Invoicing tool or Excel: when is a template no longer enough?
An invoice in Excel is made quickly: a template with your logo, a few lines, a formula for the VAT, save as PDF. For anyone who invoices a few times a year there is little wrong with it. The question is not whether Excel works, but when it costs you more than an invoicing tool.
Where Excel is good enough
- You invoice at most a few times a year to one or two clients.
- Your clients pay without you having to chase them.
- You need no quotes, no instalments and no e-invoices.
- Your accountant is happy to retype PDFs, or you file your own return based on a handful of invoices.
In that case a good template is enough. Do make sure the mandatory details are on it and that your numbering stays sequential.
The four moments when it goes wrong
1. The numbering. In Excel you type the invoice number yourself. Skipping a number or using one twice happens faster than you think, and a gap in the sequence is the first thing a tax audit asks about. An invoicing tool numbers automatically and leaves no gaps.
2. The VAT rounding. In the Netherlands VAT is rounded per rate over the summed subtotal, not per line. A template that rounds per line is sometimes a cent off, and that shows with a client who imports the amount. If you work with reverse-charged VAT or the small business scheme (KOR), the invoice also needs a mandatory sentence you have to remember yourself in Excel.
3. What is still open. Once you send more than a few invoices a month, you keep a second list of who has paid. That list goes stale, and the reminder you meant to send stays unsent. An invoicing tool knows per invoice whether it was sent, viewed, paid or is overdue, and sends the reminder itself.
4. The accountant. Every PDF you e-mail, someone retypes. An invoicing tool in which your accountant reads along, or that delivers UBL files, removes that work.
What an invoicing tool costs
Less than most people think. At factuurmaken you make a one-off invoice without an account, see the preview for free and pay €0.50 for the clean PDF; that is the Excel scenario, but with the VAT and the mandatory details right. A plan with saved clients, automatic numbering, reminders and a bank link starts at €2.50 per month, cancellable monthly.
Switching without fuss
You set the invoice number to continue from, so the sequence from Excel runs on neatly. You add clients as you invoice, with their details from the KVK register. Your old invoices stay where they are; they do not need to come along.