For freelancers
Lumpy income, deposits, retainers, and a tax bill you can see coming
Three invoices one month, none the next, a deposit for the big job, a retainer that pays the rent. Freelance money doesn't arrive in neat fortnights, which is exactly why a rule-of-thumb tax percentage keeps getting it wrong. Bilbee keeps the estimate moving with your year, and the set-aside moving with each payment.
Sample data: Jamie, illustrator, Brunswick.
Where you stand
FY 2026–27Estimated bill at 30 June
$3,120
Recent invoices
Estimate. Based on the figures entered, using ATO rates for FY 2026–27. Not tax advice.
Cash flow
A set-aside that follows your income
When the big invoice lands, Bilbee shows you the slice to keep back, worked out from where the year actually stands, not from a percentage you guessed in July. In a quiet month, nothing to set aside and nothing to dread. By June the estimate has been telling you the number for eleven months, so October is a formality.
Per payment. $2,640 in, $912 flagged. Move it to your savings account or don't. It's yours.
Counts what you've paid. Once the ATO has you on PAYG instalments, each one you record brings your running set-aside total down.
Shows its working. Expand the estimate and see every line, including the one that says how much is caused by the freelance work.
Getting paid
Quote, deposit, balance
Send the quote as a link. When the client accepts, raise a deposit invoice for a percentage of the quote from the same screen, and keep the balance linked to the same job. For the client on a monthly retainer, set the template once and Bilbee raises the invoice on the date you choose each month. On Pro it sends itself too.
Online accept so you're not chasing a signed PDF.
Deposit invoice raised from the accepted quote, at the percentage you choose.
Retainers that auto-send on Pro, early on the morning of each billing date.
Deductions
The camera, the laptop, the subscriptions
Much of what a freelancer spends can be deductible, in ways that are easy to get slightly wrong. Bilbee's categories carry a one-line hint about what each usually means for your money, and the ones that never count are kept off the return.
Equipment under the instant asset write-off threshold (a camera body, a lens, a laptop) can usually be written off in the year you buy it, for the business-use share. Bilbee keeps the asset register so your accountant doesn't have to reconstruct it.
Software and subscriptions are ordinary expenses. If you're registered and the supplier charged GST, you claim it at 1B.
Home studio. Log your hours and Bilbee applies the ATO's fixed rate per hour, then adds back the phone and internet you also logged so nothing's counted twice. Drive to a shoot in Ballarat and it's 91 cents a kilometre for FY 2026–27.
We won't tell you the tablet is deductible. We'll tell you what most people like you claim, and suggest checking with your accountant when it's close to the line.
GST
GST when you work with overseas clients
Invoice a client outside Australia for work they use outside Australia and it's usually GST-free. Mark its lines as Export and Bilbee keeps them out of 1A. They still count in G1 total sales, and the worksheet shows them separately so your figures reconcile. Simpler BAS doesn't ask for that split, so for GST only G1, 1A and 1B go to the ATO. Your ABN is on the invoice either way.
Whether a particular job counts as an export is the kind of question worth asking your accountant once, then setting up in Bilbee for good.
Two incomes
Two days a week at the studio, three for yourself
A lot of freelancing runs alongside a job. Add the job as a salary source in Bilbee with the tax actually withheld (from your payslip or income statement) and the estimate combines both. If the second income hasn't claimed the tax-free threshold, that's the case where a rule-of-thumb is most wrong and the estimate is most useful.
EOFY
Either way, July is a download
If you have an accountant, invite them (free, read-only) and they see the P&L, every BAS worksheet, the estimate with its working and the receipts. If you don't yet, the EOFY pack is the same thing as a set of files, organised the way a tax agent would ask for them.
Running your own business should leave room for the work you love.
Made in Australia, for people who do the work and the books.
Questions freelancers ask
Do I need to register for GST?
Once your turnover for a rolling twelve months hits $75,000, or you expect it to, you have 21 days to register. Below that it's optional, unless you drive for a ride-share or taxi service, which needs GST registration before your first trip. Bilbee works either way; tell it which you are and it handles the invoices and the BAS accordingly.
My income varies a lot. Will the estimate be wildly wrong?
It'll be as right as the year so far, and it moves as the year moves. Early in a financial year it's a projection; by autumn it's mostly fact. The set-aside on each payment reflects the estimate at that moment, which is the honest answer to "how much of this is mine?"
I get paid in USD sometimes. Does Bilbee handle that?
Invoices are in Australian dollars. If a client pays you in another currency, record the AUD amount that landed in your account and the estimate and BAS will be right.
Can I put the ABN and "tax invoice" wording on my invoices?
Your ABN is on every invoice. TAX INVOICE appears when you're registered for GST and the ABN is valid; otherwise it says INVOICE, because that's what it is.
What about super?
Nobody pays it for you, which is easy to forget. Bilbee tracks personal contributions against the cap so you can see the room, and keeps them out of business deductions, where they don't belong.