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive.
- Choose the memo and payment method Describe what the payment was for in the memo field, or pick one of the suggestions. Then choose how it was paid — cash, bank transfer and so on.
- Add the issuer and recipient Enter your business name, address and contact details. You can add a suffix such as "Mr." or "Ms." to the recipient's name.
- Check whether a revenue stamp is needed When the currency is JPY, whether a stamp is required and its value are shown automatically based on the tax-exclusive amount. Tick the box if this is a private, non-business transaction.
- Print and save as PDF Press "Print / Save as PDF" to open the print dialog. Choose "Save as PDF" as the destination to get a PDF file containing only the document.
Tips for getting more out of it
- In Japan, stamp duty is only triggered when a receipt is issued as a paper document. According to the National Tax Agency, sending a receipt electronically — for example as a PDF by email, without ever printing it — does not create a stamp duty liability. Whether you plan to hand it over on paper makes the difference.
- A general memo such as "For goods purchased" is acceptable, but for expense claims it saves time later to describe specifically what was bought. You are not limited to the suggested phrases — type your own if none of them fit.
- In Japan, receipts under 50,000 yen do not need a revenue stamp. An amount of exactly 50,000 yen does require one, so the threshold to check is whether the tax-exclusive amount is 49,999 yen or less.
- A receipt for something outside business activity — such as an individual selling their own household belongings — does not require a revenue stamp regardless of the amount. Check this box for flea-market sales or private transactions between individuals.
- Adding a registration number lets this receipt double as a simplified qualified invoice, which is especially useful for retail, restaurant and taxi businesses that sell to the general public.
- If you issue receipts to the same person repeatedly, your draft is saved automatically, so you only need to update the date and number each time. Use "Reset" to clear the form before starting one for someone else.
When to use it
Sole proprietors and freelancers receiving payment
Issue proof of receiving payment for goods, services or membership fees by cash or bank transfer, choosing a memo phrase that matches what was paid for.
Checking stamp duty on payments of 50,000 yen or more
Enter the tax-exclusive amount and the tool shows automatically whether a revenue stamp is required and its value (from 200 yen), so you do not need to memorise the tax bands yourself.
Issuing a simplified qualified invoice in Japan
Add a registration number to the receipt. This suits retail, restaurant and taxi businesses that serve the general public and can issue a simplified document without naming the recipient.
Issuing a receipt for a private sale between individuals
For a transaction that is not a business activity — such as handing over a high-value item sold through a marketplace app — ticking "non-business receipt" confirms that no revenue stamp is needed, whatever the amount.
A stand-in when you are out of paper receipt pads
Even if a shop or job site has run out of a paper receipt book, you can fill one in on the spot from a phone or tablet and print or save it as a PDF.
Receipt terms
- Memo
- The line on a receipt describing what the payment was for. General phrasing such as "for goods purchased" is common, but wording that specifically identifies what was paid for is preferred.
- Revenue stamp
- A stamp affixed to a document to show that stamp duty has been paid. In Japan, a receipt for money or securities generally requires one once the amount stated (excluding tax) reaches 50,000 yen.
- Stamp duty
- A Japanese national tax charged on the creation of certain documents. A "receipt for money or securities" is one of the taxable document types, with the tax due rising in steps according to the amount stated.
- Non-business receipt
- A receipt issued privately by an employee or an individual who is not operating a business. Because it falls outside the definition of "business" under Japan's Stamp Duty Act, no revenue stamp is required regardless of the amount.
- Simplified qualified invoice
- A simplified form of qualified invoice, permitted for businesses such as retail, restaurants and taxis that sell to an unspecified general public, which lets them omit the recipient's name. It must still show details such as the registration number.
- Registration number
- The number assigned to a business registered with the tax office as a qualified invoice issuer in Japan. It is a "T" followed by 13 digits — for a corporation, its existing corporate number is used as-is.
Frequently asked questions
Side Note — the revenue stamp is an idea that goes back to Edo-period Japan
Taxing documents is not a modern invention. Long before the current stamp duty system, the Edo shogunate levied fees known as "unjokin" and "myogakin" on business licences such as those for pawnbrokers and sake brewers, and a range of similar handling charges on contracts and deeds could be found across the country. The direct ancestor of today's system — a physical stamp affixed to a document — arrived in 1873 (Meiji 6), when the "Regulations on the Use of Stamps for Receipts and Certificates" were established. That is generally regarded as the start of Japan's stamp duty system, and the basic idea of taxing the document itself has continued for nearly 150 years since.
Taxing documents this way is far from unique to Japan. The practice is usually traced to 17th-century Holland, where an official stamp was pressed onto public documents to show a duty had been paid, and England passed its own Stamp Act in 1694. That English stamp duty later became famous for a very different reason: it was extended to Britain's American colonies. When Parliament passed the Stamp Act of 1765, taxing printed materials and legal documents there, the colonists responded with the cry "no taxation without representation" — a grievance that became one of the sparks of the American Revolution. A tax on a single sheet of paper ended up at the centre of a political rift that spanned the Atlantic.
Back in Japan, the threshold at which a receipt requires a revenue stamp — now 50,000 yen excluding tax — has been raised more than once. It used to be set at 30,000 yen before being lifted to 50,000 yen in April 2014. The reasoning appears to have been that requiring even small, everyday transactions to carry a taxable document was an excessive administrative burden, and as cashless payments become more common, where that line should sit seems likely to stay under discussion.
As for why a credit card receipt does not need a revenue stamp: stamp duty specifically targets the cash-like act described as a "receipt for money or securities". A card payment runs through a credit company as a credit transaction, and the seller is treated as not having received money on the spot. It is one of the more curious features of stamp duty that two purchases of exactly the same amount can differ in whether any tax is owed on the piece of paper, purely because of how the customer chose to pay.