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Freelancers and consultants

Invoicing and accounting software for freelancers and consultants

Send a GST invoice with the right SAC code in two minutes, see which client still owes you for last month's milestone, and keep the TDS your clients deducted from slipping out of your books.

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In short

SimpleERP is invoicing and accounting software for freelancers and independent consultants in India. It raises SAC-coded GST invoices with CGST and SGST or IGST by place of supply, tracks advances, TDS deducted by clients and business expenses, and adds payroll when you hire.

Illustration of GST tax invoice INV-2026-27-0213 to Ravi Stores with CGST 9% and SGST 9%, round off, a UPI QR code and the amount in words.

A day as a freelancer

When you are the whole business, every hour spent on invoices and spreadsheets is an hour not billed, so the books have to keep up without a bookkeeper.

Saanvi Mehta runs a one-person UX design and training practice from a co-working desk in Indore. This month she is finishing the second milestone of an app redesign for a Mumbai fintech, running a two-day design workshop for a Pune company, and keeping a small monthly retainer with an Indore hospital group.

Her invoices live in a Word file she copies each time. The Mumbai client paid a 30 percent advance in August that she has to remember to take off, the Pune client deducted TDS under section 194J and paid less than the invoice, and her Figma and Adobe receipts sit in an email folder waiting for her CA to ask for them in March.

SimpleERP keeps that month in one place. The tax invoice carries the SAC code and picks IGST for Mumbai and Pune and CGST and SGST for Indore, the advance sits on the client's account until the milestone bill uses it, and each software subscription is an expense with its input GST already split out.

GST billing

A GST invoice for each kind of work, with its SAC code

Save each service you sell once, with its SAC code and GST rate. On the invoice you pick the client and the service, type the fee, and the tax split follows from the client's state and yours.

  • Services carry no stock, so there is nothing to count and no warehouse to set up.
  • Free-text lines for a one-off piece of work that is not in your service list.
  • Bank details and a UPI QR on the A4 print, so the client can pay from the page.
  • One invoice series per financial year, numbered for you, such as INV-2026-27-0042.
Work you doSACUsual GST rate
Website, app or software development99831418%
UX, UI, graphic or product design99839118%
Management or strategy consulting99831118%
Corporate training and workshops99929318%
Writing, research and other professional work99839918%
SAC codes freelancers and consultants commonly bill under. Rates change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your CA or the GST portal before you rely on it.

Advances and milestones

Take an advance, bill by milestone and know what is still owed

Agree the scope in a quotation, record the advance as a payment kept on the client's account, and turn the accepted quote into an order you bill in parts. Each milestone invoice can use the advance, and the order shows what is left to bill.

  • Quotation to order to invoice without retyping the scope or the fee.
  • Advances stay on account until you allocate them to a milestone invoice.
  • Receivables ageing by client shows who is 45 days late before you start the next phase.
  • Credit notes when a client drops a deliverable after it was billed.

Illustration of receivables ageing: ₹2,14,800 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.

Receivables ageing by client, from current to over 90 days.

TDS by clients

Keep the TDS your clients deduct as money you are owed

Companies paying professional or technical fees often deduct TDS under section 194J and pay you the rest. Record the amount that reached your bank as the receipt, then post a journal that moves the deducted part from the client's balance to a TDS receivable account. At year end that account is the number to match against your Form 26AS before you claim the credit.

  • Manual journals for the TDS portion, naming the client so their ledger agrees.
  • Customer statements show every invoice, receipt and TDS entry in date order.
  • The TDS receivable ledger lists what each client deducted, ready for your CA.

Expenses

Software, travel and the co-working desk, with input GST split out

Record a business expense from your phone with a photo of the receipt. Pick the category, and the expense posts to its account with the input GST kept apart, so the credit you can claim is visible each month.

  • Categories for software subscriptions, travel, internet, co-working rent and bank charges.
  • Supplier bills for the bigger purchases, such as a laptop you depreciate as a fixed asset.
  • P&L on any date shows what the practice earned after its costs, not just what was invoiced.

Illustration of an expense claim on a phone with a receipt photo and Approve and Reject buttons.

An expense recorded on a phone with its receipt photo.

When you hire

When one becomes three, payroll is already there

Many freelancers never hire, and SimpleERP does not make you set up people screens you do not need. When a junior designer or a second consultant joins, add them, give them a salary structure and run payroll from the same books.

  • Salary structures with Basic, HRA and professional tax where your state levies it.
  • Self-service on the phone for attendance, leave and payslips.
  • Roles so a junior can raise invoices without seeing your P&L.

Illustration of a payslip with Basic, HRA, provident fund and professional tax lines and net pay of ₹27,660.

A payslip that posts to the books when you approve the run.

By job

Freelancers and consultants by job

One system

The modules that do this work

The invoice posts the receivable and the output GST, the receipt clears it, a journal moves deducted TDS to its own account, and expenses post with their input GST.

Honest limits

What SimpleERP does not do for freelancers yet

Said plainly, because several of these decide whether it fits you at all.

  • Indian clients only. There is no multi-currency, and no export invoice under LUT, so bill foreign clients elsewhere until then.
  • No time tracking or timesheets; invoice lines are fees you type, not hours logged.
  • No proposals with e-signature. A quotation is the closest document, and the client accepts it outside SimpleERP.
  • No TDS computation. TDS your clients deduct is recorded with a journal, not worked out for you.
  • Recurring invoices do not raise themselves; a monthly retainer is raised by hand.

Getting started

Start with your first invoice

  1. Sign up with your phone

    Name, phone number and a password. No card for the seven-day trial, and email is optional.

  2. Tell us about the business

    Type your GSTIN and the state fills itself. Accounts, GST rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for you.

  3. Add what you sell

    Add each service you sell, such as design, development, consulting or a training workshop, with its SAC code and GST rate. There is no stock to load.

  4. Post your first GST invoice

    Pick the customer, add lines and save. Your first GST invoice can be out within 10 minutes of signing up.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Do I need GST registration as a freelancer?

Generally once your aggregate turnover from services crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year, or ₹10 lakh in the special category states, as notified; check the current limits with your CA. Many freelancers register earlier because company clients ask for a GSTIN. SimpleERP is built around GST tax invoices, so it fits best from the day you register.

Which GST rate do I charge on design, development or consulting?

It follows the SAC code of the work: 998314 for IT design and development, 998391 for design, 999293 for training and 998399 for other professional services, most commonly at 18%. Set the code and rate on each service once and every invoice applies them. Rates change, so confirm the rate for your goods with your CA or the GST portal before you rely on it.

My client is in another state. Do I charge IGST?

Usually yes. For most services to a registered business, the place of supply is the client's location, so a client outside your state gets IGST and a client in your state gets CGST and SGST. SimpleERP reads the client's state from their GSTIN and applies the split.

Can I invoice a client in the US or UK?

Not from SimpleERP yet. Invoices are in rupees for Indian clients, and there is no export invoice under a letter of undertaking. If most of your income comes from abroad, it is not the right fit today.

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