Do US freelancers charge sales tax on services?

Usually no. Most states exempt professional services (consulting, writing, design) from sales tax — but a handful tax specific services (e.g., New Mexico taxes most services under its gross receipts tax; Hawaii taxes services via GET). Confirm with your state tax agency before you add sales tax to an invoice, and never add it unless you are registered to collect it.

What's the difference between Net 15 and Net 30?

Net 15 means payment is due 15 days after the invoice date; Net 30 means 30 days. Both are counted from the invoice date (not the work date) unless the contract says otherwise. Net 15 is common for small freelance engagements; Net 30 is typical when invoicing larger agencies or corporations.

Do I need to register as an LLC to invoice US clients?

No. Sole proprietors can invoice using their own name and Social Security Number (or better, an EIN — the IRS issues one free). Clients paying a US person $600+ in a year will request a W-9 so they can issue a 1099-NEC. An LLC adds liability protection but is not required to bill.

Should I charge late fees on US freelance invoices?

You can, but only if the contract agreed them up-front. Federal law does not impose statutory interest on late B2B freelance invoices; state usury caps apply (e.g., New York caps contractual interest at 16% per year). A common clause is 1.5% per month (18% APR) on balances past due.

What are the required fields on a freelance invoice in the US?

There is no federally mandated invoice format. Clients expect: your legal or DBA name, your address and EIN/SSN (for 1099 reporting), the client's name, a unique invoice number, date, line-item description, amount, payment terms, and payment instructions (bank ACH details or a link). Add sales tax only if you are registered to collect it.

Free Invoice Generator for US Freelancers — PDF, Sales Tax, Instant

Description	Qty	Price	Amount
Consulting hours	10	$100.00	$1,000.00
Subtotal	$1,000.00
Sales tax (10%)	$100.00
Total	$1,100.00

The US has no federal VAT and no government-issued invoice template — good news and bad. Good because there is no pre-printed form to get wrong. Bad because clients, especially larger ones, expect a specific set of fields and will ping-pong your invoice back if any are missing. This generator fills the gap: pick the country United States, drop in line items, export. The output is a clean PDF with the fields US accounts-payable teams actually want.

What to include on a US freelance invoice

The IRS does not prescribe an invoice layout, but your client's AP system does. After a few years billing US agencies and direct clients, the fields that avoid rework are:

Your legal or DBA name. If you run a single-member LLC or sole proprietorship, use the name on your W-9. Pseudonyms on invoices are a payment-processing red flag.
Your taxpayer ID. Use your EIN if you have one — a free IRS issue — and hide your SSN from AP systems. IRS EIN application takes ten minutes.
Client's legal name and address, matching whatever they sent you on the engagement letter. "Send invoice to Jane" fails; "Acme Holdings LLC, 123 Market St, San Francisco, CA 94103, attn: AP" passes.
Unique invoice number. Gapless sequence preferred (0001, 0002…) — AP teams treat missing numbers as fraud signals.
Issue date and due date (not just "Net 30" — print both).
Line items with description, hours or units, rate, and extended amount.
Subtotal, sales tax (only if registered), total.
Payment instructions. ACH beats card for both of you: zero processor fee, cleared in 1-3 business days. For international freelancers billing US clients, Wise and Payoneer beat bank wires (wires hit $15-45 in SWIFT fees and 2-3% FX spreads on Chase/BofA).

Sales tax — the pitfall that trips most first-time billers

The default assumption — "services aren't taxed in the US" — is almost true, but the exceptions bite. I've watched a designer in New Mexico eat 5.125% gross receipts tax out of pocket on three invoices before their CPA flagged it. The rule: if you are not registered with a state's tax agency, do not add a sales tax line on your invoice, ever. If you are registered (because your state taxes your service type or because you have nexus), charge at the destination rate for digital/remote work in most states.

Sanity-check your service in the Federation of Tax Administrators' state agency directory before invoicing a new state. Specifically watch:

Hawaii — GET applies to most services at 4.0–4.712%.
New Mexico — Gross Receipts Tax on most services, 5.125–9.4% combined.
South Dakota, West Virginia — tax many professional services.
Washington — Business & Occupation Tax on gross revenue (not a sales tax you pass to the client, but a tax you owe).

The rest of the 50 states, for most consulting/design/dev/writing freelance work, do not apply sales tax to services.

Payment terms that actually get you paid

Net 30 is the US AP default. Anything shorter works for small invoices with direct clients; anything longer (Net 45, Net 60) is what large corporates push for, and you can usually negotiate down by 15 days during contract signing, never after. The clauses worth putting in your contract and reprinting on the invoice:

Late-payment interest. "Balances unpaid more than 15 days past the due date accrue interest at 1.5% per month (18% APR), not to exceed the maximum rate permitted by applicable state law." This gives you standing in small-claims court without arguing the number.
Collection costs. "Client is responsible for reasonable collection costs, including attorney's fees." Usually enough to make AP pay.
Deposit. 30-50% upfront on projects over $3k. Non-negotiable after the second time a client ghosts you on the final invoice.

When to send the 1099 paperwork, not the invoice

If a US client will pay you $600 or more in a calendar year, they will request a W-9 so they can issue you a 1099-NEC by January 31 of the next year. Send the W-9 when asked — you are not volunteering your SSN, you are complying with IRS reporting. If you have an LLC with an EIN, put the EIN on the W-9 and leave SSN blank. The 1099-NEC shows up on your Schedule C; what you actually owe the IRS is separate from what the 1099 says, which is why tracking your own revenue inside your invoicing tool matters.

How this generator handles the US case

Currency: USD.
Sales tax line: off by default; toggling it on exposes a rate field that you fill per your registered jurisdiction.
Payment block: inserts a placeholder for ACH routing + account number. Never email these in plain text — paste them into a password-manager share link instead.
Reference block: supports an engagement letter / PO number per line item, which large corporates require.
Regional formatting: date is MM/DD/YYYY and amounts use $X,XXX.XX — matches AP expectations.

Print-to-PDF or save-as works from any browser and produces a stable file name from the invoice number. A proper PDF export ships in the next release of this tool.

General information — not tax or legal advice

This page is general guidance for US-based freelancers. Tax rules vary by state and change; consult a licensed CPA or tax attorney before making decisions on registration, withholding, or incorporation. See the IRS Self-Employed Tax Center for authoritative reference.