As a freelancer, money comes in from PayPal, Stripe and bank transfers at random times, and every tax season I was digging through receipts. Accounting software felt like overkill. So I built a spreadsheet system instead.

How it works: you add each transaction once on a monthly tab (200 rows, with dropdowns for type, category, Paid/Pending and payment method). The Dashboard then calculates:

  • income, expenses and net profit, by year and by month
  • how much to set aside for tax, including VAT/GST/sales tax
  • "safe to spend" and a steady monthly salary
  • pending invoices, quarterly totals and the next tax date

Design choices: no macros or Apps Script, only regular formulas. Input cells are cream, so it's hard to break. A date entered in the wrong month's tab turns red. It works in both Excel and Google Sheets.

It's free (pay what you want, $0 is fine): https://ofekpoint.gumroad.com/l/bookkeeping-spreadsheet?utm_source=devto

Feedback is welcome, especially if you've built something like this yourself.