Freelance UX Designer Income and Expense Spreadsheet

A UX designer sells time in phases: a discovery sprint, a research round, then design handoff. Larger clients often pay weeks after the invoice, and research adds costs like recruiters and participant gift cards.

How a UX designer gets paid, and what that means for the sheet

UX work is usually quoted by phase or by day: a discovery sprint, a research round, a design handoff. Larger clients often send a purchase order first and pay weeks after the invoice, so the invoice date and the payment date can fall in different months. Workshops and audits are often one-off fixed fees.

Log Income when the payment arrives and keep the invoice date in the Invoices tab. If a client repays you for participant incentives or a testing tool, log that as its own Income row so it is not confused with your design fees. Log a partly refunded phase as an Expense with the client name.

One example month, logged

Invented numbers, to show the shape. Each row below is one line on the Transactions tab.

In this example the month ends with $10,700 in, $1,695 out and $9,005 left before you set anything aside for tax.

The P&L tab sorts the same rows by category:

Where a UX designer's purchases go

• Software & subscriptions: Prototyping seats, remote testing tools, survey software and diagramming apps sit here. A tool you pay for to run a single study is still software. Write the study or client in the Description to see what each research round cost beyond your time.
• Contractors: Recruiters, transcription and a second researcher go under Contractors. Participant gift cards are paid to study participants, not contractors, so many people put them under Other expense. Keeping the two apart shows what a study's labor and incentives each cost.
• Travel: On-site workshops and stakeholder visits mean train fares, mileage and sometimes a night away. Log each leg on its own row with the client name. If a client reimburses part of the trip, log that reimbursement as its own Income row.
• Equipment: Drawing tablets, a test device for mobile prototypes and a better monitor belong under Equipment. If one receipt covers a tablet and a screen protector, split it into two rows only when the accessory is a separate line on the receipt.

Four tracking tips for a UX designer

1. Use one Description pattern per study, such as Kestrel round 2: incentives. Then you can filter the Transactions tab and see the full cost of a research round, from recruiter fees to the last gift card.
2. Large clients may pay weeks after you invoice. Keep every sent invoice in the Invoices tab with its due date. Type each expected payment into the Cash Flow tab in the month it should land, and check its lowest month before buying new gear.
3. Photograph gift card receipts the day you get them and note the study in the Description. Clients who reimburse incentives often want proof, and a pile of unlabeled receipts is slow to sort out later.
4. Sprint and workshop payments arrive in lumps. Once each lands as Income on the Transactions tab, the Tax Set-Aside tab updates the amount to put aside. Ask your tax adviser which rate to use rather than guessing.

Two formulas worth a cell of their own

These use the kit's Transactions tab (Type in column B, Category in C, Client / Vendor in E, Amount in F). Excel and Google Sheets both support SUMIFS.

• Spend in your biggest category, here Contractors: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Expense",Transactions!C:C,"Contractors") returns $830 on the example month.
• Income from one client: =SUMIFS(Transactions!F:F,Transactions!B:B,"Income",Transactions!E:E,"Kestrel Health App") returns $4,800 on the example month.

Questions

How do I track a UX project billed by phase?

Send one invoice per phase, such as discovery, research and handoff, and enter each in the Invoices tab. When a phase is paid, add an Income row on the Transactions tab. The P&L tab then shows which months the work actually paid.

Where do research participant incentives go?

Most designers log gift cards and cash incentives as Other expense, with the study name in the Description. If the client repays you, log that payment as a separate Income row. Keeping both rows shows the full cost of the research round.

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More freelancer finance guides

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General information about using spreadsheets, not financial, tax or accounting advice. Example numbers are invented. Categories are for tracking and do not say what is deductible.