Guide
What has to be on an invoice
In Ontario the clock on getting paid doesn't start when you send an invoice. It starts when you send a proper invoice — and the Act says in plain terms what that carries. It's a short list, and most invoice templates are missing one or two of them.
The list
Section 6.1 (1) defines a proper invoice as a written bill or other request for payment for services or materials on an improvement under a contract, carrying the following — and meeting any other requirements the contract specifies:
- Your name and address. The contractor's.
- The date of the invoice, and what period or milestone it covers. Not just the date — the stretch of work or the contractual payment entitlement it's for.
- Something that identifies the contract. A contract number, a line item number, a purchase order number — whatever the authorization was under which the work was supplied.
- A description of what was supplied, including quantity where that makes sense.
- The amount payable, and the payment terms.
- Where the money goes. The name, title, mailing address and telephone number of the person to be paid — or, if it goes to an office or a department, that office's name, mailing address and telephone number.
- Anything the owner's accounts payable system genuinely needs, that the owner reasonably asks for. This one is new for 2026.
- Anything else set out in regulation.
That's eight paragraphs, not the seven the pre-2026 version had. The two at the end are open-ended on purpose: one lets the owner ask for what their accounts department actually needs, and one leaves room for the regulations.
The seven days that decide it
An invoice that's missing something from that list still counts as a proper invoice — unless the owner tells you in writing, no later than seven days after receiving it, what's wrong and what's needed to fix it (s. 6.1 (2), new for 2026). Say nothing for a week and it's proper, gaps and all, and the twenty-eight day clock is running.
That cuts both ways. On the invoices you send, silence works in your favour. On the bills you receive, a week of not opening the post is a week of a decision made for you.
Where templates usually fall short
- The contract reference. Most invoices name the job and the address, which isn't the same thing. Put the contract number on it.
- The period. "September" isn't a period or a milestone. Give the dates, or name the milestone the contract uses.
- Where payment is sent. A logo and an email address at the top of the page isn't the item the Act lists — it wants a name, a title, a mailing address and a phone number.
- Quantity. On a time-and-material line, hours are the quantity, and they belong on the page or on a breakdown attached to it.
None of this is hard. It's the kind of thing you fix once, in the template, and never think about again — which is exactly the argument for not writing invoices by hand.
What it doesn't do
A proper invoice isn't a claim that the work is right or that the amount is owed. It starts the clock: seven days for the owner to object to the invoice itself, fourteen for a notice of non-payment on the money, twenty-eight to pay what isn't disputed. Those four clocks are in the prompt-payment guide. And a requirement to pay under the prompt-payment rules is still subject to holdback under Part IV (s. 6.2) — being paid and being paid everything are different things.
How Millo does it
Millo prints your invoices with your logo and the details on them, keeps each one against its job and the period it covers, and shows you the dates it starts. It's job-costing software that runs on your own office computer, bought once, with no subscription.