How to write a translator invoice

What goes on a translator invoice

Six things, in the order they belong on the page. The invoice generator opens a translator document with the lines already in place, so most of this is checking rather than typing.

1. State source or target word count. They are different numbers and the difference is real money. Name which one the rate applies to on the line itself.
2. Show the language pair. English to German is not the same product as German to English, and a client with several pairs running needs to see which invoice is which.
3. Bill proofreading and review separately. Revising someone else's translation is a different service at a different rate from translating from scratch. Do not fold it in.
4. Name any minimum fee. A two hundred word job costs more to administer than it earns. If you have a minimum, it belongs on the invoice as a line, not as a surprise.
5. Say whether the work is certified. Certified, sworn and notarised work carries a different rate and often a different deliverable. Put it on the document.
6. Invoice in the currency you agreed. And say which one. An amount with no currency on a cross-border invoice is a payment waiting to be short.

The lines a translator invoice usually carries

These are the lines the generator opens with when you pick Translator. The figures are a starting point to type over rather than a going rate: this site runs no pricing survey, and the number on your invoice should be the one you charge.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $900 before tax.

A worked translator invoice, filled in

This is the same job as the table above, written out the way it would leave your phone. Every figure on it is a starting point rather than a going rate, and the tax line is shown at ten per cent purely so the arithmetic is visible: set your own rate, or none, per line.

Subtotal $900, tax $90, total $990. The parts worth copying are the structure rather than the numbers: the job reference next to the client, every line separately priced with its count showing, the tax on its own line, and terms that name a number of days instead of saying on receipt.

Source words or target words, and repetitions

The per-word rate is meaningless until the invoice says which words. A German translation of an English source will typically run longer, so billing on target words rather than source words changes the total on every job.

Pick one, agree it before you start, and print it on the invoice: "per 1000 source words" rather than "per 1000 words". If you discount repetitions or fuzzy matches from a translation memory, show the gross count, the discount and the net, because a client who cannot see the deduction cannot verify it.

A client who can check your arithmetic pays faster than one who has to trust it.

Certified, sworn and notarised work

This is a different product from a standard translation. It carries your statement, sometimes your seal, occasionally a notary, and it usually has to be delivered on paper.

Bill it as its own line naming what was certified, and put the certification fee separately from the translation fee. A client claiming the cost back, or submitting it to a court or an immigration office, needs the document to show clearly what was paid for.

Courier and hard copy costs belong on their own line too. Certified work is one of the few translation jobs with real physical costs attached.

Invoicing agencies, and invoicing abroad

Much translation work comes through agencies, often in another country, and they are process-driven payers. An invoice missing their PO number does not get queried, it gets ignored until you chase it.

Ask for the reference and the payment terms before you accept the job. Put both on the invoice. Set terms in days, since agencies work to a cycle, and if they use a self-billing arrangement, know that before you send an invoice that will never be paid because it was never supposed to exist.

For cross-border work, state the currency explicitly and agree who carries the transfer fees. The VAT calculator covers the rate side where it applies, but which party bears the bank charges is a commercial agreement that belongs in writing.

Hourly, fixed price or per unit: how translators price the work

Translation is priced per word, and the two decisions that matter are whether the count is source or target, and what happens to repeated text. Get those wrong and the same job can be quoted at two prices that differ by a fifth.

Price revision, proofreading and certification as separate lines rather than as part of the word rate. They are different services with different risk, and certification in particular is a professional statement rather than a typing job.

Working out what to charge

This guide is about what goes on the document, not what the number should be, and nobody should hand you a rate for your own market. What the site can do is the arithmetic: the freelance rate calculator works back from what you need to earn, the service price calculator prices a service against your costs, and the profit margin calculator checks what is left once the job is done.

Writing it on your phone, in five steps

Most translators write the invoice standing next to the work rather than at a desk a week later, and the week later version is the one that gets details wrong. The generator is built for the first case.

1. Open it with your trade already chosen. The translator invoice loads with translation (per 1000 words) and the rest of the lines already on the page.
2. Put the client and the job reference in first. It is the part you will not remember accurately in three days, and on agent, landlord or contractor work it is the reason the invoice gets paid at all.
3. Edit the lines rather than starting from empty. Change the quantities and the rates, delete what you did not do, add what you did. Keeping the descriptions means the wording stays consistent from one job to the next.
4. Set the terms to 30 days and add a payment link. A due date that is an actual date gets chased. A link and a QR code means it can be settled before you have packed up.
5. Send it before you leave. The clock on your terms starts when the invoice arrives, not when the work finished, so every day it sits unsent is a day added to getting paid.

Getting paid once it is sent

Put a due date and your terms on the document, because an invoice without them is hard to chase. Add a payment link and a QR so settling up is a tap rather than a transfer somebody has to set up. When part of it lands, the receipt maker records it as a part payment and prints the balance still due. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your own terms allow and writes the chasing letter to go with it.

Five dates decide whether a translator gets paid on time, and four of them are set before the work starts.

Mistakes that cost translators money

• "Per word" without saying whose words. Source and target are different totals. Name the one you are billing.
• Repetition discounts with no visible arithmetic. Show gross, discount and net or the client cannot verify it.
• Proofreading billed at the translation rate. Different service, different rate. Separate them.
• No currency stated on a cross-border invoice. An ambiguous amount gets paid at the payer's preferred reading.
• No PO number for an agency. It does not get queried, it just sits unpaid until you chase it.

Translator invoice questions

Free translator invoice template

The free translator invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 200 designs, and exports a print-ready PDF with no signup and nothing saved to a server. If you would rather edit a file offline, there are 72 Word templates, 72 Excel templates with the totals already calculating, and 72 fillable PDFs.

Invoicing guides for related trades

The same billing questions come up next door. These four guides cover the trades closest to translators, and each one sits alongside its own free template.

Every trade has one: see all 46 invoicing guides, or go straight to the 46 free invoice templates they describe.

Everything on this site, set up for translators

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to translators rather than in general. The five marked links open with translator already selected.

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