# Create an invoice from scratch Source: https://help.mucka.ai/invoices/create-an-invoice Category: Invoices Last updated: 2026-09-09 > Raise an invoice without a quote behind it. Line items, VAT, due date, all set in a minute. Most invoices come from a quote you already sent (see [Turn a quote into a job or an invoice](/help/quotes/convert-quote-to-invoice)). For one-off work or call-outs that never had a quote, you can raise the invoice from scratch. ## Ask Mucka Open Mucka and say: > *"Invoice Sarah Walker £180 for the call-out yesterday, two hours of labour."* Mucka pulls up Sarah's record, drafts the invoice with line items, VAT and a 30-day due date by default, and shows it for you to check. ## Or use the form Head to [**Invoices**](/invoices) and tap **Add new invoice**. Pick the client and fill in: - **Line items:** description, quantity, unit price (Mucka does the totals). Tap **Add detail** under any line to spell out what that price covers — see [Say what a price includes](/help/quotes/add-detail-under-a-line-item) - **Tax rate:** defaults to 20%, change per line if needed - **Due date:** defaults to 30 days, edit if your terms differ - **Notes and footer:** anything the client should read before paying On a computer the finished invoice sits on the right of the form while you fill it in, and updates as you type — so you can read what the customer gets before you save it. On a smaller screen, the eye button at the top shows you the same thing. See [See the quote your customer gets while you build it](/help/quotes/see-the-quote-as-you-build-it). Hit save and you've got a draft invoice ready to send. ## From the job itself If the work is already on a job, raise the invoice there and it comes through with the client, the property and the job attached, so nothing has to be picked from a list. A job you have finished and not yet billed offers it to you without your having to look. **On a computer** it turns up in the job's own list of what it still needs, as **Raise the invoice**, alongside the certificate and the write-up. **On your phone** it is an orange **Invoice** button at the bottom of the screen, next to **Back** and **Edit**. It appears from the moment you set the job to finished, and you do not need a quote behind it: a call-out, a service or a CP12 that was never quoted gets the same offer. **The same button then changes to say what the job needs next.** Once there is an invoice written up that has never gone out, it reads **Send invoice** and takes you straight to the email. Once that invoice is away it goes quiet, so it never chases you about a job you have already dealt with. Ticking **No invoice needed** silences it either way. It only shows for people whose role lets them raise invoices, and the sending half needs permission to send email. Or, on any screen, open the job and look for **Paperwork**. That is the section holding everything filed against the job, quotes, invoices, certificates and job sheets, with a row of buttons at the bottom: **+ Quote**, **+ Invoice**, **+ Certificate**. It folds away to keep the page tidy, so on a job that already has a certificate or a job sheet on it you may need to tap the **Paperwork** heading to open it. On a job you have finished and not yet billed, Mucka opens it for you and the heading says **no invoice yet**. You do not need a quote first. Plenty of work never had one. That property matters more than it looks. Your invoice list shows the address the work was at, not the address the bill goes to, so a letting agent with a dozen flats reads as a dozen different jobs rather than twelve identical lines saying the agent's name. Raise the invoice from the job and Mucka fills the property in for you; you can still change it on the invoice if that one is billed against a different address. ## What "draft" means New invoices always start as **draft**. Mucka doesn't send anything until you choose: - **Save & Send.** Opens the email window so you can fire it off straight away. - **Save as Draft.** Keeps it in the list to send later. You can keep editing draft invoices freely. Once sent, the status flips to **sent** and the invoice is locked from major edits (so the version the client received always matches the version on file). ## Common gotchas - **No client on file.** Add the client first ([Add your first client](/help/getting-started/add-your-first-client)) then create the invoice. - **VAT not showing (or showing when it shouldn't)?** VAT follows your VAT registration in [Settings](/settings) — either ticking **VAT registered** or saving a VAT number is enough. Do one of those and invoices show VAT at 20%; do neither and Mucka doesn't mention VAT at all, because you shouldn't charge it until you're registered. That applies to templates too: if you're not registered, picking a template can't add VAT. Once registered, you can change the rate on any individual invoice or set a fixed rate per template. One-off zero-rated or reverse-charge work can be set per line. - **Forgot the PO number.** Commercial clients often won't pay without it. Mucka has a proper box for it — see [Put a PO number on an invoice](/help/invoices/add-a-po-number). - **Invoice number sequence.** Mucka generates the next number automatically. Don't try to skip ahead or HMRC won't be happy. - **It won't save and you can't see why.** Mucka names the line and turns that box red: *"Line 2 needs a quantity above 0"*. Every line needs a description, a quantity above zero and a price of £0 or more. To take money off a bill, don't type a minus line, use the quote's payment schedule, which raises the deposit invoice and deducts it from the final one for you. - **Writing out what the job includes.** There is plenty of room on a line description for a full spec. If you want it laid out under the price instead of beside it, tap **Add detail** on the line, which prints on the customer's copy too.