How to invoice as an LLC
An invoice from an LLC looks almost the same as one from a sole trader. What changes is whose name is on it, which tax number a client asks for, and which bank account the money goes into. Get those three right and the invoice does its other job: showing that the client contracted with your company, not with you.
What goes on an LLC invoice
There is no single federal list of what a US invoice has to contain. What follows is what clients, accountants and your own records need. Sales tax is the exception with real rules, and those are set state by state.
Use the name exactly as it was registered
Put the LLC's full legal name at the top, the way it appears on your articles of organization, with LLC or L.L.C. included. If you trade under another name, write both: Rivera Design LLC, doing business as Northlight Studio. The same name should be on your contract and on the account the client pays into. An invoice in your personal name, paid into your personal account, is evidence that the client was dealing with you rather than the company.
Keep your tax number off the invoice
An invoice is not the place for a Social Security number, and there is no rule that says one belongs there. A US client who needs to report what they paid you will ask for a Form W-9 instead. The IRS says a single-member LLC that is taxed as a sole proprietorship gives the owner's number on that form, the owner's Social Security number or EIN, not an EIN in the LLC's name. An EIN is free from the IRS and takes minutes to get online, and it means your Social Security number never has to go into a client's accounts system.
An LLC with more than one member, or one taxed as a corporation, gives its own EIN on the W-9.
When a client sends you a 1099
A business that pays you for services files Form 1099-NEC once the year's payments reach the threshold. For payments made in 2025 that was 600 dollars. For payments made after 31 December 2025 it is 2,000 dollars. Payments you received by card, PayPal or another payment platform are reported by that platform on Form 1099-K instead, and only above 20,000 dollars and 200 transactions a year. Either way, the income is taxable whether or not a form arrives, so your invoices are your record.
Get paid into the LLC's account
Open a bank account in the LLC's name and put that account, not your personal one, on every invoice. Courts that are asked to hold owners personally liable for a company's debts look for the owner treating the company's money as their own, and mixing personal and business funds is the classic example. A separate account is the cheapest protection you have.
Numbering and records
Number invoices in one unbroken sequence, or by year, and never reuse a number. Keep a copy of every invoice you send, along with the payments against it. Invoices does both: your LLC details are filled in once, the numbering runs itself, the PDF is drawn on your device, and nothing is sent to a service. If a client is late, NETTERMS writes the reminders.
Sources
IRS, single member limited liability companies · IRS, Form 1099-NEC and independent contractors · IRS, the One Big Beautiful Bill and gig workers (1099-K) · Cornell LII, piercing the corporate veil · Stripe, invoice requirements. This is general information, not legal or tax advice for your situation.
Questions people ask about invoicing as an LLC
Do I have to put LLC on my invoices?
Use the LLC’s full legal name, with LLC included, the way it was registered. If you trade under another name, show both, for example Rivera Design LLC doing business as Northlight Studio. It is what tells the client they are contracting with the company.
Do I need an EIN to invoice as an LLC?
Not to send an invoice. A single-member LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship can give the owner’s Social Security number on a W-9, but a free EIN from the IRS keeps that number out of your clients’ records. An LLC with employees needs an EIN.
Should my EIN or Social Security number be on the invoice?
No. Nothing requires it, and it puts the number in front of everyone who handles the invoice. Clients who need it for tax reporting will ask for a Form W-9.
When will a client send me a 1099-NEC?
When they pay your business for services and the year’s total reaches the threshold: 600 dollars for payments made in 2025, 2,000 dollars for payments made after 31 December 2025. Card and payment platform payments go on a 1099-K instead.
Can clients pay my LLC into my personal bank account?
They can, but it is a bad idea. Mixing personal and business money is one of the main things courts look at when deciding whether to hold an owner personally liable for the company’s debts. Put the LLC’s own account on the invoice.