Invoicing for Tutors

From tracked time. Following Billed's time tracking page, create an hourly rate project for a student, set its hourly rate, and log each lesson as you teach it. That page says "Billed tracks the charge for each task as you log it" and "From the project dashboard you can invoice one task or several at once." This suits tutors who already log their time.

From saved services. Save each kind of lesson you teach, such as a one-hour lesson at your rate, and pull it into an invoice, one line per lesson. Put the date, the student and the subject in the line, so the parent can check each lesson against their calendar. This suits a parent with more than one child, because each child's lessons can go on the same invoice as separate lines.

These are sample figures. A tutor teaches two children from one family: Sam has algebra lessons at 60.00 an hour, and Alex has reading lessons at 50.00 an hour. The tutor has saved both as services.

At the end of October, the tutor creates one invoice to the parent with a line for each lesson: Sam, algebra, Oct 6, 1 hour, 60.00; Sam, algebra, Oct 13, 1 hour, 60.00; Sam, algebra, Oct 20, 1.5 hours, 90.00; Alex, reading, Oct 8, 1 hour, 50.00; Alex, reading, Oct 15, 1 hour, 50.00. The invoice total is 310.00. The tutor sets a due date and sends it by email.

If the tutor has connected Stripe, the invoice has a pay button, and Billed marks it paid when the parent pays by card. If the parent pays in cash, the tutor records it as an offline payment, and Billed can send a payment receipt. If it isn't paid by the due date, it shows as past due in Billed's invoice reports, and the tutor can send a payment reminder.

For a prepaid package, invoice the package before the lessons start, for example "Package of 10 one-hour lessons" at the package price. If the package price is lower than paying per lesson, you can show the difference as a discount.

For a fixed monthly fee, such as weekly lessons billed at the same price each month, use a recurring invoice. Billed's invoice software page says you choose the frequency and "how many invoices to send," or to send them indefinitely, and that "Billed creates the invoices automatically and either sends them or saves them as drafts for you to check." For a month with an extra or a missed lesson, send one invoice at the end of the month listing that month's lessons instead.

If your terms with the family include a late-cancellation or no-show fee, add it as its own line on the next invoice, with the date of the missed lesson, so the parent can see what it's for. Set the fee and the notice period in your agreement with the family before the first lesson.

For a group lesson, send each family its own invoice for its child's place in the group. If you charge different rates for online and in-person lessons, save each as its own service, so the line shows which kind of lesson it was.

This page doesn't cover whether you need a license, background check or registration to tutor, or how tutoring is taxed. Those depend on where you work, so check with the authorities there.