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Freelance Invoice Template

Everything a client needs in order to pay you: who you are, what the work was, what it costs, and exactly how to send the money. The spreadsheet versions do the arithmetic; the document versions are for invoices you write by hand.

Who it is for. Any freelancer invoicing a business client — hourly, fixed price, milestone or a mix of all three on one invoice.

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.

What the file looks like

This preview is generated from the same definition the downloads are built from, so what you see here is what opens. The figures below are the file’s own formulas, calculated — switch to formulas to see the arithmetic behind them.

Invoice — document preview1 page

INVOICE

Invoice {{INVOICE_NUMBER}} · {{PROJECT_NAME}}

From
{{FREELANCER_NAME}}
Business name
{{FREELANCER_BUSINESS}}
Address
{{FREELANCER_ADDRESS}}
Email
{{FREELANCER_EMAIL}}
Phone
{{FREELANCER_PHONE}}
Tax / VAT ID
{{FREELANCER_TAX_ID}}
Bill to
Client
{{CLIENT_NAME}}
Billing address
{{CLIENT_ADDRESS}}
Billing contact
{{CLIENT_CONTACT}}
Client tax / VAT ID
{{CLIENT_TAX_ID}}
Invoice details
Invoice number
{{INVOICE_NUMBER}}
Issue date
{{ISSUE_DATE}}
Due date
{{DUE_DATE}}
Currency
{{CURRENCY}}
Project reference
{{PROJECT_REFERENCE}}

Work billed

DescriptionQty / hoursRateTaxable?Amount
{{LINE_1_DESCRIPTION}}{{QTY_1}}{{RATE_1}}{{TAXABLE_1}}{{AMOUNT_1}}
{{LINE_2_DESCRIPTION}}{{QTY_2}}{{RATE_2}}{{TAXABLE_2}}{{AMOUNT_2}}
{{LINE_3_DESCRIPTION}}{{QTY_3}}{{RATE_3}}{{TAXABLE_3}}{{AMOUNT_3}}
{{LINE_4_DESCRIPTION}}{{QTY_4}}{{RATE_4}}{{TAXABLE_4}}{{AMOUNT_4}}
{{LINE_5_DESCRIPTION}}{{QTY_5}}{{RATE_5}}{{TAXABLE_5}}{{AMOUNT_5}}

Quantity × rate = amount. For a fixed price or a milestone, use a quantity of 1 and put the full value in the rate column.

Totals
LineAmount
Subtotal{{SUBTOTAL}}
Discount ({{DISCOUNT_PERCENT}}){{DISCOUNT_AMOUNT}}
Expenses (taxable){{EXPENSES_TAXABLE}}
Expenses (not taxable){{EXPENSES_NON_TAXABLE}}
Tax ({{TAX_RATE}}){{TAX_AMOUNT}}
Amount already paid{{AMOUNT_PAID}}
Balance due{{BALANCE_DUE}}

How to pay

Payment method
{{PAYMENT_METHOD}}
Account name
{{ACCOUNT_NAME}}
Account details
{{ACCOUNT_DETAILS}}
Payment reference
{{INVOICE_NUMBER}}

Terms

  • Payment is due by {{DUE_DATE}}, {{PAYMENT_DUE_DAYS}} days from the issue date.
  • Please quote invoice {{INVOICE_NUMBER}} as the payment reference.
  • {{LATE_PAYMENT_TERMS}}
Notes

{{PROJECT_NOTES}}

Thank you — it has been good to work on {{PROJECT_NAME}}.

Replace every {{PLACEHOLDER}} before sending. Delete any row that does not apply to this invoice rather than leaving it at zero.

Freshlance Template · version 1.0 · freshlance.app/templates/freelance-invoice-template

Invoice — workbook preview

One invoice. Cream cells are yours to fill in; grey cells calculate themselves.

INVOICE
Fill in the cream cells. Everything grey is a formula.
FROM
Your nameAlex Rivera
Business nameRivera Design Studio
Address18 Kestrel Lane, Studio 4, Bristol BS1 4TY
Emailstudio@riveradesign.example
Phone+44 7700 900142
Tax / VAT IDGB 123 4567 89
BILL TO
ClientNorthbeam Coffee Co.
Billing addressUnit 7, Harbour Works, Bristol BS1 6RT
Billing contactJordan Mills, Marketing Lead
Client tax / VAT IDGB 987 6543 21
INVOICE
Invoice numberNB-2026-041
Issue date2026-09-18
Due date2026-10-02
CurrencyUSD ($)
Project referenceNB-2026-04
LINE ITEMS
DescriptionQty / hoursRateTaxable?AmountNotes
Website redesign — Phase 1: discovery, wireframes, UI design18.00$85.00Yes$1,530.00Hourly work, 1–18 September
Brand guidelines refresh — milestone 2 of 31.00$1,500.00Yes$1,500.00Fixed milestone
Responsive template build — homepage + product page4.50$85.00Yes$382.50Hourly work
Stock photography licence (recharged at cost)1.00$96.00No$96.00Recharged expense, no margin
TOTALS
Subtotal$3,508.50All line amounts
Taxable line subtotal$3,412.50Only lines marked taxable
Discount %5.0%Set to 0% if none
Discount amount$175.43
Expenses — taxable$0.00Costs you bought as principal
Expenses — not taxable$0.00Disbursements passed straight through

17 further empty rows are in the file, ready for your own entries.

