How to invoice as a virtual assistant

In short: To invoice as a virtual assistant, decide whether you bill hourly, on a monthly retainer, or by package, and put that unit on the invoice with the period named. Retainers are normally billed in advance, hourly work in arrears. Show the hours you are charging, even on a fixed fee, because it is the single thing clients query most.

Virtual assistance is a business of many small, recurring invoices to clients you rarely meet, often in different countries and time zones. The admin adds up fast, and the difference between a profitable month and an annoying one is usually how quickly you can raise ten invoices.

The example here: €900 a month for 20 hours of ongoing support, billed on the 1st, due in 14 days, plus any extra hours itemised separately.

For invoicing fundamentals, start with how to invoice a client as a freelancer.

Hourly, retainer or package: which should you invoice?

Each has a different invoice shape, and picking one deliberately saves a lot of later argument.

• Hourly. You log your time and invoice what you worked, usually monthly in arrears. Honest and flexible, but your income swings with the client’s month, and you are rewarded for being slow, which is an uncomfortable incentive.
• Monthly retainer. A fixed fee for a block of hours or for availability. Predictable for both sides, billed in advance, and the model most established VAs settle on.
• Package. A fixed price for a defined outcome, for example inbox management and calendar for a month. Best when the work is repeatable and you are fast at it, because your rate rises as you improve rather than falling.

Many VAs run a mix: retainers with anchor clients and hourly for overflow. That is fine, as long as each client’s invoice clearly says which one it is.

How do you show hours on the invoice?

Show them. This is the single thing that prevents queries, even when the fee is fixed.

Two habits worth building. Name the period on every invoice, so “September 2026” appears on the line and nobody argues later about which month was paid. And itemise extra hours separately rather than raising the retainer figure, because a fee that silently changed from €900 to €1,005 gets queried, while a separate line that says what the extra was rarely does.

An honest note on tools, because it matters for this job in particular: Tally Crow does not track time. There is no timer and no hours counter. You track hours in whatever you already use, a spreadsheet or a dedicated timer app, and the invoice carries the total. If you want time tracking and invoicing in one product, that is a genuine reason to look at something else, and better to know now than after you have set everything up.

Should you bill in advance or in arrears?

It depends on the model, and it is worth being firm about.

• Retainers: in advance. The client is reserving your availability for the coming month, so they pay at the start of it. It also means you aren’t funding the relationship.
• Hourly: in arrears. You cannot invoice hours you have not worked. Bill monthly, on a fixed date, for the month just finished.
• New clients: consider a deposit. A first month paid up front, or a part-payment, is reasonable protection with someone you have not worked with.

The full mechanics of retainer billing, including unused hours and scope creep, are in how to invoice a retainer client. This post is the VA version of it.

How to invoice as a virtual assistant, step by step

1. Agree the model, the rate and the billing date in writing, along with notice on either side.
2. Pick a fixed date and hold it. The 1st for retainers in advance, the last working day for hourly in arrears.
3. Raise the invoice with its own number, in your normal sequence.
4. Name the period and the hours on the line.
5. Itemise anything extra below the main line, referencing when it was approved.
6. Add VAT if it applies to you, and set the client’s agreed due date.
7. Send it on the same date every month, without waiting to be asked.

The time saver with many clients is saving each one properly: their own currency, their own payment terms, their own default bank account. In Tally Crow each client carries a due date from 1 to 365 days, so a 14 day retainer client and a 30 day corporate client each get the right date automatically, and you are not recalculating on the 1st of every month.

Invoicing clients in another country

A lot of VA work is remote across borders, so this comes up early.

Invoice in the currency you agreed, state it clearly on the document, and record the value in your own currency on the invoice date for your books. Bank transfer works for any currency, while an online card payment link covers the currencies your payment processor supports, which for Tally Crow is the set Stripe supports. For a client paying in a currency outside that list, transfer still works perfectly, you just will not have the one-click button.

The detail, including exchange rates and transfer charges, is in how to invoice a client in a different currency.

On VAT: whether you charge it depends on where you are, whether you are registered, and where the client is. Cross-border business-to-business services within the EU often use the reverse charge, where the client accounts for the VAT instead of you.

A worked example: a €900 monthly retainer

Invoiced on 1 September 2026, due 15 September:

Same date, period named, hours visible, extra work on its own line with the date it was approved. That invoice answers every question a client might have before they ask it.

Automating the monthly run

Ten retainer clients means ten invoices on the same day every month, which is exactly the task that slips in a busy week. A retainer invoice sent on the 9th instead of the 1st quietly teaches the client to pay late.

Tally Crow has recurring invoices on the Pro plan (€14.99/mo, €149.90/year): set the template and the cadence, and it generates each month’s invoice on schedule. One deliberate detail: the generated invoice is not emailed to the client automatically. You are notified to review and send it, which matters for a VA precisely because so many months need an extra-hours line adding before it goes out.

Recurring invoices are not on Free or Basic, so on those plans you raise the monthly invoice yourself, which is quick with a saved client. See pricing.

Chasing, and not needing to

VA invoices are small, which makes people oddly reluctant to chase them, and small unpaid invoices add up quietly. Set a short due date, make paying a single click, and let the reminders go out on their own: Tally Crow sends the due-soon reminder automatically and the overdue nudge is one click. For the wider approach, see how to get clients to pay on time.

Everything in one place, in any currency, starting free with 2 invoices a month and no credit card. See features.