What should a placement fee invoice contain?

Your GSTIN and the client's, an unbroken invoice number and date, the client purchase order or agreement reference, a service description naming the candidate and role, the SAC code for recruitment services, the taxable fee amount, the GST split appropriate to the place of supply, the invoice total, the credit period and due date, and your bank details. Adding the joining date and the replacement window prevents most later arguments.

Should the fee be calculated on fixed CTC or total CTC?

Whichever your signed agreement says, and that is exactly why it belongs in a field on the client record rather than in someone's memory. Total CTC often includes variable pay, joining bonus and retention components that the client will argue about. If the agreement is silent, agree the base in writing before the offer goes out, not after the candidate joins.

How does TDS affect what we receive?

Corporate clients typically deduct tax at source on professional or technical services before paying, so the amount credited to your bank is lower than the invoice total. GST is charged on the fee, while TDS is deducted on the fee value rather than on the tax. Record the expected deduction against the invoice so your receivables reconcile, and match it later against the credit visible in your tax statement.

When should the invoice be raised?

The common triggers are on joining, or a set number of days after joining, and the choice belongs in the client agreement. Invoicing before the candidate has actually joined is the fastest way to have an invoice rejected and to damage a client relationship. The safest sequence is offer accepted, joining confirmed in writing by the client, invoice raised the same week, replacement clock started.

Can we build this in a spreadsheet?

Yes. One row per placement with client, GSTIN, place of supply, candidate, role, fee base, fee percentage, CTC, computed fee, GST, invoice total, expected TDS, joining date, guarantee end date, due date and status. Add conditional formatting on the guarantee end date and on invoices past their due date. That covers a small desk. It stops working when several recruiters and an accountant need the same sheet at once.

How long does it take to move off spreadsheets?

For a small agency, about a day. The work is in listing your clients with their fee basis, guarantee period, credit period and GSTIN, because that is the data that decides every future invoice. Import open placements and unpaid invoices with their dates. Run one full billing cycle in parallel if it helps the accounts person trust the numbers.

What does HelloGrowthCRM cost for a recruitment agency?

Paid plans start at ₹899 per user per month, and a free plan is available so a two-person desk can run its pipeline before paying. Recruiters, the accounts person and the business head are the usual seats. Invoices are raised with GST from the placement record, so the candidate, the client agreement, the fee and the receivable stay connected rather than living in three files.

Placement Fee Invoice Generator

Placement Fee Invoice Generator: Bill Every Joining Correctly, First Time

Turn a confirmed placement into an invoice that matches the signed agreement — fee base, GST split, expected TDS, purchase order reference and the replacement guarantee clock.

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Placement fee invoice generator showing candidate, offered CTC, fee percentage, GST split and replacement guarantee window

Quick answer

Is HelloGrowthCRM right for Placement Fee Invoice Generator?

Yes. HelloGrowthCRM gives Placement Fee Invoice Generator a single system to capture every lead, automate follow-up across phone, WhatsApp, and email, prioritise leads with AI scoring, and forecast revenue — with calling and messaging built in instead of sold as add-ons. It's built for the problems these teams actually hit — like the recruiter messages accounts on WhatsApp with the joining details, and accounts retypes everything into a billing sheet — rather than generic sales busywork.

Fee calculated from the agreement, not from memory: percentage of fixed CTC, percentage of total CTC, or a flat fee per role, stored per client
Joining date as the invoice trigger, so nothing is billed until the candidate has actually joined and the client's HR has confirmed it
Correct GST split by place of supply, so an intra-state client gets CGST and SGST while an out-of-state client gets IGST

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The job this tool does, and who does it today

A recruitment agency's revenue event is a joining. A candidate the agency sourced starts work, and at that moment a fee becomes billable. Everything before that is pipeline; everything after is collection.

In most small and mid-sized agencies, that moment is communicated by a WhatsApp message from the recruiter to whoever handles accounts. Priya joined on the fifth, CTC twelve lakh, eight point three three per cent. The accounts person opens a spreadsheet or a billing package, types the client name, guesses the purchase order reference, applies whatever percentage they remember, and emails a PDF.

Then the trouble starts. The client says the fee was agreed on fixed CTC, not total. Accounts payable rejects the invoice for a missing PO number. The candidate leaves on day forty and nobody had noted that the replacement guarantee ran to day ninety. A placement fee invoice generator exists to close those gaps before they open.

What the generator needs to capture

Split the fields into three groups: the client agreement, the placement, and the invoice. The first group is entered once per client and drives everything else.

Field	Why it matters
Client name, GSTIN, state	Decides the GST split and the invoice header.
Agreement reference and date	The document any dispute will be settled against.
Fee basis and percentage	Fixed CTC, total CTC or flat fee. The commonest dispute.
Replacement guarantee days	Starts the clock the day the candidate joins.
Credit period	Turns into the due date and the aging bucket.
Purchase order reference	Missing PO is the most common rejection reason.
Candidate name and role	Service description on the invoice line.
Offered CTC, fixed and variable	The fee base is applied to one of these, not both.
Joining date, confirmed by	The invoice trigger and the guarantee start.
SAC code	Recruitment services classification on the tax invoice.
Expected TDS	The gap between invoice total and bank credit.
Recruiter and status	Attribution for incentives, and where the invoice stands.