Cream cells are yours to type into; grey cells are formulas. This sheet prints landscape.

What is included

  • Both halves of the header

    Your business details and tax/VAT ID, and the client’s billing entity, billing contact and tax ID — which is what most late payments turn out to be missing.

  • Line items that take any pricing model

    The same five columns handle 18 hours at $85, a $1,500 milestone and a fixed-fee deliverable, because quantity is just a number and rate is just a number.

  • A totals block that survives real invoices

    Subtotal, percentage discount, taxable and non-taxable expenses, tax, amount already paid and the balance actually due.

  • Payment details and terms

    Where to send the money, what reference to quote, when it is due, and an editable late-payment sentence you can set to whatever your contract says.

How to use it

Five steps, in the order that keeps the work out of trouble.

  1. 1

    Fill in your own details once, then save the file as your master copy — everything above the line items changes only when your business does.

  2. 2

    Set the invoice number, issue date and due date. The due date is the single most useful field on the page; leave it out and you have written a receipt, not an invoice.

  3. 3

    Add one line per thing you are charging for. Quantity times rate is the line amount, so hours go in as hours and a fixed milestone goes in as a quantity of 1.

  4. 4

    Put reimbursable costs in the expenses rows, and mark whether tax applies to them — in most places it depends on whether you bought them as principal or as agent.

  5. 5

    Check the balance due, export a PDF, and send that rather than the editable file.

The worked example

The example invoice mixes 18 hours of design at $85, a $1,500 fixed milestone, 4.5 further hours, and a stock licence recharged at cost with no tax applied to it — which is what a real invoice tends to look like.

Subtotal
$3,508.50
Discount (5%)
$175.43
Taxable subtotal
$3,237.08
Tax (20%)
$647.42
Total
$3,980.49
Balance due
$3,230.49

Every figure above is read out of the workbook you can download, by evaluating its own formulas. If the file changes, this changes with it — there is no second set of numbers maintained on this page.

What to change

The parts that are deliberately yours to decide.

  • Tax

    The tax rate cell is yours to set, and can be zero. If you are not registered for VAT or sales tax, set it to 0% and delete the tax row rather than leaving a line showing $0.00.

  • Currency

    The spreadsheets format as dollars. Changing the currency is a number-format change on the money columns; the arithmetic is unaffected.

  • Late-payment wording

    The terms block carries a {{LATE_PAYMENT_TERMS}} placeholder rather than a rate we invented. What you may charge and from when is set by your contract and your jurisdiction.

  • Your invoice numbering

    The example uses a client-and-year scheme. Any scheme works as long as it never repeats and never goes backwards.

About the formats

What differs between the files, and why you might pick one over another.

XLSX
Line amounts, subtotal, discount, tax, total and balance due are live formulas. Blank line rows show nothing rather than $0.00, so an invoice with three lines prints as an invoice with three lines.
ODS
The same formulas, written in OpenFormula for LibreOffice Calc. Recalculation on load is enabled, so the totals are right the moment it opens.
DOCX
For invoices you would rather type. The line-item table has five example rows and a totals block you fill in yourself.
PDF
The worked example, with every total calculated — useful as a reference for what a finished invoice should contain.

Questions

Do I have to include a tax or VAT number?
If you are registered, yes, and in many places the client cannot reclaim the tax without it. If you are not registered, delete the field rather than leaving it blank.
What should the payment terms be?
Whatever your contract says. Net 14 and Net 30 are the common defaults; the template ships with Net 14 as the example because a solo freelancer carrying 30 days of unpaid work is carrying a lot.
Can I use this for a milestone invoice?
Yes. A milestone is a line with a quantity of 1 and the milestone value as the rate. The example invoice mixes hourly work and a fixed deliverable on one document, which is the usual real case.
Is anything sent to Freshlance when I download this?
No. The files are static and generated at build time; downloading one is an ordinary file request. Nothing you type into the file ever leaves your machine — the file has no connection to us at all once it is on disk.

Download it

Download this template

Free · No signup · No email · Version 1.0, updated September 2026

The files are generated when the site is built and served as ordinary static downloads. Nothing you type into them is ever sent anywhere — once the file is on your machine it has no connection to Freshlance at all.