Guides › Invoice Tracker Spreadsheet for Freelancers (with Overdue Formula) · Updated 26-10-2026

Invoice tracker spreadsheet for freelancers: never lose track of who owes you

Late payments are the quiet cashflow killer for freelancers. The problem is rarely that clients refuse to pay; it's that nobody noticed the invoice went overdue three weeks ago. A small invoice tracker that calculates due dates and flags late invoices by itself fixes that. Here's how to build one in Excel or Google Sheets, with copy-paste formulas.

The columns

Create a table with these columns, starting in A1:

1. Invoice no.
2. Client
3. Invoice date
4. Amount
5. Terms (days) – e.g. 14 or 30
6. Due date – calculated
7. Date paid – empty until the money arrives
8. Status – calculated
9. Days overdue – calculated

Formula 1: the due date

In F2:

=C2+E2

Format the cell as a date. If you agreed “end of month + 30 days” with a client, use =EOMONTH(C2,0)+E2 instead.

Formula 2: automatic status

In H2:

=IF(G2<>"","Paid",IF(TODAY()>F2,"Overdue","Open"))

The moment you type a payment date, the status changes to Paid. Until then it's Open, and the day after the due date it turns into Overdue without you doing anything.

Formula 3: days overdue

In I2:

=IF(H2="Overdue",TODAY()-F2,"")

Sort or filter on this column to see who to chase first.

Make overdue invoices impossible to miss

Select the Status column, choose Conditional formatting → Highlight cells rules → Text that contains and colour “Overdue” red and “Paid” green. In Google Sheets it's Format → Conditional formatting → Text is exactly. Your eye will jump to the problem rows.

See the total you're waiting for

Add two numbers at the top of the sheet:

=SUMIFS(D:D,H:H,"Open")
=SUMIFS(D:D,H:H,"Overdue")

Open money is normal; overdue money needs a reminder. And to see how much one client owes you in total (client name in K2):

=SUMIFS(D:D,B:B,K2,H:H,"<>Paid")

Know your rights on late payment

For business-to-business invoices, the law is on your side. In the UK, the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act lets you claim statutory interest of 8% above the Bank of England base rate, plus fixed compensation of £40, £70 or £100 depending on the invoice size. In the EU, the Late Payment Directive works similarly: interest of at least 8 percentage points above the ECB reference rate and €40 compensation. You don't have to use it, but mentioning it politely in a second reminder often speeds things up. To estimate the interest on one invoice (annual rate in L1):

=IF(H2="Overdue",D2*$L$1*I2/365,0)

Check the rules that apply to your country and contract before you claim; these rights usually don't apply to invoices sent to private consumers.

A friendly chasing routine

• Day 1 overdue: a short, neutral email: “Just checking this one reached the right person.” Attach the invoice again.
• Day 7: a firmer reminder with the amount, due date and your bank details in the body.
• Day 14+: a phone call. Most late invoices are stuck in an approval queue, and a call unsticks them.

Write the reminder date in a notes column so you don't double-chase.

Small habits that get you paid faster

• Invoice the day the work is delivered, not at the end of the month.
• Put the due date (a real date, not “30 days”) on the invoice itself.
• Ask new clients who handles invoices in their company before you send the first one.
• For bigger projects, invoice a deposit up front.

From invoice tracker to full bookkeeping

Once your invoices live in a sheet, adding expenses and a tax set-aside is the logical next step. That's what our Freelancer Bookkeeping Tracker does: the income log uses exactly this Paid/Open/Overdue logic, and it adds an expense log with business-use %, a quarterly VAT/GST summary and a dashboard with profit, unpaid totals and charts. Excel and Google Sheets, € $ £ editions, one-time €14.