Convention · For invoices, clients, and tax-ready books
Freelancer & small business
Split money in from money out, one folder per client, and a tax year that your accountant can read at a glance. Filenames carry the amount so totals are scannable.
income/ vs expenses/ split so a tax year reconciles at a glance
One subfolder per client; invoices numbered and dated
Filenames include the amount and a paid/unpaid tag
or in dossier: Settings → Filing convention → Start from an example
Filing convention — Freelancer & small business
Single source of truth for how business documents are named and filed. Built so
a tax year reconciles quickly and nothing a tax office could ask for is missing.
Folders
Top level is the tax year, then the money direction:
2026/
income/ — invoices I issued, split per client: income/acme/, income/globex/
expenses/ — bills I paid, grouped by kind: expenses/software/,
expenses/hardware/, expenses/travel/, expenses/office/, expenses/fees/
tax/ — VAT filings, income-tax returns, correspondence with the tax office
contracts/ — client agreements, NDAs (a copy also lives with the client if long-lived)
bank/ — statements, in month order
Filenames
Date-first, then a code, a short title, the amount, and tags. The amount in the
name makes a folder’s total scannable without opening anything.
[code] is a short client or vendor code (acme, jetbrains), lower-case.
Invoices I issue are numbered invoice-0042; keep the number stable across
the unpaid → paid rename.
Amount as 1250-00-eur (dots and commas are trouble in filenames).
Tags
Type: invoice, receipt, contract, statement, report, letter.
Status: paid, unpaid, overdue, refunded.
Language where it matters: de, en.
Rules & exceptions
When an invoice gets paid, rename the (unpaid) file to (paid) and set
the payment date as the new date — keep the invoice number. One document,
updated; don’t keep both.
A receipt that covers several expense kinds goes to the dominant one; note
the split rather than duplicating the file.
Anything with VAT keeps the original — never a reprint — because the tax
office wants the issued document.
Personal purchases on a business card → expenses/personal/ and flagged,
so they’re easy to back out at tax time.
# Filing convention — Freelancer & small business
Single source of truth for how business documents are named and filed. Built so
a tax year reconciles quickly and nothing a tax office could ask for is missing.
## Folders
Top level is the **tax year**, then the money direction:
- `2026/`
- `income/` — invoices I issued, split per client: `income/acme/`, `income/globex/`
- `expenses/` — bills I paid, grouped by kind: `expenses/software/`,
`expenses/hardware/`, `expenses/travel/`, `expenses/office/`, `expenses/fees/`
- `tax/` — VAT filings, income-tax returns, correspondence with the tax office
- `contracts/` — client agreements, NDAs (a copy also lives with the client if long-lived)
- `bank/` — statements, in month order
## Filenames
Date-first, then a code, a short title, the amount, and tags. The amount in the
name makes a folder's total scannable without opening anything.
```
YYYY-MM-DD_[code]_short-title_amount_(type)(status).ext
2026-03-01_[acme]_invoice-0042_1250-00-eur_(invoice)(unpaid).pdf
2026-03-14_[acme]_invoice-0042_1250-00-eur_(invoice)(paid).pdf
2026-02-09_[jetbrains]_all-products_249-00-eur_(receipt)(paid).pdf
```
- `[code]` is a short client or vendor code (`acme`, `jetbrains`), lower-case.
- Invoices I issue are numbered `invoice-0042`; keep the number stable across
the unpaid → paid rename.
- Amount as `1250-00-eur` (dots and commas are trouble in filenames).
## Tags
Type: `invoice`, `receipt`, `contract`, `statement`, `report`, `letter`.
Status: `paid`, `unpaid`, `overdue`, `refunded`.
Language where it matters: `de`, `en`.
## Rules & exceptions
- **When an invoice gets paid**, rename the `(unpaid)` file to `(paid)` and set
the payment date as the new date — keep the invoice number. One document,
updated; don't keep both.
- **A receipt that covers several expense kinds** goes to the dominant one; note
the split rather than duplicating the file.
- **Anything with VAT** keeps the original — never a reprint — because the tax
office wants the issued document.
- **Personal purchases on a business card** → `expenses/personal/` and flagged,
so they're easy to back out at tax time.