Invoice and quote workflow for freelancers in Excel

Getting paid is a process, and the paperwork around it is where small businesses lose track. A quote that is never followed up, an invoice with no due date, a payment that nobody wrote down: each one costs time and sometimes money. This guide walks through a plain quote, invoice and receipt workflow, with the arithmetic, so that you can run it in a spreadsheet.

Four documents, four jobs

• Quote: an offer. It lists what you will do, the price, and the date until which the price holds.
• Invoice: a request for payment. It has a number, a date, the lines, the total and the date it is due.
• Receipt: proof that a payment arrived. It names the invoice and shows what was paid and what remains.
• Register: one list of all your invoices, with what has been paid, so that you always know who owes you money.

The quote and the invoice can share a layout, but they should not share a number series. If both begin with "0001", you will one day confuse them.

What an invoice should show

Rules differ by country, so this list is a sensible minimum, not legal advice. The European Commission's page on VAT invoicing says that a full VAT invoice in the EU has, among other items, the date of issue, a unique sequential number, the full names and addresses of supplier and customer, a description and quantity of the goods or services, and the unit price. EU countries add national rules of their own, and the Commission points readers to the national rules for details. If you are in the UK, GOV.UK has its own pages on VAT invoices and on business records.

In practice, put on every invoice:

1. your business name, address and tax number, if you have one;
2. the customer's name and address;
3. a unique invoice number, in sequence;
4. the date of issue and the date payment is due;
5. a clear description of each line, with quantity and price;
6. the subtotal, any discount, the tax and the total, in one currency;
7. how to pay you.

The due date

A due date is the issue date plus your payment terms. Net 14 means 14 days after the invoice date. Write the date on the invoice rather than "net 14" alone, so that no one has to work it out.

In the UK, GOV.UK says that if a payment date is agreed it must usually be within 60 days for transactions between businesses, and that if you agree no date, the payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice or you deliver, whichever is later. It also says you can claim interest and debt recovery costs from a business that pays late. That page is about the UK. Other countries have their own late-payment rules, so look up yours before you add any late-fee wording to your terms.

A worked example

A designer sends this invoice on 3 November, on payment terms of 14 days. All numbers are made up.

The due date is 17 November. The client pays EUR 250.00 on 12 November. The balance is 689.70 - 250.00 = EUR 439.70. On 20 November the balance is above zero and the due date has passed, so the invoice is overdue by 3 days.

Notice the order of the sums: the discount comes off first, and tax is worked out on the discounted amount. If your country calculates tax differently, change the order to match its rules.

The register is the part people skip

It is the register that tells you who owes you money. For each invoice, record the number, date, client, net amount, tax, and every payment. From these, three numbers come out: how much you have invoiced, how much is still outstanding, and how much of that is overdue. Check the register once a week, and send a polite reminder on the day after the due date, not three weeks later.

A status of Paid, Unpaid or Overdue is a record-keeping aid. It is not a legal finding. A client may dispute an invoice, and a dispute is a matter for a conversation, a contract or a court, not for a cell colour. Work the status out from the balance and the due date, as in the example, and do not type it by hand.

Receipts and partial payments

Clients often pay in parts. A receipt should say which invoice it refers to, how much was received, and what remains. In the example, the receipt on 12 November would show EUR 250.00 received and a balance of EUR 439.70. Keep one receipt per payment, and do not overwrite the earlier ones.

Keeping your records

Invoices are business records, and many countries require you to keep them for a number of years. GOV.UK's page on business records for the self-employed is a UK example of what must be kept. Check your own country's rule, and save every invoice as a PDF as well as in the sheet.

Spreadsheet or invoicing software?

A spreadsheet is a good fit when you send a few dozen invoices a year. It costs little and you can see every formula. Invoicing software adds automatic reminders, online payment links, bank feeds and, in some countries, electronic invoicing that tax authorities require or encourage. If your clients or your country need such features, use software. If not, a clear workbook is enough.

Before you send

Read the invoice once as the customer would. Is the name right? Does the total match the quote, or is a change explained? Is the due date clear, and does it say how to pay? Is the invoice number new? Save a PDF copy under the invoice number and the client name, so that you can find it a year later. A two-minute check saves an awkward email, and it is the cheapest way to get paid on time.

Following up politely

A reminder is part of the process, not an insult. Send the invoice with a clear due date, a short friendly note the day after the due date if it is unpaid, and a firmer one a week later that restates the amount and the date. Keep a record of each message in the register. Most late payments are forgotten ones, and a calm reminder usually solves them.

Tool that fits

The Invoice & Quote Pack (Excel, EUR 14, paid once) holds invoice, quote and receipt sheets set up to print on one A4 page, with line items, discount, tax and totals worked out for you, in the order of the example above. The due date follows your payment terms, and the quote validity date works the same way. A client list feeds a drop-down on every sheet. The register takes up to 200 invoices and shows Paid, Unpaid or Overdue with days overdue and totals. A dashboard has a year selector. It works in Excel 2016 and later, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, with no macros, and the example rows clear in one step. It is a record-keeping template, not legal, tax or accounting advice, and it does not make an invoice compliant with your country's rules.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. European Commission, VAT invoicing (when an invoice is compulsory, what a full VAT invoice contains)
2. GOV.UK, Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery (UK)
3. GOV.UK, Business records if you're self-employed (UK)

We checked each source on 17 October 2026. If a fact here is out of date, tell us at hello@hiddenway.info.

Keep reading

• Freelance invoices and tax set-aside: a simple monthly system
• Monthly profit and loss in Excel for a small business
• Track inventory in Excel: a stock sheet for a small shop
• More in Small business tools