A Freelance Invoice Template is a document used by freelancers to bill their clients for the services rendered.
Such a template is a professional way for freelancers to stay organized while billing their clients and ensure that they get paid promptly for the services they have offered.
When doing any work or offering a service, you expect to be paid according to the terms you agreed on. For faster payment, you will have to provide quality work and have a good billing system.
EXAMPLE
If you are a freelancer, you have to come up with a straightforward and simple invoice template to ease payments from the client.
Freelance Invoice Templates
As a freelancer, every payment counts. In most cases, you will not get paid without an invoice. Make sure you have one that you can be proud of. A clean professional template for freelance invoice exudes confidence in your customers. You do not have to wait to get started on branding your freelance career. You can get started now.
Types of Freelance Invoice
There are different types of freelance invoice templates, each with its specific use. It is important for freelancers to first understand the different types of invoice templates before billing their clients. This will help them send the right invoice to their clients, especially working with multiple clients and ensuring they get paid promptly.
The different types of freelance invoice templates include:
Credit invoice templates
A credit invoice, also known as a credit memo, is an invoice issued by a freelancer or a business to a client with a discount or a refund or to correct an error in previous invoices.
Hourly invoice template
A freelance hourly invoice template is a document used to bill clients for services rendered on an hourly basis. It typically includes the freelancer’s information, client details, invoice number, invoice date, work description, hourly rates, hours worked, subtotal, additional charges, taxes (if applicable), the total amount due, payment terms, and contact information. Using a template helps streamline the invoicing process and ensures professionalism in freelancing transactions.
Mixed invoice template
A mixed invoice is an invoice that combines both debit and credit charges on one invoice, and the total amount to be paid for the services rendered can be expressed as either a negative or a positive number.
Prepayment invoice template
A prepayment invoice is created by a business or a freelancer and sent to a client requesting a partial payment or deposit for the work yet to be done. This is usually done for projects requiring a high level of commitment and those requiring the freelancer to purchase certain items to start the project assigned to them.
Recurring invoice template
Businesses or freelancers usually use a recurring invoice that periodically charges their clients the same amount for the services rendered. For example, freelance digital marketers commonly use recurring invoices, and IT service freelancers charge their clients a specific package with standard monthly pricing.
Standard invoice template
A standard invoice is an invoice issued by a business and submitted to a client. This is one of the most commonly used templates that small businesses create and bill clients. Standard invoice templates have a flexible format to fit most industries and billing cycles.
Benefits of Creating a Freelance Invoice Template
A freelance invoice template can help you or your business track your client’s accounts and have a comprehensive report of your total earnings. Such a template can also help you avoid missed payments, confusion in billing, especially if you have several clients, and help you calculate or estimate your tax returns.
Other benefits of using a freelance invoice template include:
- Help you, bill clients, easily
- Simplify bookkeeping
- Send timely payment requests
- Collect tax details
- Remain organized while billing multiple clients
- Keep a record of all the payments made
- Save you time as you can always reuse the templates while invoicing
- Give you a professional look to go with the services you are offering
- Keep you organized with expenses and taxes
- Helps you in budgeting as you can estimate your monthly income overtime
What to Include in a Freelance Invoice Template
Several things must be included in this template, including the type of work done, the total amount payable, any credit made to the invoice, etc. The type of information included in the invoice template will depend on the type of services rendered and what the client expects to see in the invoice.
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of all the things that must be included in the freelance invoice template:
Your personal information
The first item that must be included in this invoice template is your personal information. Your personal information is important as it helps the client understand who the invoice is from and facilitates them to make timely payments to the right accounts, especially when dealing with multiple freelancers.
Information to include in the personal information section include:
- Name: Your full name; you may include your alias to help them know whom the invoice is from.
- Business name: If you are creating the invoice on behalf of your business, consider including your business name.
- Contact information: Contact information should be included in your personal information to help the client contact you, should they have any queries regarding the quality of service offered, payment made, or other projects that they would like to delegate to you in the future.
Invoice and order number
Each invoice you send to your clients should have a unique invoice number. This unique number helps keep your records organized. You can choose to assign the invoice number depending on the type of work you have been assigned and the payment mode and frequency of payment.
The invoice number should be included at the top of the invoice together with the words “INVOICE” in a medium font to help the client understand what the document is all about.
Clients details
The information about your client should be included just below yours. If you are offering your services to a business, institution, or other freelance contractors, make sure to include their information in this section.
Information to include about them include:
- Client’s name: Include the client’s full name; this is very important, especially if you are dealing with multiple clients
- Contact details: Include their contact details. This is important should you have any queries regarding the payments made; it will be easy to contact them. This information may also come in handy when you are looking to contact them in the future regarding related projects.
- Business information: If the invoice is for a business or an organization, make sure to include their information in this section, including their name, address, and contact information.
Name of the project and services provided
Provide a description of the project and the services provided. It is important to provide the project’s name to help you avoid sending an invoice twice for the same project. A clear description of the project will help you estimate the amount to charge for similar projects with different clients.
Ensure that the description provided is as clear as possible. The more detailed the description, the easier it will be for the client to understand the invoice and process the payments much faster.
The cost for each service provided
After the description of each service you have offered, include the quantity, i.e., the number of hours taken to complete the project and the price per unit/hour. And finally, include the total amount to be paid for each item. This section may differ based on the type of services offered.
EXAMPLE
For instance, in the quantity section, different freelancers may include different information such as:
- A freelance writer may include the charges per article or per word
- A professional calligrapher may charge the client for all hand-lettered certificates or diplomas and/or envelopes and vellum if not provided by the client.
- A web designer may charge the client based on the time taken to complete the project or based on the complexity of the project
- A virtual assistant may charge their clients based on the time taken doing the tasks, per project, or by percentage sales commission.
Payment terms
It is important to let the client know which mode of payment works best for you. The payment method should be convenient for both you and the client. The payment terms must be included in each invoice you send to help the client process your payments much faster.
Some of the key things that must be included in the payment terms include:
- The payment email if the payments are to be paid via online platforms such as Payoneer, PayPal, skill, Venmo etc.
- A physical address if the payments will be sent via mail
- Your phone number or website, your client can pay for the services via debit or charge card
- Any additional charges/fees required for using specific payment methods
Privacy policy and any additional information
The privacy policy, also referred to as the terms and conditions, is the rule for using and processing the payments you have requested. These are simply your terms for the length of time to pay and should be included at the bottom of each freelance invoice you send.
EXAMPLE
Your payment terms may be something like “Payment should be made on or before 15th of _____ Month” or “payment within 7 days.”
note
After preparing the template, save the document and send it to your clients via your agreed-upon delivery method. You may consider adding the phrase “Thank you” at the bottom of the invoice to thank them for assigning you the project and invite them to send you more projects in the future.
Final Thoughts
Preparing a freelance invoice template is very important for every freelancer. It helps display your level of professionalism and helps avoid confusion when billing your clients.Such template can also come in handy when preparing or remitting your tax returns.
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