How to Send Invoices from WhatsApp with AI (No Extra App)

Why send invoices from WhatsApp

Most Australian tradies finish the job on site, then lose an hour that night wrangling an invoicing app, chasing the client's email address, and copying line items across. When you can send invoices from WhatsApp, that admin collapses into a few messages. You already have WhatsApp open, the details of the job are fresh, and the whole flow happens in the chat you use every day.

There is nothing new to learn. No separate login, no desktop software, no training a new hire on yet another system. If you can text, you can invoice.

How it works with offsider

offsider is an AI assistant you message in plain language — no slash commands, no forms. The invoicing flow has three steps:

1. Capture the billable work as a variation. A variation is offsider's word for a scope of work attached to a site — the thing you need to bill for. You create one by messaging the assistant:

"Create a variation for 12 Oak St — extra powerpoints in the garage, confirmed with Dave."

2. Add the line items (jobs). Each chargeable item becomes a job on the variation, with a quantity and a rate (ex-GST):

"Add a job to V1: supply and install 4 double powerpoints in garage, 4 units at $95 each."

"Add another job to V1: conduit run from meter board, 1 at $220."

You can add as many jobs as you need, and the total builds up automatically.

3. Ask for the invoice PDF. Once the variation looks right, you tell offsider to generate the document:

"Generate a tax invoice PDF for variation V1."

The assistant confirms the 20-credit cost the first time a variation is charged, then generates the PDF and sends it back to you as a WhatsApp document. You check it over, and when you're happy with it you forward it to your client — by WhatsApp, email, or however you normally send documents. The whole exchange takes minutes, not an evening.

One thing to note before you start: your ABN, business name, and bank details must be set up in Settings → Quote & Invoice before offsider can generate a compliant invoice. The agent won't ask you for them over chat — you set them once in the dashboard and they appear on every document from then on.

The reason this flow matters is friction. Every extra step between finishing a job and sending the invoice is a chance for it to slip. Open the laptop, remember your login, find the right template, re-key the details — a few small frictions and suddenly it's three days later and the invoice still hasn't gone. Collapsing all of that into a WhatsApp conversation removes the excuse to put it off. The invoice that gets sent is the one that was easy to send.

See the full list of what offsider handles on the features page.

What the PDF contains

A quick message is how you trigger it, but the invoice that comes out is a legitimate Australian tax invoice. Each PDF includes:

"Tax Invoice" in the header — the wording the ATO requires.
Your ABN and business details — taken from Settings, applied automatically.
Line items — each job's name, quantity, and unit rate, so the client can see exactly what they're paying for.
GST — calculated and shown as a separate line.
Grand total — including GST, with an optional discount if you've added one.
Document number — auto-assigned on generation.

If you'd prefer not to show per-line pricing to the client — sometimes useful for fixed-price quotes — you can ask offsider to hide the item rates:

"Hide the line-item pricing on V1's invoice."

Grand totals are still shown; only the per-line breakdown is suppressed.

Because the variation sits on a site with jobs underneath it, the invoice is linked to the actual work record, not just a standalone document. If a client queries a line in three months, you can pull up the variation and see exactly what was logged.

Quotes and invoices for the same job

The 20-credit charge covers quote generation, invoice generation, and every regeneration for the same variation — so you don't pay again if you need to swap a quote to an invoice or tweak a line and regenerate.

A common pattern: generate a quote PDF first and send it to the client for sign-off, then generate the tax invoice once the work is done and confirmed. Both are the same tool, just a different document type:

"Generate a quote PDF for V2." (client approves the work) "Now generate a tax invoice for V2."

offsider doesn't charge the 20 credits a second time because the variation has already been charged.

Getting paid faster

The fastest invoice is the one that goes out the same day. Tradies who invoice on site, or the evening of the job, consistently get paid quicker than those who batch it up for the weekend — because the work is fresh in the client's mind and the paperwork isn't sitting in a "to do" pile.

Generating a PDF over WhatsApp removes the main bottleneck: the context-switch to a separate invoicing app. You're already on your phone. You've already been messaging about the job. The variation is already in offsider from when you logged the work. Turning that into an invoice is a one-message step.

For sole traders especially, the shorter gap between finishing a job and getting paid is the difference between healthy cash flow and constantly chasing money.

It also cuts down on disputes. When the invoice lands the same day, the job is fresh for the client too — they remember agreeing to the extra powerpoints, they can see the line items match what you did, and there's less "what's this for?" back and forth. Fewer disputes and faster answers mean less time chasing and more time on the tools.

A quick note on what offsider does not handle at this stage: there is no built-in paid / unpaid / overdue tracking, and the agent cannot collect payment or generate payment links. Once the PDF is in your hands on WhatsApp, you send it to your client and follow up payment through your normal process. You include your bank transfer details in Settings → Quote & Invoice and they appear on every invoice automatically.

Ready to try it? Start free — 200 credits. offsider is pay-as-you-go on AI credits, so there's no subscription to commit to — check the pricing if you want the specifics.

FAQ

Do I need a separate invoicing app to send invoices from WhatsApp?

No. offsider works inside WhatsApp itself. You message it to create the variation and line items, ask it to generate the PDF, and it sends the document back to you in the same chat — without opening another app or logging into a dashboard.

Are the invoices proper Australian tax invoices with GST and ABN?

Yes. Once you've set your ABN, business name, and bank details in Settings → Quote & Invoice, offsider applies them to every document it generates, calculates GST on your line items, and formats the result as a compliant tax invoice with the correct ATO wording.

Does the agent email the invoice directly to my client?

No. The PDF is sent to you on WhatsApp. You then forward or share it with your client however you prefer — via WhatsApp, email, or any other channel. The agent can only reply to the person messaging it; it cannot send documents to your client's number or email.

Who can generate invoices?

Invoice and quote PDF generation is available to account owners only. Managers and workers can create variations and add jobs, but only the account owner can run the generate command.

How much does it cost to generate an invoice?

Generating a quote or tax invoice PDF costs 20 AI credits, charged once per variation. That same charge covers the quote, the invoice, and every regeneration — so if you need to swap document type or correct a line and regenerate, there is no additional cost. You get 200 credits free when you sign up. See pricing for top-up packs.

Can offsider track whether an invoice has been paid?

Not at this stage. offsider generates the PDF and sends it to you, but there is no paid/unpaid/overdue tracking and no payment collection built in. You follow up payment through your normal process.