A Grads Guide to Invoicing

It's the boring stuff, that makes the good stuff happen…

Written 18th September 2020
Emily Alden

This is a guide to invoicing for the first time as you’re setting yourself up as a self employed freelancer, specifically if you are a dance graduate. I’m not an accountant! But this is all standard information for invoicing as a self employed individual. Below is what to include on an invoice, template options and a few tips. More info for setting up as a Sole Trader at HMRC here.

What is an invoice?
In its simplest form an invoice is a record, a digital paper trail, of payments, items purchased, expenses incurred for your self employed work.

As a self-employed individual (sole traders) you are required to keep records of your finances to show income and expenditure for tax purposes. If you will be earning more than £1000 in self employment you should register yourself with HMRC (see link above for more info).

Setting yourself up as a freelancer/sole trader can feel like a lot to get to grips with as you are starting out, especially if you don’t know anyone who is self employed. You'll soon get the hang of it and will become second nature and keeping records/invoicing/doing your tax returns each year will all feel like a normal part of your work and a regular part of your yearly diary.

Once you’re registered, HMRC does have a phone line you can call to help you out when you need, especially for submitting your tax return. There is also an option to have an accountant who will do your tax returns for you. Not everyone has one, and you don't have to have one, it's personal preference.

How to make an invoice:

What to Include:

This might seem like a lot. Don't panic!
Once you've created whatever template you want to use for your invoice, most of that info stays the same, and you just update specific bits for each job/item your invoicing for. The list below is the info to include on your invoice - the highlighted lines are the information you would update each time you create a new invoice.

Your name and address (Invoice from)
Your contact details (email address, mobile number, website if you have one)
The name and address of who you are invoicing (Invoice to)
The date of your invoice
Description of the work undertaken, in detail and broken down onto separate lines with amounts for each item
The amount you are invoicing for
An invoice number
Your bank details making clear how you would like to be paid ie. BACS (by bank transfer straight into your account), cheque etc.
Your terms for payment - for example how long there is before you require payment to be received/arrive in your account. The standard term is usually 30 days, but you can opt for other timescales, for example 14 days.

UTR number (Unique Tax Reference Number) - is a 10 digit code issued to you by HMRC when you register with them. You have the same number for life. Sometimes it’s a requirement to include your UTR number on an invoice before it will process it. That's quite normal and you can either add it to your template of just add it to the invoice as and when needed, it’s a personal preference.

Templates & Layouts

Your invoice can be SUPER SIMPLE. Literally a blank word document with the above information on and saved as a PDF document.
As long as the information is clear (I would avoid using super fancy font for example), and you follow the below basic invoice layout, a bit like a formal letter, it doesn’t have to look any particular way, but it’s a good idea to include the information is the following order, so it’s quick to read for whoever is processing it.

‘Invoice’ at the top of the document
Your contact details
Invoice date & number
Invoice to & from details with addresses
Job Description/item & amount
Total amount invoicing for (highlighted in bold)
Your bank details
Terms of payment
Disclaimer

You can personalise your invoice with colours, your logo if you have one, an image. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s not overly complicated to look at, it should be a functional document.

There’s tonnes of templates on line for inspiration, a lot of them can be overly complicated though. As ever be careful with downloading anything online, I’d personally avoid doing that as invoices are easy to make yourself in word. Another alternative is to use one of the templates on CANVA (you can sign up for free).

Top Tips

ALWAYS save your invoices as PDF files, your invoice contains personal information and it's important all the details on your invoice are protected.
When you save your PDF file, you can save it with a file name that includes your name or initials & invoice number. You can then file them easily on your laptop, but also whoever is processing the invoice has a vague idea of what the document is and who it belongs to.
Different theatres/venues/artists/funders will have different turnaround times for processing invoices. If you have sent an invoice and not had payment, chase them up by email, and if no reply by phone. Sometimes they get lost or stuck in the system, or if emailing an individual they might be super busy and just need a nudge.
If you’re not sure who to send your invoice to, double check with your point of contact. It’s best to know and send it to the right place, then send it where you think is right and it get lost.
Signing your invoice off with a thank you, as a gesture, is always good, you can include a digital signature if you have one.

Hopefully that will have given an idea of where to start with invoicing. It’s the kind of thing you learn and understand more of the more you gain experience and exchange info with other artists you work with. Dance organisations often run workshops to support freelancers and their finances and non arts based organisations/small business support organisations run some good courses for understanding tax returns in more depth as well so keep an eye open for those.

Feel free to share this page with anyone who might find it useful.
If you’ve found this page helpful, I’d love to hear from you, I’m on Instagram @emiljdance
Good luck!