e-Boekhouden Invoices from Time Tracking

Creating invoices in e-Boekhouden from time tracking data involves collecting your logged hours from an external source and translating them into invoice line items within e-Boekhouden's bookkeeping system. Since e-Boekhouden doesn't include built-in time tracking, this bridge between tracking and invoicing is essential for freelancers who use the platform.

What Is e-Boekhouden?

e-Boekhouden is a Dutch online bookkeeping platform that's been serving entrepreneurs and accountants since 2003. It takes a more traditional approach to bookkeeping compared to platforms like Moneybird, giving users direct access to the general ledger, journal entries, and chart of accounts.

It's popular among freelancers whose accountants prefer working with traditional double-entry bookkeeping, and its pricing is competitive - starting around €11/month for a full-featured plan.

The Time Tracking Gap

Unlike Moneybird (which has a built-in time tracking module), e-Boekhouden focuses on bookkeeping and invoicing. There's no place to log hours directly. This means every freelancer using e-Boekhouden needs a separate system for time tracking:

• Toggl
• Google Sheets
• Excel
• Notion
• Clockify
• Or any other time tracking tool

The challenge is getting hours from your tracking tool into e-Boekhouden invoices accurately and efficiently.

Method 1: Manual Invoice Creation

The simplest (and most common) approach.

Steps

1. Open your time tracking tool and filter by client and date range
2. Calculate total hours per rate or per project
3. Log into e-Boekhouden
4. Go to Facturatie (Invoicing) > Nieuwe factuur (New Invoice)
5. Select the contact (debtor)
6. Add line items based on your time records:
   • Description: What was done
   • Quantity: Number of hours
   • Unit price: Your hourly rate
   • VAT rate: 21%, 9%, or 0%
7. Review and send the invoice

Pros and Cons

For freelancers with 1-3 invoices per month, this is manageable. Beyond that, the manual effort adds up quickly. See our analysis of how much time admin takes.

Method 2: e-Boekhouden SOAP API

e-Boekhouden provides a SOAP-based API for programmatic access. While it's not as modern as REST APIs, it covers core operations including invoice creation.

Key API Operations

• GetRelaties - Retrieve contacts/debtors
• AddFactuur - Create a new invoice
• GetFacturen - List existing invoices

Invoice Structure via API

An invoice (factuur) in e-Boekhouden's API needs:

• Relatiecode: The debtor's code
• Datum: Invoice date
• Betalingstermijn: Payment term in days
• Regels (lines): Array of line items, each with:
  • Omschrijving (description)
  • Aantal (quantity - your hours)
  • Prijs (unit price - your rate)
  • BTWPercentage (VAT percentage)
  • TegenrekeningCode (counter account code)

When the API Makes Sense

Building a custom API integration is worthwhile if:

• You generate many invoices per month
• You're comfortable with SOAP/XML
• You want to fully automate the flow
• You can maintain the code over time

For most solo freelancers, building and maintaining an API integration is overkill. The development time rarely pays for itself.

Method 3: Synkr Integration

Synkr connects your time tracking source to e-Boekhouden as a destination, handling the translation from tracked hours to invoiceable data.

How It Works

1. Connect your source: Set up Toggl, Google Sheets, Excel, or Notion as your time tracking source in Synkr
2. Connect e-Boekhouden: Enter your e-Boekhouden API credentials (username, security codes)
3. Pull entries: Fetch your recent time entries from the source
4. Review: Check the entries, descriptions, rates, and client mapping
5. Push: Send the reviewed entries to e-Boekhouden

Synkr handles the field mapping between your tracking tool's format and e-Boekhouden's expected structure, including matching client names to e-Boekhouden debtors.

Best Practices for e-Boekhouden Invoicing

1. Standardize Your Debtor Codes

e-Boekhouden uses "relatiecode" (relation codes) to identify debtors. Keep these consistent and meaningful - e.g., "ACME" for Acme B.V. This makes both manual and automated invoice creation smoother.

2. Use Descriptive Line Items

Your invoice line items should clearly describe the work performed. This is both a professional practice and a requirement for Dutch tax law. Instead of:

Development - 40 hours - €3,800

Write:

Frontend development checkout module (week 10-11) - 40 hours - €3,800

3. Group Hours Logically

When creating invoice line items from time entries, decide how to group them:

• By week: "Development week 10 - 22 hours"
• By task type: "Frontend development - 30 hours / Code review - 10 hours"
• By project milestone: "Sprint 3 deliverables - 40 hours"

The grouping should match what your client expects and what makes the invoice easy to verify.

4. Check VAT Rates

Dutch VAT rates applicable to most freelancer services:

Make sure your invoice applies the correct rate. For more detail, see VAT and hours for freelancers.

5. Reconcile Monthly

At the end of each month, compare your total tracked hours against your total invoiced hours. They should match (for billable hours). Discrepancies mean either:

• You tracked hours you forgot to invoice (lost revenue)
• You invoiced hours you didn't track (potential client disputes)

e-Boekhouden Pricing

Both plans include invoicing. The API is available on all plans. Accountant access is free - your accountant can log in separately.

e-Boekhouden vs. Moneybird for Time-Based Invoicing

If the hours-to-invoice workflow is your primary concern, Moneybird is more convenient. If your accountant prefers e-Boekhouden or you need traditional bookkeeping access, e-Boekhouden with an external sync solution works well.

For a complete comparison, read Moneybird vs. e-Boekhouden.

Common Questions

Can I import time entries directly into e-Boekhouden?

e-Boekhouden doesn't have a dedicated time entry concept. Hours flow into the system as invoice line items. If you want to store time records separately, you'll need to keep them in your tracking tool.

Does e-Boekhouden support recurring invoices from hours?

e-Boekhouden supports recurring invoices with fixed amounts, but not dynamic invoices generated from variable hours. Each invoice with time-based billing needs to be created per period.

How do I handle partial invoicing?

If a client pays per milestone rather than per month, track which hours have been invoiced. Most tracking tools let you tag entries as "invoiced" - use this to prevent double-billing.

Can my accountant see the time data?

Your accountant can see the invoices (including line items with hours) in e-Boekhouden, but not your raw time tracking data unless you share it separately. Keep your tracking records accessible for 7 years per Dutch law.