Therapy invoice template: what to include

A client needs an invoice for their records, and you open last time’s Word template. You no longer remember which number you used last, whether the client’s address belongs on it, or what goes in the tax line. These questions tend to come up in the evening, when your accountant has stopped answering.

This page covers what a therapy or coaching invoice usually shows, with Germany as the worked example, and includes a sample.

Details an invoice needs

The exact list depends on the country, but an invoice for a session usually shows:

• your full name and address
• the client’s name and address
• your tax number or VAT ID
• the date of issue
• a unique invoice number from a continuous sequence
• the service, such as “Psychotherapy session, 50 min,” and the date it took place
• the amount
• the tax line: the VAT rate and amount, or the reason no VAT is charged

In Germany this list comes from § 14(4) UStG, the German VAT act. If you charge VAT, the invoice shows the net amount, the rate and the tax separately. If you don’t, it needs a note giving the reason.

Sample

An invoice from Carl Jung to Anna Freud for a session in September, with made-up addresses and numbers:

• Carl Jung, psychotherapist, Musterstraße 1, 10115 Berlin, tax number 12/345/67890
• Bill to: Anna Freud, Beispielweg 5, 10117 Berlin
• Invoice No. 2026-0042, dated September 14, 2026
• Psychotherapy session, 50 min, on September 12, 2026
• Amount: €100.00
• VAT-exempt under § 4 Nr. 14 UStG
• Paid by bank transfer on September 12, 2026

The tax line depends on your country

Whether you charge VAT on sessions, and how the exemption is worded, depends on the country where you’re registered. Ask your accountant which wording applies to you. The rest of this section describes Germany, where therapists and coaches usually rely on one of two rules.

§ 4 Nr. 14 UStG exempts medical treatment by physicians, psychotherapists and other healthcare professions from VAT. The exemption depends on the service. It has to diagnose, cure or relieve an illness, and you need the professional qualification for it. Licensed psychotherapists (with an Approbation) and Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie usually rely on it for treatment. The invoice then says something like “Umsatzsteuerfrei nach § 4 Nr. 14 UStG” (VAT-exempt under § 4 No. 14 UStG).

Coaching, business coaching and general life counseling usually have no therapeutic purpose, so as a rule they don’t fall under § 4 Nr. 14, even when a psychotherapist offers them. For those services you either charge VAT or use the small business rule.

§ 19 UStG is that small business rule, the Kleinunternehmerregelung. If your turnover stays below the legal limits, you charge no VAT and show none on the invoice. The invoice then needs a note such as “Kein Ausweis der Umsatzsteuer, Kleinunternehmer nach § 19 UStG” (no VAT shown, small business under § 19 UStG). Your tax advisor can tell you where the limits are and how they’re calculated.

If you offer both therapy and coaching, each service may need a different note. Settle which rule applies where with your advisor before you issue your first invoice.

Receipt or invoice

A receipt confirms payment: who paid, for what and how much. Germany allows a simplified form for small amounts, the Kleinbetragsrechnung. Up to a total of €250, the document may leave out the client’s name and address. Your name and address, the date, the service, the amount and the tax note still have to be on it. Above that, all the required details apply, including the client’s name and address. Other countries have their own rules for this.

Invoice numbers and currency

In Germany each invoice number is used only once and belongs to a continuous sequence. Check the rule in your own country. A common scheme is the year plus a running number: 2026-0041, 2026-0042, 2026-0043. If you keep the counter in your head or in a spreadsheet, it’s easy to use a number twice.

Don’t delete an invoice with a mistake in it. The usual fix is a cancellation document (Storno) with its own number that refers to the original, followed by a new invoice if needed.

Clients abroad often prefer to pay in their own currency. Issue each invoice in the currency the client actually paid in. If you charge VAT and invoice in a foreign currency, ask your advisor whether the tax amount also has to appear in your local currency.

How it works in CognitEase

In CognitEase you set once in whose name documents are issued, whether they are receipts or invoices, and which tax line they carry. That’s either an exemption in your own words, such as “Umsatzsteuerfrei nach § 4 Nr. 14 UStG” or “VAT-exempt, § 19 UStG,” or VAT, which is then split into net and tax. Every document is built from these settings, so you can retire the Word template.

A document is issued only after the session has taken place and you’ve confirmed the payment. It always carries a past service date, and a reschedule before the session leaves nothing behind that you’d have to void. If you choose, the bot sends the client the PDF right away. The amount and currency come from the booking, so the document shows exactly the currency the client paid in. If you issue invoices, the client enters their billing address when they book, and you don’t have to ask for it.

With the default sequential numbering, numbers run on with no gaps, and at the new year only the year changes: 2026-0152 is followed by 2027-0153. If an amount is wrong, you void the document. A cancellation (Storno) is issued with its own number and, if you give one, a reason, and the original stays in the archive. You get all of a month’s documents as one ZIP archive in the chat with your bot and forward it to your advisor.

CognitEase doesn’t check your tax line and prints it exactly as you enter it, so settle it with your advisor first. Documents are off by default, and you can turn them on only once you’ve said in whose name they’re issued. The Payments and documents page has more.