How to write a tutor invoice

What goes on a tutor invoice

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

1. Name the student and the period. Put the student, the subject and the weeks the invoice covers at the top. A parent paying monthly for two children needs to see which invoice is which without opening both.
2. Itemize the sessions, not the month. List the hours with the quantity showing. Eight hours at your rate reads as eight hours. One line saying "October tutoring" reads as a number to be taken on trust.
3. Put materials on their own line. Workbooks, past papers and printing sit apart from your time. When a paper pack costs more this term, that is a rate edit rather than a conversation about what your hour is worth.
4. Say what was covered. A short note of the topics on the invoice the parent keeps is what makes the fee feel earned. It is also the record you want if anyone asks in March what happened in October.
5. State the cancellation terms. Put the notice period and what a late cancellation is charged at on the document itself, in advance. Terms that only appear after a missed lesson read as a penalty invented on the spot.
6. Send it with a way to pay. Add a payment link and the parent settles from the message rather than at the door. Mentioning money at handover is the part most tutors would rather skip.

The lines a tutor invoice usually carries

The generator opens with these lines when you pick Tutor / teacher. The figures are placeholders to type over, not a going rate.

Add, rename, reorder or delete any line, and set tax per line where it applies. Priced as they open, that comes to $680 before tax.

How to write a tutoring invoice, step by step

1. Name the student, the subject and the period. Open the tutor / teacher invoice and put the student's name, the subject and the month at the top. A parent with two children tutored needs to know which invoice is which.
2. List the sessions with dates. Eight one-hour sessions with their dates. An itemized list of dates is what stops the question about which lessons were covered.
3. Say what was covered. A few words per block of sessions: fractions and ratio, then practice papers. It is the only part of the lesson a parent ever sees.
4. Add materials and packages. Past papers and worksheets on their own line. An exam preparation block is one line at the package price.
5. State the cancellation terms, then send. Say how much notice you need before a missed session is charged. Set 7 days and send it on the same day each month.

Tutoring invoice example, filled in

A month of weekly math tutoring for one student, with materials and an exam preparation block. The student, subject and period are at the top, and the note says what the sessions covered.

Subtotal $680, tax $68, total $748. Eight hours at $45 is the line a parent checks against the calendar on the fridge. The note on what was covered costs nothing to write and is usually the reason the invoice is paid without a question.

Billing a block of sessions without losing track

Blocks are how most tutoring is sold and how most tutoring invoices go wrong. Ten sessions are agreed and paid for up front, then drawn down one week at a time, and three months later nobody is certain how many are left.

Put the drawdown on the document. Bill the block as one line at the agreed rate, then number each session against it on the receipt as it is used: session 4 of 10. The parent can see the balance without asking and you are not reconstructing it from a calendar.

If the block is paid in installments rather than up front, invoice the installment and show the sessions it covers. The receipt maker records a part payment and prints the balance still due, which is the number both of you actually care about.

Missed lessons, late cancellations and the awkward conversation

A no-show costs you the hour whether or not the student arrives, and a tutor who has not written the terms down usually eats it. Write them down.

The workable shape is a notice period and two prices: canceled with notice, rescheduled at no charge; canceled inside the notice period or not attended, charged at the session rate. Put that on every invoice, not in a message from six months ago.

Then bill it as its own line when it happens, with the date. A line reading "Late cancellation, 14 October" is a fact. A quietly larger total for the month is an argument.

Invoicing a school, an agency or a parent who needs a purchase order

Billing a school is not billing a parent. Schools pay on their own cycle, usually against a purchase order number, and an invoice without that number sits in a queue nobody is chasing.

Ask for the PO number before the first session and put it on the invoice. Add your payment terms in days rather than "on receipt", because a finance office works to a date. If they need a W-9 or the local equivalent on file, send it once at the start rather than after your first invoice is held.

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

Tutoring is priced per hour and sold in blocks, and the block is what turns an unpredictable diary into a business. Parents and students both prefer a known total to an open meter, and blocks price that preference honestly.

Show hours bought, hours taken and hours remaining on every invoice. It is the single change that removes the standard tutoring argument, and it prompts the next block at exactly the moment the current one is running out.

Working out what to charge

Tutoring rates depend on the subject, the level and where you teach, so a figure from a web page tells a parent nothing. The service price calculator sets an hourly rate from your preparation and teaching time, and the hourly invoice calculator totals a month of sessions.

Getting paid once it is sent

Blocks and exam packages are paid in advance; weekly sessions are invoiced monthly on a fixed date with a payment link, so paying never depends on catching the parent at the door. If the due date passes, the late fee calculator works out what your terms allow and the due date calculator sets the new date.

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

Mistakes that cost tutors money

• One line for the whole month. It hides the count, which is the one thing a parent wants to check. Itemize the hours.
• No cancellation terms until a cancellation. Terms that appear after the event read as a penalty. They belong on every invoice from the first one.
• Materials folded into the hourly rate. Then a term with heavy printing looks like you quietly raised your price.
• No subject or period on the invoice. Two children, two subjects, one household, and the parent cannot tell the invoices apart.
• Chasing by text. A payment link on the document gets it paid without either of you raising it at the door.

Tutor / teacher invoice questions

Free tutor invoice template

The free tutor invoice template opens with the lines above already priced, in any of 30 designs made for the trade, and exports a print-ready PDF with nothing saved to a server. Opening a design needs a free account.

Invoicing guides for related trades

Everything on this site, set up for tutors

The whole toolkit, with the reason each one matters to tutors rather than in general. The four marked links open with tutor / teacher already selected.