To create an invoice in Square, sign in to your Square Dashboard, navigate to Orders & Payments (or Invoices & Payments) then Invoices, and fill out the five sections: customer details, line items, payment options, communication method, and any additional options before hitting send. The entire process takes just a few minutes once your account is set up, and you can do it from either the web dashboard or the mobile app.
Creating an Invoice From the Dashboard
From your computer, sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Orders & Payments > Invoices. Click to create a new invoice, and you’ll walk through five steps.
Step 1: Invoice details. Add a new or existing customer. You can include up to nine recipients on a single invoice. Give the invoice a title or description, add an optional message to the customer, and choose whether this is a one-time or recurring invoice.
Step 2: Line items. Enter a custom dollar amount, select an existing item from your catalog, type a new item name directly into the field, or scan a barcode if you have a connected scanner. This is also where you add discounts (per item or for the whole invoice), taxes, shipping fees, or service charges.
Step 3: Payment options. Check the boxes for every payment method you want to accept on this invoice: credit or debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, Cash App Pay, ACH bank transfer, Afterpay, or Square gift cards. You can also toggle on partial payments if you want customers to pay in installments of their choosing.
Step 4: Communication. Choose how your customer receives the invoice: email, text message, or a shareable link. If you send by email, you can add up to eight additional recipients and set automatic payment reminders. For text messages, make sure your customer has requested that delivery method and has a valid mobile number in their profile.
Step 5: More options and send. Before sending, you can request that the customer confirm goods and services were delivered (either before or after payment), toggle on shipping to create a shipping order, attach a Square Contract for service agreements, or upload files (up to 10 attachments totaling 25 MB). When everything looks right, preview the invoice, save it as a draft, or send it immediately.
Creating an Invoice From the Mobile App
If you’re using the Square Point of Sale app with services mode enabled (or the standalone Square Invoices app), tap the (+) button from the Home screen and select “Send invoice.” You can also tap Invoices from the navigation panel and then tap (+). If your POS app is in standard mode, tap the three-line menu icon, then More > Invoices > (+).
The fields you fill out are the same as on the dashboard: customer info, line items, payment methods, and communication preferences. The mobile flow just presents them in a slightly more condensed format. When you’re finished, tap “Send invoice,” or tap the three-dot menu to save it as a draft or schedule it for later.
Setting Up Sales Tax
Square can automatically calculate sales tax for you, but you need to set it up first. Go to Settings > Account & Settings > Payments > Sales Taxes in your dashboard. Under Tax Enrollments, click Manage, then Add Tax Enrollment and select your state. Square will apply the correct rates based on that enrollment.
If you need a custom tax rate instead, click Create Tax on the same settings page. Enter a name and percentage, select which locations it applies to, and choose whether it covers all taxable items or only specific ones. You also pick whether the tax shows as a separate line on the invoice (additive) or is built into the item price (inclusive). On the mobile app, you’ll find these same options under More > Settings > Checkout > Sales Taxes.
Once your taxes are configured, they’ll automatically appear on invoices when you add taxable line items. You don’t need to manually calculate anything per invoice.
Setting Up Recurring Invoices
For clients you bill on a regular schedule, Square lets you create a recurring series that sends invoices automatically. From the dashboard, go to Orders & Payments > Invoices > Recurring Series, then click Create Recurring Series.
Select a customer, add line items and invoice details, then set the recurring schedule: how often it repeats, the start date, an optional end date, and when each invoice is due. If your customer has a card or bank account on file and you check the “Allow automatic payments with card or bank on file” option, Square will charge them automatically at 10:00 AM in your local time zone on each invoice date. Customers still receive a notification before each charge with the option to make an early payment or update their payment method.
Recurring invoicing requires one-time consent from the cardholder to charge their payment method on an ongoing basis. If a scheduled payment is declined, Square notifies your customer immediately through whichever communication method you chose (email or text) so they can update their information.
On the mobile app, the process is similar. Create a new invoice, add your customer and line items, then tap “Make this invoice recurring” under Payment Schedule. Choose your recurring options, fill out the rest, and tap Send or Schedule.
Customizing Your Invoice Branding
You can add your business logo, brand color, and custom text to invoices so they match the rest of your customer-facing materials. Go to the receipt and invoice customization settings in your dashboard, where you can upload a logo and pick a brand color that will display on all digital invoices.
Beyond the visual branding, you can customize the item information shown on invoices, your business location and contact details, a return policy, and a free-text field for announcements or special promotions. These settings apply across your invoices and digital receipts, so you only need to set them once.
What Square Charges for Invoice Payments
Square does not charge a monthly fee for its invoicing tools, but you pay processing fees on each transaction. Invoice payments fall under Square’s online transaction rates. The standard rate is 3.3% plus 30 cents per transaction. If you subscribe to Square’s Plus plan, you get a lower rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents.
To put that in real terms: on a $500 invoice at the standard rate, you’d pay $16.80 in processing fees and deposit $483.20. At the Plus subscriber rate, the fee drops to $14.80. These costs are worth factoring into your pricing, especially for high-volume invoicing or large transactions where the percentage adds up quickly.
There’s no fee to send the invoice itself, and customers don’t pay any extra charges. The processing fee comes out of your end when the payment settles.
Tips for a Smoother Invoicing Workflow
Building out your item catalog before you start invoicing saves time on every future invoice. Instead of typing custom amounts each time, you can pull from pre-set items with descriptions, prices, and tax rules already attached. The same goes for your customer directory: adding phone numbers and email addresses upfront means you won’t need to re-enter them on each invoice.
If you regularly send similar invoices, save a completed invoice as a draft or use it as a template for your recurring series. Setting up automatic reminders in the communication step also cuts down on the time you spend chasing payments manually. Square lets you configure when those reminders go out, so your customers get a nudge without you having to remember to follow up.