Bill To vs Ship To on an Invoice

What does Bill To mean on an invoice?

The Bill To section identifies the person or business being charged for the goods or services shown on the invoice. It normally appears near the top of the invoice alongside the seller's From information.

Bill To details can include the customer's name, company name, billing address, email address, phone number, and other relevant contact information.

For business customers, the billing information may belong to a head office or accounts department rather than the physical location where the work was completed or goods were delivered.

What does Ship To mean on an invoice?

The Ship To section identifies the address where physical goods are being delivered. It is particularly useful for businesses selling products, equipment, materials, wholesale goods, clothing, furniture, and other physical items.

A shipping address can be different from the customer's billing address. For example, a company might pay invoices through its head office while asking suppliers to deliver products to a warehouse.

Keeping this information in a separate Ship To section makes the delivery destination clear without changing the billing information associated with the customer.

What is the difference between Bill To and Ship To?

The main difference between Bill To and Ship To is what each section identifies. Bill To shows who is responsible for the invoice, while Ship To shows where the order should be delivered.

For many transactions, both sections may contain exactly the same address. However, keeping them separate can still be useful when an invoice relates to physical goods because it clearly distinguishes billing information from delivery information.

• Bill To identifies the customer being invoiced
• Ship To identifies the delivery destination
• Bill To contains billing details
• Ship To contains delivery details
• The two addresses can be the same or different

Bill To and Ship To example

Imagine a business orders office furniture from a supplier. The company's finance department is based at its head office in London, but the furniture needs to be delivered to a separate office in Manchester.

In this situation, the invoice could show the London head office within Bill To and the Manchester office within Ship To. The invoice therefore identifies the company responsible for payment while separately showing where the furniture was delivered.

This is one of the most common situations where having separate billing and shipping information makes an invoice easier to understand.

What information goes in the Bill To section?

The exact information you include depends on the customer, but a Bill To section commonly contains:

• Customer name
• Company or business name
• Billing address
• Town or city
• Postcode or ZIP code
• Country where relevant
• Customer email or phone number where needed

What information goes in the Ship To section?

When physical goods are being delivered, the Ship To section can include:

• Recipient name
• Company name where applicable
• Delivery address
• Town or city
• Postcode or ZIP code
• Country where relevant
• Relevant delivery location details

Do you always need a Ship To address?

No. A Ship To address is generally only useful when an invoice relates to physical goods that need to be delivered somewhere.

Freelancers and service businesses often do not need a shipping section at all. A graphic designer, consultant, copywriter, tutor, or other service provider may only need the customer's billing details because there is no physical product being shipped.

If your transaction does not involve a delivery, including an unnecessary Ship To section can make the invoice more complicated without providing useful information.

Can Bill To and Ship To be the same address?

Yes. Bill To and Ship To can contain the same address when the customer receives goods at the same location used for billing.

For example, a small business could order supplies and have them delivered directly to its main business address. In that situation, its billing and shipping addresses may be identical.

You should still check the details provided by the customer instead of assuming the delivery address and billing address are always the same.

When are different billing and shipping addresses common?

Different Bill To and Ship To addresses are particularly common when businesses operate from multiple locations or centralise their accounting.

A company may have its finance department at one office while goods are delivered to stores, warehouses, construction sites, branches, or customer locations.

Online and retail orders can also use different addresses when the person paying for an item asks for it to be delivered somewhere else.

Common Bill To and Ship To mistakes

Separating the two sections clearly can help prevent common invoice mistakes such as:

• Putting the shipping address in the Bill To section
• Sending goods to the billing address by mistake
• Using an outdated delivery address
• Leaving customer information from an older invoice
• Combining two different addresses into one section
• Assuming the billing and shipping addresses are identical

How to format Bill To and Ship To on an invoice

Bill To and Ship To should be clearly labelled so the customer can immediately understand what each address represents. The sections can be displayed next to each other or separately depending on the invoice layout.

Keep the formatting consistent by presenting names, company details, street addresses, towns, postcodes, and countries in a clear order. Avoid placing unrelated information inside either address section.

Before sending the invoice, check that the billing information belongs to the correct customer and that any shipping information matches the actual delivery destination.

Create an invoice with Bill To and Ship To details

If you are invoicing for services, a standard From and Bill To invoice may provide everything you need. If you are invoicing for physical products or delivered goods, adding separate shipping information can make the document clearer.

InvoiceAtlas provides invoice templates with From and Bill To layouts as well as Ship To formats for invoices that require delivery information.

You can also use the free invoice generator to enter your customer details, invoice items, taxes, discounts, payment terms, notes, and totals before downloading the completed invoice as a PDF.