Invoicing guides
Twenty-two guides to invoicing: why the figures on one come out the way they do, and the parts with no formula in them at all — what belongs on the document, when to ask for money, and what to do on the day one goes late. The sums themselves run in the calculators.
Invoice basics
- What to put on an invoiceThe fields that decide whether it gets paid, and the ones nobody reads.
- Invoice numberingA scheme that survives a gap, a second client and your accountant.
- Credit notesCorrecting or cancelling an invoice that has already gone out, without editing or deleting it.
- Invoice vs receiptOne asks for the money, the other says it arrived — and when a client needs both.
- Quotes, estimates and invoicesThree documents people use interchangeably, and what each one commits you to.
Pricing and totals
- How an invoice total is worked outThe order discount, tax, shipping and a deposit are applied in, and why the order changes the total.
- Invoicing by the hourBlocks of hours at different rates, expenses that are not hours, and where a deposit goes.
- Setting a freelance rateWorking backwards from what you need to earn, through the hours you can actually bill.
- Billable hours in a yearWhat a year actually holds once days off and the work nobody pays for are out of it.
- Markup and marginThe same profit over two denominators: a 50% markup is a 33.3% margin.
- How retainers workWhat a monthly fee really pays per hour once the month is counted, and what an overage rate is for.
Tax, discounts and fees
- How VAT worksAdding VAT, and taking it back out of a total that already includes it.
- How sales tax worksA combined state, county and city rate, and how the tax splits back across the rows it is made of.
- Early payment discountsWhat 2/10 Net 30 means, and why two per cent costs far more than two per cent.
- Payment processing feesWhat reaches your bank once the processor and the exchange spread have taken their share.
Payment terms and late payments
- How due dates are countedWhen Net 30 actually falls, what end of month changes, and what happens on a weekend.
- Counting working daysWhy counting a stretch and counting forward from a date are two different sums.
- Late payment feesA percentage, a flat charge or a monthly one, and which of them is not interest.
- Late payment interestDaily interest on an unpaid invoice, and why the year has 365 days rather than 360.