How to invoice as a freelancer: what goes on it, when to send it, how to get paid
An invoice is a request for payment with enough detail that your client’s bookkeeper can pay it without asking you anything. Get the seven required fields right, send it the day the work is done, and give a payment date you will actually chase.
What a freelance invoice must contain
Every country has its own list, but the overlap is large. Yours needs:
- The word “Invoice” and a unique, sequential number. Not random, not reused. Tax authorities check the sequence.
- Your name or business name, address, and your tax identifiers: VAT number if you are registered (NL: btw-id; DE: USt-IdNr; ES: NIF; BG: ИН по ДДС), and your business registration number where one exists (NL: KvK).
- The client’s name, address and, for business clients in the EU, their VAT number.
- The invoice date and the date of the work or delivery, if different.
- Each line: what you did, quantity or hours, unit price, and the VAT rate applied to that line.
- The subtotal, the VAT amount per rate, and the total. If VAT does not apply, the reason in words: reverse charge, small-business exemption, or a service outside the scope.
- The payment terms: the due date, your IBAN or the payment link, and the reference the client should use.
Anything else is optional. A logo helps; a thank-you line helps; a two-page terms sheet does not.
Cross-border clients: the two lines people get wrong
If your client is a business in another EU country and gives you a valid VAT number, you charge 0% VAT and write “VAT reverse-charged” (Dutch: “btw verlegd”) on the invoice, with both VAT numbers. You still report the invoice in your VAT return and in the EU sales listing. Check the number first on the European Commission’s VIES service; an invalid number means you charge your own country’s VAT.
If your client is outside the EU, most services are outside the scope of EU VAT: write that on the invoice and keep proof of where the client is established. Consumers abroad are different again: for most services you charge your own VAT.
When to send it
The day the work is delivered, or on the schedule you agreed for a retainer. In the Netherlands you must issue the invoice by the 15th of the month after delivery; Belgium and Germany have similar rules. Waiting until month-end costs you two to four weeks of cash for no reason.
Payment terms that get paid
Fourteen days is normal for freelance work in most of Europe; thirty is common with larger companies. Write the actual date, not “net 14”. Put your IBAN on the invoice and, if you can, a payment link: a client who can pay in one click pays sooner. State late-payment interest only if you intend to charge it; in the EU the statutory rate for business-to-business invoices applies by default after the due date.
A five-minute routine
Send the invoice. Check that it was opened (Bilio shows you). One reminder the day after the due date, friendly. A second at fourteen days, firm, with the date interest starts. A phone call at thirty. Most late payments are forgotten, not refused. The full sequence, with templates, is in How to chase a late invoice.
Frequently asked
Can I invoice without a registered business?
In most countries you can invoice as a private person for occasional work, but you will still owe income tax on it, and business clients often refuse invoices without a VAT or registration number. Register once the work is regular.
Do I need to charge VAT?
If you are VAT-registered, yes, at your country’s rate for domestic clients. Under a small-business scheme (NL: KOR, DE: Kleinunternehmer, BE: franchise) you charge none and say so on the invoice.
Can I change an invoice after sending it?
No. Issue a credit note that cancels it and a new invoice with a new number.
What currency?
The client’s, if you agreed it. Your VAT return is in your own currency, converted at the rate on the invoice date.