Taxi driver
receipt template

Self-employed taxi and private hire drivers are paid fares at the end of journeys, by account customers monthly, and by ride-hailing apps weekly. Because customers pay at the time, the document you owe them is a receipt. This free taxi driver receipt template has worked example lines, the VAT rules that apply, and the mistakes that cause problems later.

What goes on a taxi driver receipt

A fare receipt shows the date, the pick-up and drop-off, the fare, your name or licence number and vehicle, and how it was paid. Account customers get a monthly statement of journeys.

Line by line: Fare, station to hospital, 1 × £14.50 = £14.50; Waiting time, 1 × £3.00 = £3.00. The subtotal is £17.50. The example assumes you are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT and the total paid is £17.50. The figures are illustrative, not a price guide, so use your own rates.

There is no single legal format for a receipt, but a useful one carries your business name and address, a number, the date, each item or service, the total paid and the payment method, plus your VAT number and the VAT if you are registered. Read invoice vs receipt for when an invoice is needed instead, for example when a business customer asks to pay later.

Give every receipt the next number in a single sequence and keep a copy of each one. Numbers let you find a receipt when a customer comes back for a refund or a copy, and a complete sequence is simple evidence that your takings are fully recorded. If your card reader numbers its own receipts, note which system each receipt came from.

How taxi drivers price their work

Hackney carriage fares are set by the council's tariff; private hire fares are set by the operator or agreed in advance, with waiting time and airport charges extra.

Match each receipt line to your price list, so any discount or add-on is visible. To check your prices leave a real profit after costs, use the profit margin calculator.

Agree this before you start

Follow your council licence conditions on fares, meters and receipts, agree fixed prices for pre-booked journeys, and for account customers, agree monthly invoicing and payment terms.

When to give a receipt

On request at the end of each journey; account customers monthly.

Issue it as soon as the customer pays. Card readers and booking apps can send one automatically; check it carries your business details. When a customer needs time to pay, an invoice is the right document, and the invoice generator makes one in a minute.

VAT on taxi driver receipts

Fares are standard-rated for a VAT-registered driver; most drivers are below the threshold. Journeys through an operator follow VAT Notice 700/25, which decides whether the operator or the driver supplies the passenger.

Once registered, a driver charges 20% on fares, because a car seating fewer than 10 passengers is not zero-rated transport. Few drivers reach £90,000 of taxable turnover. If you work through a private hire operator, VAT Notice 700/25 sets out who is supplying the journey to the passenger, which decides whose turnover it is.

You must register for VAT once your taxable turnover in the last 12 months goes over £90,000. Track it with the VAT registration checker, and use the VAT calculator to split a VAT-inclusive price into net and VAT.

Who pays taxi drivers, and how

Most passengers pay on the spot and want a receipt only for expenses. Business account customers want the opposite: a single monthly statement of journeys with dates, pick-up and drop-off points and fares. Your council licence conditions may say what a receipt must show; follow them first.

App platforms send weekly statements showing gross fares, commission and any adjustments; keep every one, because they are your record of app income.

Fares, meters and platform statements

Taxi income comes from several places, and all of it counts: street hails, account work, pre-bookings and app jobs. Keep meter and booking records, and the platform statements that show gross fares and the commission taken. Record the gross fare as income and the commission as an expense, and include tips. Keep licence, insurance and vehicle receipts alongside, because they reduce your taxable profit.

When a customer asks for an invoice

An invoice is for money still owed; a receipt is for money already paid. If a regular customer or a business wants to pay later, give them an invoice with the amount, a due date and how to pay, and follow it with a receipt when they do. Both can be made free with the invoice generator and the receipt generator. The guide to invoice vs receipt has the rules for each.

Deposits and cancellations

Airport and long journeys are sometimes prepaid.

For pre-booked airport and long-distance work, take payment or a deposit at booking and give a receipt for it. Agree waiting time and cancellation charges up front.

Taking payment

Cash, card and app payments; record all three.

Cash, card and bank transfer are all income in full, whatever the fees. Card providers pay out in batches with their fee deducted, so reconcile your receipts to the card report, not only to the bank. Record the fee separately as an expense.

Receipts for business customers

Business customers claim what they pay you as an expense, and VAT-registered ones reclaim the VAT, so they need a receipt that proves it: your business name, address, the date, the supply, the total and, if registered, your VAT number and the VAT. Up to £250 including VAT, a simplified VAT invoice does the job; above it, give a full VAT invoice on request.

Refunds and gift vouchers

Refunds should never be handled by quietly cutting the day's takings. Issue a refund receipt, or note the refund against the original receipt, so both the sale and the refund are in your records. For gift vouchers, record the sale when the voucher is bought and the redemption when it is used; a single-purpose voucher is taxed for VAT at the point of sale for registered businesses.

Paper or digital receipts

There is no rule that a receipt must be printed. Emailed and texted receipts are fine, and often better, because both of you keep a copy. What matters is the content: your business name, the date, what was sold and the amount. When your card reader's automatic receipt says only "payment received", send a proper one from this template instead. Digital receipts also make Making Tax Digital simpler, because your sales records are already in digital form.

Common taxi driver receipt mistakes

• App income recorded net of commission. Record the gross fares and the app's commission separately.
• Cash fares not recorded. Every fare is income; keep a daily record.
• Account journeys without dates and routes. Businesses need them to approve your monthly invoice.
• Receipts that do not match the till or card report. Every sale should have a receipt, and the totals should agree with what reached your bank.
• Mixing personal and business payments. A separate account for business takings makes every receipt easy to match.

Checklist before you hand it over

A quick check before sending saves a chase later:

• The receipt number is the next in your sequence.
• Your business name and address are on it, and your VAT number if you are registered.
• The date is the date the customer paid.
• Each item or treatment is listed with its price, and any deposit or voucher is shown as already paid.
• The total matches the money you actually took, and the payment method is noted.
• A copy is saved with your records.

Keep a copy of every receipt

Your receipts are the evidence behind the income on your tax return, so keep a copy of every one. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax makes that digital: from 6 April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000, from April 2027 over £30,000, and from April 2028 over £20,000, with quarterly updates to HMRC. Check your start date with the MTD requirement checker.

Download the taxi driver receipt template

Download it as a Word document for Word or Google Docs, as an Excel workbook whose totals are live formulas, or as a print-ready PDF. Prefer to fill it in on screen? The free receipt generator opens pre-filled with the example taxi driver lines, lets you choose a template and colour, and makes a finished PDF in a minute, with nothing stored.

For the tax side of the trade, from allowable expenses to Making Tax Digital, read the self-employed taxi driver tax guide. A TapTax account, free to start, keeps your sales and records together and files your quarterly updates to HMRC.