A freelance invoice template, with payment terms attached

Most freelance invoices are missing the two fields that decide whether they get paid on time: a due date and a consequence. The rest is arrangement.

Short answer

• Invoice the day the work is delivered, not at the end of the month.
• Net 14 beats Net 30 for freelancers; the longer term only helps the client's cash flow.
• Put the late fee on the invoice itself, before the invoice is late.
• Reference the contract, the project name and the deliverable, so the invoice matches the approval.

The fields

• Your legal or trading name, address and tax number as required where you are.
• Invoice number and date, and the payment due date written as a date, not a duration.
• Client's legal entity name, not the department that hired you.
• Line items: deliverable, quantity, rate, amount. One line per deliverable, matching the contract wording.
• Tax treatment, currency, and the exchange-rate note if you bill in two currencies.
• Payment routes: bank details, or a payment link. One primary route, one fallback.

The four terms worth choosing between

• Net 14 — the default for most freelance work.
• 50% upfront, 50% on delivery — use when the project runs past a month.
• Milestone billing — use for anything you cannot deliver in one piece.
• Retainer, billed in advance — use for ongoing availability rather than output.

The late-fee line, written so it survives

State it as a fact rather than a threat: 'Invoices unpaid after the due date carry a late fee of X% per month, applied from the due date.' A fee that appears on the invoice before anything goes wrong is far less contested than one introduced during a dispute.

Also name the pause: work on new deliverables stops while an invoice is overdue. That sentence is what actually gets invoices paid.