Invoice for freelance payment?

Francois_K · Apr 2015

I've been reading up a lot on freelancing and how to get started and have started putting a contract together which isn't finished yet.

I stumbled upon something online where people are praising invoice payment as being a godsend when it comes to freelance payment and I was wondering if that is the way to go or if it should just happen through the bank account ( Bank Transfer / Paypal ) and all that. Does anyone have experience with these online invoice apps and if yes , are they any good?
I've only done "favours" for friends so far and they paid me money via paypal so that's as much "freelance" experience as I have so far.

Cheers ^^

Swizzle · Apr 2015

You should always provide your clients with an invoice/receipt that covers the services you provided. Just like a contract, an invoice keeps both sides of the transaction safe. It guarantees that there's no confusion about services rendered and exactly how much those services cost. In addition to making sure both parties know how much they're paying/getting paid, invoices are also very useful around tax time.

On your invoice, you should specify payment method and give all the relevant information so that your client can pay you as easily as possible. For example, you could give them the email address associated with your PayPal account, or you could give your account and routing numbers so that they can do a wire transfer.

As for using online invoice stuff, I haven't bothered with any of that before. Perhaps other people can chime in. I usually email a PDF invoice to the client.

iadagraca · Apr 2015

Pay pal has an invoice creator which is all I use. there's a box containing payment terms and such too so if there's a dispute you have that right on it.

Count Vertsalot · Apr 2015

Think of invoices as a natural barrier that keeps fire ants from crawling up your ass. It's a necessity.

Francois_K · Apr 2015

Count Vertsalot wrote: »

Think of invoices as a natural barrier that keeps fire ants from crawling up your ass. It's a necessity.

I will keep that in mind.

Thanks for the input , I'm gonna put in some more time for research. ^^

Tits · Apr 2015

Exemple of an invoice.
Some client might ask you something specific (in that case, adding my bank information for wire transfert on every invoice)
A Purchase order number or Task Number etc.
Description is usefull to be able to trace back the invoice to the exact work you did in case it is needed.
Some other info might be needed like hourly/daily rate depending on how the payment are settled with your client.

If you need to charge taxes you should add that at the bottom with your taxes registration number (not sure how that works everywhere)

It's good to add the payment schedule at the bottom (payment due in 30 days and all that stuff)
If you want the invoice to be paid via check/paypal/wire transfert you can also add that there.

You should always keep track of your invoices for tax purposes and to be able to track the payments. This is usually required by any compagnies, some will provide a form for you if you don't have your own invoice ready.

I like to print them and write down on them on wich date they were paid and how (paypal, wire transfert etc) and the total amount in my own currency (if the currency on the invoice was different than mine)

Invoice for freelance payment?

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