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What bank details to put on an invoice, and how to stop invoice fraud

Published · Freelancing and getting paid

An invoice that tells the client exactly how to pay gets paid sooner. Put the full details on every invoice, in the format your client's bank expects, and add one line that protects them from the most common invoice scam.

Always include

  • The account name, exactly as the bank holds it. Banks increasingly check the name against the account before a payment goes through.
  • The bank's name.
  • The invoice number as the payment reference, so you can match the payment.

The details by country

Where your account isDetails clients need
United KingdomSort code (6 digits) and account number (8 digits). Add your IBAN and BIC for payments from abroad.
United StatesABA routing number (9 digits) and account number. Wire transfers can use a different routing number from ACH, so check with your bank. Add the SWIFT code for international payments.
CanadaInstitution number (3 digits), transit number (5 digits) and account number, or the email address for Interac e-Transfer. Add the SWIFT code for payments from abroad.
Euro area (SEPA)IBAN, and the BIC if your clients' banks ask for it.
AustraliaBSB (6 digits) and account number. Add the SWIFT code for international payments.

If you take card or online payments, a payment link works too. Whatever you use, show the due date beside it.

Protect your clients from invoice fraud

The bigger risk is not that someone sees your bank details. It is that a criminal sends your client an email, apparently from you, saying your bank details have changed. Business email compromise, which includes these scams, led to 24,768 complaints and over $3 billion in reported losses in the FBI's 2025 internet crime report.

  • Add a line to your invoices: "Our bank details will never change by email. If you receive a message saying they have, call us on a number you already know before paying."
  • If your details really do change, tell clients by phone as well as in writing, and expect them to check.
  • Send invoices as PDFs from your usual email address, and do not let them circulate as editable documents.
  • For a new client or a large first payment, suggest a small test payment, as the UK's Take Five campaign advises payers to do.

Free template

The free invoice template has a bank details box and adds the fraud warning line for you, with the invoice number as the reference. Print it to PDF from the app before you send it. If a payment is late, the payment reminder letter is the next step.

General information. Check with your bank for the exact details it needs for incoming payments.

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