How to invoice as an independent contractor
An independent contractor invoice is the document that turns finished work into a request for payment, and it is yours to raise rather than any employer's. Nine things belong on it and the rest is presentation. Here is what they are, how to number and date them, and the terms that get the thing paid.
On Google Play now. Coming soon to iPhone. Have the app? Open it
What goes on an independent contractor invoice?
Nine things. Your name and address, the client and theirs, a unique invoice number, the date you issued it, the date it is due, a line for each piece of work with its quantity and rate, the subtotal, the tax if you charge it, and how to pay you.
That is the whole document. Everything past those nine is presentation: a logo, a template, an accent color. Presentation changes how the invoice reads, and how seriously it is taken, but it does not change whether the thing is an invoice. A document missing the number or the due date is a letter about money.
- Your name and address
- Whoever is being paid
- The client, and their address
- Whoever is paying
- A unique invoice number
- Never reused
- The date you issued it
- When the clock starts
- The date it is due
- A date, not a mood
- A line for each piece of work
- Quantity, unit and rate
- The subtotal
- Before tax
- Tax, if you charge it
- Named the way your country names it
- How to pay you
- Bank details, or how else
In that order down the page, because that is the order the person paying reads it in.
No federal rule says what an invoice has to contain. The IRS does list invoices among the records that support your gross receipts, so keep a copy of every one you send. Invoice Koi keeps each one on the phone, and in the backup file if you make one.
Two of the nine are worth more attention than the other seven, and one of them is not really a field at all. They are the next section.
A number, a date, and a date
These three decide whether the invoice gets paid, and all three are decided before you write a single line of work.
Start at 0001, or start at 247
Nobody checks, and a first invoice numbered 0001 tells a client exactly how new you are. Pick a number, go up by one, and keep going up for the rest of your working life. The only real rule is that no two documents ever carry the same one, including the invoice you raised and cancelled last March. Invoice Koi holds the next number and fills it in, which is the point at which this stops being something to remember.
Send it before you leave the drive
The gap between finishing the work and invoicing for it is the gap in which the price gets remembered differently. An invoice written on site goes out while the job is still the thing that just happened. An invoice sent two weeks later arrives into two weeks of other paperwork, and the person who agreed the price has had two weeks to forget what it was.
An invoice sent two weeks later competes with two weeks of other paperwork.
"Net 30" is not a date
It is a date to a bookkeeper and a puzzle to everybody else. Put the terms and the day itself on the document, so that the answer to "when is this due" is printed rather than worked out. Koi counts the days from the day you send it and prints the result.
A file, a browser, or the phone
The first two are free, none of the three asks for an account, and the app is free to set up and draft in, with a subscription to send. Which one you want depends on whether this is a one off or the thing you will be doing every week for the next ten years.
- A template to fill in
- Nine designs
- The generator, in this browser
- PDF in a minute
- The app, on your phone
- Subscription to send
Only the app collects payment, through a Koi payment link. A payment made through a Koi payment link marks the invoice paid on its own. Cash, bank transfers and anything paid elsewhere, you record yourself. The balance and the reports follow from both.
A template is a file you fill in and keep filling in, which is fine for the first one and tiring by the tenth. The generator is the same document without the file: fill in the fields in this browser, get the PDF, close the tab. The app is the one that remembers, which matters once there is a second invoice to the same client and a number that has to follow the last one.
Quoting the job first
An estimate is a price before the work and it asks for nothing. When it is accepted it converts to the invoice, carrying the lines, the client, the tax and your terms across, so the thing you bill is the thing they said yes to. That is its own post, because getting it wrong is how you end up billing for something nobody agreed to.
Asked before the first one
What should an independent contractor invoice include?
Nine things: your name and address, the client and theirs, a unique invoice number, the date you issued it, the date it is due, a line for each piece of work with its quantity and rate, the subtotal, the tax if you charge it, and how to pay you. Anything past that is presentation.
Do invoice numbers have to be sequential?
They have to be unique, and sequential is the simplest way to keep them unique. Start anywhere you like, go up by one, and never reuse a number even for an invoice you cancelled. Invoice Koi holds the next number and fills it in.
How soon should I send an invoice after finishing the job?
The day the work finishes, before you leave if you can. An invoice sent two weeks later competes with two weeks of other paperwork, and the person who agreed the price has had time to forget it.
What is the difference between an invoice and an estimate?
An estimate is a price before the work and asks for nothing. An invoice is a demand for payment after it, with a due date on it. In Invoice Koi an accepted estimate converts to the invoice, carrying the lines, the client, the tax and your terms across, so the thing you bill is the thing they agreed to.
Can I invoice as an individual, without a company?
Yes. An invoice is a document, not a company filing. It needs a name, an address and a way to pay you, and none of those require a company behind them.
What do I do about an invoice nobody has paid?
Ask, in writing, with the invoice attached. Invoice Koi will not chase anybody for you: what it does is tell you, once a day at an hour you pick, what is overdue and what it comes to. Nothing goes to a client unless you send it.
Does an independent contractor invoice need tax on it?
Only if you charge it, and what it is called depends on where you invoice from. Invoice Koi asks which country you work in and prefills the name and the standard rate, which you confirm rather than type from memory. Whether you should be charging it at all is a question for whoever does your books.
Make the first one now.
The generator runs in this browser, asks for no account, and gives you the PDF at the end of it. If it turns out you need a second one, the app remembers the client and the number.
On Google Play now. Coming soon to iPhone. Have the app? Open it
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