Getting-paid guides · 10
A year of payments, and you can't tell where the money came fromBuild a simple, searchable record for your overseas payments: what to keep, how to keep it, ready for appeals and tax (not a substitute for tax advice).
Each payment is clear the moment it lands, but by year-end you look back and it's a tangle: which one came from which client, how much the fee took, what you actually kept, all of it down to memory. Then you need to reconcile, or appeal, or file taxes, and realize you kept no proof at all. You don't need complicated software. A simple ledger plus a habit of saving receipts as you go is enough to keep every payment clear. This guide shows you how to set it up.
On this page
- Why keep records at all
- What to log for each payment
- A record-keeping method that isn't a chore
- One spreadsheet is enough, skip the software
- Which proofs to store on their own
- Using this ledger at tax time
- Make the ledger something you can reconcile with
- Wrong assumptions about keeping records
- FAQ
- What to read next
01Why keep records at all
Keeping records isn't about looking professional. It's for three things that can come up at any moment: reconciliation (how much you actually earned and how much was taken), appeals (when an account is restricted, you can show the money is legitimate and real), and tax preparation (when it's time to file, the numbers are ready and you're not scrambling).
02What to log for each payment
- Date, client, project or service.
- Quoted amount and currency.
- The channel used, and the actual take-home (after fees).
- The matching invoice number and transaction ID / TXID.
Log the actual take-home separately, because the gap between it and your quote is the cost of getting paid you carried all year (see guide 6).
03A record-keeping method that isn't a chore
The simpler it is, the more likely you stick with it. One table, a few columns, is enough:
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | The date the payment arrived |
| Client / project | Who, and what work |
| Quote / currency | The nominal amount |
| Channel | PayPal / Wise / Payoneer / USDT |
| Take-home | Net after fees, converted to the currency you keep books in |
| Proof | Invoice number, transaction ID, or where the screenshot is saved |
04One spreadsheet is enough, skip the software
- In any spreadsheet tool, set up the columns above and name it "Payment ledger".
- Agree on a fixed moment to log: fill a row as soon as each payment lands, don't let it pile up.
- Make a folder and file your proofs by month or by client (invoices, arrival screenshots, TXIDs).
05Which proofs to store on their own
- The invoices you issued.
- Proof of arrival (platform transaction records, bank statements, block explorer records).
- Key communication with the client about amount and delivery.
These matter most when an account is restricted and you have to appeal (see guide 2), because they show the money came from a clear source.
06Using this ledger at tax time
We can't tell you what you owe, but we can make sure you have everything the tax office will ask for. Answer three questions first; your national tax authority's website covers all of them: what type of income fees from overseas clients count as where you live (self-employment, business income or something else); when you have to file, and whether you pay in instalments during the year; and which date and exchange rate to use when converting foreign income. Once you have those answers, the ledger columns for date received, amount in the original currency, converted amount and rate source, and payer add up straight into the figures the return asks for.
The details differ a lot by country: some expect quarterly prepayments, others one return a year; some convert foreign income at the rate on the day it arrived, others at a yearly average. Searching your tax authority's website for "self-employed" usually finds the right page. If you are still unsure, call their helpline with your ledger totals in hand rather than going by forum posts.
If your clients are in the US, they will probably also ask you for a W-8BEN. That form only decides whether the US holds tax back, which is a separate matter from how you report at home; keep a copy of the one you send with that year's invoices. The W-8BEN guide covers how to fill it in.
07Make the ledger something you can reconcile with
Writing every payment down and having books that reconcile are two different things. The second one has a concrete test: on any given day you can answer three questions. How much came in this month, which invoice each payment belongs to, and where the gap sits between your ledger and the balance in each receiving account. Three habits at logging time get you there.
- Log two amounts, not one. One column for what the client actually paid, one for what actually landed in your account, and a separate column noting whether the gap was a fee or an FX loss. Collapse them into a single number and by year-end you can never pull them apart again.
- Write down which rate you converted at. If you keep books in your local currency, record the rate you used for a foreign-currency or stablecoin payment and where that rate came from (the bank's booking rate, the platform's execution price, a public mid-market rate, any of them works as long as you stick with the one you pick). Switch rates halfway and the books stop matching.
- Reconcile monthly, not annually. At month end, total the arrivals in your ledger for that month and check them against the actual activity in each receiving account, and chase any gap the same month. Leave it a year and some platforms' transaction history is already past the window you can still export.
If you later hand the books to an accountant or a tax agent, what they usually ask for is this: a date-ordered list of payments received, the invoice or contract behind each one, proof of arrival, and a note of which exchange rate you used to convert. Keep records this way and all of that exports straight out, with nothing to reconstruct after the fact. Whether and how to declare it: take the three questions in Using this ledger at tax time to your tax authority.
08Wrong assumptions about keeping records
The platform has the records, so I don't need to log anything myself.
Platform records may be scattered across several accounts and may be impossible to pull if an account has problems. A summary ledger of your own is the only copy that's truly in your hands.
Logging the quoted amount is enough.
There's a fee between the quote and the actual take-home. Log only the quote and you know neither your real income nor your cost of getting paid.
09FAQ
What does an accountant usually ask for?
A date-ordered list of payments received, the invoice or contract behind each one, proof of arrival, and a note on the rate you used to convert foreign currency into the currency you keep books in. All four fall out of the method above, so nothing has to be reconstructed later. Whether to declare, and which day's rate to convert at: see the section above on using this ledger at tax time.
A payment came in another currency. Which amount goes in the ledger?
Two numbers: what the client actually paid in the original currency, and what actually landed in your account. If you keep books in your local currency, add a third, the converted figure, and note the date and source of the rate you used. With all three you can still separate the fee from the FX loss later.
How long should I keep records?
It depends on your region's rules for retaining proof, and a few years is commonly suggested. When in doubt, keep more rather than less; storage costs almost nothing.
Do I need professional accounting software?
A spreadsheet is enough to start. Consider a tool once the volume grows. The point is to first build the habit of logging every payment and saving every proof.
10What to read next
Fees and rules change; before you act, open the pages above and check that day's figures.