How to Invoice as a Bookkeeper: Rates, Terms and Templates

Bookkeepers often support ongoing reconciliations, payroll file prep, sales tax filings, and cleanups. Your invoice should reflect recurring cadence (monthly close) and ad hoc projects (historical catch-up) separately so clients understand base fees versus spikes.

Use plain language—many small-business owners are not accountants.

Invoices also reinforce deadlines you depend on: when bank feeds must be categorized, when inventory counts land, and when owners approve owner draws. A short memo on each bill trains behavior without nagging in email.

Typical rates

Monthly fixed fees scale with transaction volume, entity count, and software; hourly suits cleanups and diagnostics. Per-entity or per-account add-ons are fair when complexity jumps. The AICPA offers professional standards context; linking clients to their own CPA for tax advice keeps your scope clear on invoices labeled bookkeeping only.

Software subscription costs you resell should be pass-through lines, not buried in labor.

Catch-up projects should show date range covered (“Jan 2023–Mar 2023 backlog”) so clients understand why the first bills look nothing like steady-state monthly fees.

Payment terms

Net 15 after month-end close is typical; prepaid monthly works for new or historically late clients. Quarterly filing prep can be invoiced before filing deadlines. Align due dates with when clients have cash from their own AR—some prefer Net 30; document it.

If you pause work for nonpayment, reference your engagement letter terms in reminders—not on the invoice body unless policy requires.

Sales tax nexus or payroll tax due dates differ by jurisdiction—when you invoice filing support, name the jurisdiction on the line so owners know what calendar you are protecting.

What to include

Service month, deliverables (reconciliations, financials package, filing support), software fees if applicable, meeting or training time if billable, tax, total, due date. See how to write an invoice for identifiers and numbering.

Note client responsibilities (receipt uploads by X date) in memo lines when delays affect your workload.

Cross-check core invoice fields so AP portals that demand legal entity names and remittance addresses stop bouncing your PDFs.

Common mistakes

Calling advisory work “bookkeeping” without licenses where regulated—keep titles accurate. Bundling payroll processing without stating compliance limits. No distinction cleanup vs ongoing—clients think the higher cleanup rate is permanent. Missing 1099 or year-end surcharges when agreed—list them explicitly in season.

Stale W-9 or business legal name on file causes AP rejections—verify once per year.

Silent scope expansion when the client adds another LLC—update the agreement and show per-entity lines before the work piles up.

Template link

Our bookkeeper invoice template supports recurring monthly blocks and project line items.

Attach a one-line close checklist in your cover email when you bill month-end—clients pay faster when they trust the books are actually closed.

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