Marketing invoice template for agency retainers and ad spend

Your fee and the client's ad spend are different money

A marketing agency invoice often carries two kinds of money: your fee for strategy, campaign management and reporting, and media spend that goes to search and social ad platforms. Keep them on separate lines, label the spend with the platform and the month, and attach the platform’s billing summary so the client can match every dollar.

• Client pays the platform directly: the spend never appears on your invoice, only your fee.
• You pay and recharge: the spend appears as its own line, at cost or with a markup your contract allows.
• Prepaid media budget: the client pays a spend float in advance, and you report what was used each month.

GST on recharged ad spend in Singapore

IRAS separates two kinds of recharge. If you paid for the ads as the client’s agent, recovering that payment is a disbursement, which is not a supply and is not subject to GST. If you bought the ads as principal and recharge them, that is a reimbursement, and it may be subject to GST as consideration for your supply.

The deciding point is the role you played when buying the ads, so set it out in your contract rather than relying on the line label. IRAS also notes you cannot claim input tax on a disbursement. If the spend is a disbursement, mark that line as exempt in our generator so the 9% applies only to your fees.

Marketing invoice template line items and example prices

The table below shows typical lines for a small agency working with a retail client. Prices are examples only, in Singapore dollars before GST. A larger account, more channels or more creative work will change the numbers, but the structure of fee lines and spend lines stays the same.

Tax invoice rules for a digital marketing invoice

Once you are GST registered, IRAS expects a tax invoice for GST registered customers within 30 days from the time of supply, with the words Tax Invoice in a prominent place. It must show your name, address and GST registration number, the date, an invoice number, the customer’s name and address, a description, the GST rate, and totals before GST, GST and after GST.

• Simplified version: allowed when the total including GST is $1,000 or less.
• Foreign currency: if you bill in US dollars, convert the three totals into Singapore dollars at an approved rate.
• Quotes: prices quoted to the public must include GST.
• Registration: required once taxable turnover is more than $1 million in a calendar year, or expected to be in the next 12 months.

More detail is on our Singapore tax invoice template page.

A monthly rhythm for retainer and spend billing

One pattern keeps reconciliation simple: send the retainer invoice on the first working day of the month it covers, then send the spend and percentage fee once the month closes and the platforms have charged their final amounts. The client gets a fixed bill and a variable bill, each easy to check against its own evidence.

The retainer invoice layout shows how to word the service period. For repeat billing across many clients, our guide to recurring invoices explains the setup, and WhizInvoice can send scheduled invoices if you want that automated.

Start from the agency sample

Download the template from this page, or open the sample agency invoice in the generator. It shows a monthly retainer, an SEO retainer, recharged search spend and an extra creative set on the Singapore preset at 9% GST. Change any line, add your logo and download the PDF.

Browse the full template library for other layouts. If your work is mostly posting and community replies, the social media manager invoice is set up for monthly packages, and the website invoice handles landing page builds in milestones.