Worked example: one placement, billed end to end

An illustrative example. A candidate joins on a fixed CTC of ₹12,00,000, the agreement says 8.33 per cent of fixed CTC, the client is in the same state, and a ninety-day replacement guarantee applies.

Line	Basis	Amount
Fixed CTC	As per offer letter	₹12,00,000
Placement fee	8.33% of fixed CTC	₹99,960
CGST	9% of fee	₹8,996
SGST	9% of fee	₹8,996
Invoice total	Fee plus GST	₹1,17,952
Expected TDS	10% of fee value	₹9,996
Expected bank credit	Invoice total less TDS	₹1,07,956
Guarantee ends	Joining date plus 90 days	Day 90

Rates shown are illustrative; apply the GST and withholding rates that actually apply to your services. The structure is the point: fee, tax on the fee, deduction on the fee, and a guarantee date that outlives the invoice.

The honest case for moving this into a CRM

A single-desk agency can bill perfectly well from a spreadsheet and a word processor template. The pressure appears when placements outrun memory: several recruiters, dozens of live guarantees, and a receivables list nobody wants to open.

Job	Spreadsheet	Inside a CRM
Apply the right fee basis	From memory	From the client record
Trigger on joining	Recruiter tells accounts	Placement stage change
Guarantee expiry	Rarely tracked	Dated reminder per placement
Payment follow-up	When cash gets tight	Scheduled after due date
Recruiter incentive	Separate sheet	Same placement record
Dispute evidence	Email search	Agreement, offer and invoice together

Common mistakes in placement billing

Billing before the joining is confirmed in writing

An offer accepted is not a joining. Invoicing on the offer date creates credit notes and awkward conversations when the candidate does not turn up.

Ignoring place of supply

Charging CGST and SGST to an out-of-state client, or IGST to a local one, guarantees a rejected invoice and a revision. Store the client state once.

Letting the replacement window run unwatched

The guarantee is a liability sitting quietly on the books. Track its end date on the placement, and treat an early exit as a workflow with a credit note.

Not recording expected TDS

If your receivables ledger expects the full invoice value, every settled invoice looks short-paid and your collection follow-up chases money that was never coming.

Where to go next

Challenges we solve

The problems holding this industry back — and the fix

Every team in this space loses revenue to the same recurring gaps. Here is what they cost you and how HelloGrowthCRM closes each one.

The recruiter messages accounts on WhatsApp with the joining details, and accounts retypes everything into a billing sheet.

The placement record already holds client, candidate, CTC and joining date. The invoice is generated from it rather than re-keyed.One record to invoice

The client says the fee applies to fixed CTC and the agency billed on total CTC, so the invoice sits unpaid for weeks.

The fee base is stored on the client agreement and applied automatically, so the calculation matches what was signed.Agreement-driven fee

A candidate resigns inside the replacement period and nobody notices until the client raises it at payment time.

The guarantee window is tracked from the joining date with reminders before it ends, and credit notes are raised from the same record.Replacement tracking

Outstanding invoices are chased only when cash gets tight, so a ninety-day-old invoice competes with a fresh one.

Invoices age automatically into buckets, and reminders go out on schedule instead of depending on who remembers.Receivables aging

What you get

Why teams choose HelloGrowthCRM

AI-powered CRM with the features you need to close more deals.

Fee calculated from the agreement, not from memory: percentage of fixed CTC, percentage of total CTC, or a flat fee per role, stored per client.

Joining date as the invoice trigger, so nothing is billed until the candidate has actually joined and the client's HR has confirmed it.

Correct GST split by place of supply, so an intra-state client gets CGST and SGST while an out-of-state client gets IGST.

TDS shown as an expected deduction on the invoice summary, so the recruiter knows what will actually land in the bank.

Replacement guarantee clock started at joining, with a reminder before it lapses and a credit-note workflow if the candidate exits inside it.

Client purchase order or agreement reference carried onto the invoice, because accounts payable teams reject invoices without it.

Invoice number series per financial year with no gaps, which is what your auditor will ask for first.

Credit period and due date on every invoice, feeding an aging view rather than a mental list of who owes what.

Recruiter attribution on the placement, so incentive calculation uses the same record as the invoice.

Candidate, role, offered CTC and joining date stored with the invoice, so a billing dispute is settled from one screen.

Automated payment follow-up on WhatsApp and email at set intervals after the due date, sent from the company account.

Status tracking from raised to acknowledged, approved, part-paid and settled, so nothing sits in a client's system unnoticed.

Compare HelloGrowthCRM to HubSpot, Salesforce & more

HelloGrowthCRM by the numbers

$12: per user/month list price — $10/user/mo on annual billing, ₹899/user/mo in India
$0: free forever starter plan — no credit card required
14-day: trial included on paid plans
259+: live integrations, from WhatsApp to Tally and QuickBooks
500+: teams worldwide run their pipeline on HelloGrowthCRM

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about using HelloGrowthCRM in your industry.

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