Invoicing for Freelancers and Small Businesses
Everything from your first invoice to chasing late payers — the practical end of getting paid.
Invoicing is the only document standing between work you've done and money in your bank account. The articles below cover what to put on every invoice (legally and practically), how to set payment terms that actually get paid on time, when and how to charge late fees, and the formatting choices that make the difference between an invoice that gets approved on the first review and one that sits in an accounts-payable queue for three weeks. Written for the people sending the invoice, not the people processing it.
Articles and tools in this topic
How to Write an Invoice That Gets Paid Faster
The eight fields every invoice needs, plus three tactical choices that measurably shorten the time-to-paid window.
Net 30 vs Net 15 vs Due on Receipt: Which to Pick
How payment-term length affects cash flow, client friction, and your collections workload — with rules of thumb by client type.
What to Put on an Invoice: A Tax-Compliant Checklist
Mandatory fields per US/CA/UK rules, plus the optional fields that smooth payment processing.
Late Fees on Invoices: When and How to Charge Them
State-by-state rules on late-fee caps, when to apply them, and how to phrase the terms so they hold up if you ever need to enforce.
How to Invoice a Client (Step-by-Step)
End-to-end walkthrough from project sign-off to invoice sent to first reminder, with copy-paste templates.
Recurring Invoices: How to Set Up Subscription Billing
Authorization, cadence, sales-tax handling, and dunning for retainers and subscriptions — what NACHA, the FTC, and the card networks actually require.
How to Write a Past-Due Invoice Notice (With Templates)
Three escalation templates plus a final demand letter, sequenced over 30–45 days to recover late invoices without burning the relationship.
Charging Sales Tax on Invoices: A 2026 US Primer
Economic nexus after Wayfair, marketplace facilitator rules, taxability of services and SaaS, and a state-by-state cheat sheet.
How to Get Paid Online: Cards vs ACH vs Pay Links
What cards, ACH, and pay links actually cost and how fast each settles — and which to offer on which invoice.
How to Handle a Client Who Won't Pay
A step-by-step escalation playbook from friendly nudge to formal demand, small claims, and collections.
How to Issue a Credit Note or Refund
When to credit vs refund, how each affects sales tax/VAT, and why you never edit a sent invoice.
Invoice Numbering Systems That Scale
Sequential vs dated formats, why gaps and reused numbers cause holds, and the compliance rule behind it.
Retainer Agreements and How to Invoice Them
The two retainer models, how to price each, rollover rules, and the scope clause that prevents disputes.
Invoice Generator
Issueable's invoice generator landing page — features, line-item math, and the 12 PDF themes.
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