Tattoo studios have an invoicing problem most templates ignore: your revenue is a mix of booking deposits paid weeks in advance, hourly work that runs long, flat-rate flash, cash tips, and the occasional guest artist who takes a cut. A generic invoice with "Description / Quantity / Amount" doesn't handle any of that cleanly. This page includes a tattoo-specific template, plain-English guidance on deposits, sales tax, and 1099s, and criteria for choosing invoicing software.

What should a tattoo studio invoice include?

A workable tattoo studio invoice has a few fields a generic invoice doesn't:

• Studio name, license number, address, and phone. Some states and cities require a body-art license number on client-facing paperwork. Include it whether or not it's required. Including the license number helps clients and inspectors match the invoice to the licensed studio.
• Client name and a reference to the signed consent form. Something as simple as Consent form on file, signed 3/12/2025 ties the invoice to the paperwork that protects you if a client disputes the work later.
• Artist name. Non-negotiable if you have multiple artists, guest spots, or booth renters. It's how you track who earned what at year-end.
• Line items broken out clearly: consultation or design fee, deposit credit (as a negative line item), hourly or flat session rate, shop minimum if it applies, aftercare kit if you charge for it, and a touch-up policy note.
• Payment terms. Due at end of session is standard. List which cards and apps you accept, and clarify how tips work: added to the card charge, or cash in the jar.
• Invoice number and date of service. Sequential numbering (2025-001, 2025-002, and so on) is the single easiest bookkeeping habit to adopt.
• A short aftercare note or link. The invoice becomes the client's takeaway sheet, which is one less piece of paper for them to lose.

A tattoo studio invoice should reference the signed consent form and include the artist name, session date, deposit credit line, and hourly or flat session rate. Most tattoo studios operate as sole proprietorships or single-member LLCs, and the SBA publishes guidance on running a small business under either structure.

How should tattoo studios structure a deposit invoice?

Deposits are where most shops leak money and trust. Two rules keep both intact.

Set the deposit as a specific number, not a vague "deposit required." Many tattoo studios use a flat booking deposit for smaller work or a percentage of the estimated session cost for larger custom pieces, then apply it as a credit line on the final invoice.

The exact amount depends on your book, but publishing it on your booking page and repeating it on the deposit invoice removes the awkward negotiation later.

Show the deposit as its own credit line on the final invoice. If a client paid a $150 deposit six weeks ago and you hand them an invoice for the full session total, they will forget and dispute the balance. The invoice should read something like:

Session (4.5 hours @ $180/hr)        $810.00
Booking deposit (paid 2/14/2025)    -$150.00
Aftercare kit                         $12.00
Subtotal                             $672.00
Sales tax (if applicable)             $XX.XX
Total due                            $XXX.XX

If you use an AI tool, paste the block into it and ask for a Google Sheet layout with formulas for hours × rate, deposit credit, and an optional sales-tax field. Review the formulas before using the sheet with clients.

Include your reschedule and no-show policy directly on the invoice, in plain language: Deposits are non-refundable. One reschedule with 48+ hours notice; deposit forfeits after that. Legalese scares clients; a two-sentence rule doesn't.

Collect the deposit before you start custom drawing time. If you bill drawing hours separately, note them on the deposit invoice so there's no surprise on the day of the session.

Should tattoo artists invoice hourly or flat rate?

The pricing model belongs on the invoice, not in your head.

Charge hourly for large custom pieces, sleeves, back pieces, and anything that stretches across multiple sessions. Put the rate on the invoice ($150/hr, $200/hr, whatever your rate is) and log the actual hours worked. For breaks longer than a few minutes, either pause the clock or state on the invoice that reasonable breaks are included in the hourly rate. Pick one and be consistent.

Charge flat for small flash, walk-ins, and repeatable designs. Flat pricing is easier for the client to say yes to on a Saturday afternoon, and it's easier for you to reconcile at end of day.

Put your shop minimum on the invoice. A two-line piece still costs the minimum. Say so upfront. Shop minimum: $100 on the invoice ends the "but it's tiny" conversation.

Decide whether stencil, setup, and supplies are rolled into the rate or listed separately. Either approach is fine. Listing supplies separately is more transparent; rolling them in is cleaner. Whichever you choose, don't switch it mid-year.

How do tattoo studios handle sales tax, tips, and 1099s?

This is the section most tattoo invoicing guides skip. Get it wrong and you're either overcharging clients, underpaying the state, or scrambling in April.

Sales tax on tattoos

Sales-tax rules for tattooing vary by state, so studios should confirm their own state's rule before adding tax to invoices.

There isn't a clean nationwide rule, and copying what the shop down the street does is a bad strategy because they might be wrong or in a different tax jurisdiction. Call your state department of revenue, get the answer in writing if you can, and match your invoices to it. If you owe sales tax, add it as a separate line so clients see it isn't going in your pocket.

Tips

Tip income is taxable; employees who receive $20 or more in tips in a month must report them to their employer, while booth-rent independent contractors report tips as self-employment income on Schedule C.

For a shop with W-2 employees, that means employees report tips to you and you handle the payroll-tax side. For a booth-rent shop where artists are independent contractors, tips are self-employment income the artist reports on Schedule C. You don't run payroll on those tips, but you should avoid pooling them through the business account without a paper trail.

Write the tip policy plainly on the invoice: Tips go in the cash jar, or Tips can be added to the card charge and paid 100% to the artist. Either approach is fine, but pick one.

1099-NEC for guest and booth-rent artists

Shops that pay booth-rent artists or guest artists $600 or more in a calendar year generally must issue Form 1099-NEC to that artist.

Every booth renter and every guest artist who took a cut needs a W-9 on file and a 1099-NEC in January.

The trap: mixing booth-rent artist income with shop income in one account. You can't cleanly issue 1099s if you can't tell which dollars belong to which artist. A separate business checking account per shop, plus clean per-artist invoicing, prevents the year-end mess.

Recordkeeping and cash

The IRS requires businesses to keep records that support income and deductions, which matters more for tattoo studios because a meaningful portion of revenue is often cash tips and cash deposits.

Keep the deposit ledger, the daily card batch, and the cash log. A shoebox works; a Google Sheet works better.

A trade or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in related transactions must report it on Form 8300.

Most tattoo transactions won't hit that number, but a full back piece paid in cash, or a series of related payments from the same client that add up past $10,000, will.

Self-employed tattoo artists working on booth rent generally must pay self-employment tax and file Schedule SE if net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more.

For a full walkthrough of what booth-rent and shop-owner artists can deduct, see our tattoo studio business expenses guide.

How do you use the free tattoo studio invoice template?

Here's a plain-text template you can paste into Google Docs, Word, or an invoicing tool. No signup required. Every field has a purpose; skip the ones that don't apply.

────────────────────────────────────────────────
[STUDIO NAME]
[Street address, City, State ZIP]
[Phone]   [Email]
Body-art license #: [if applicable in your state]
────────────────────────────────────────────────

INVOICE #: 2025-014
Date of service: [MM/DD/YYYY]
Artist: [Artist name]

Bill to:
  [Client name]
  [Email / phone]
  Consent form on file, signed [MM/DD/YYYY]

────────────────────────────────────────────────
DESCRIPTION                            AMOUNT
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Consultation / design fee              $  ___
Session (___ hours @ $___/hr)          $  ___
   — or —
Flat-rate piece: [brief description]   $  ___
Shop minimum (if applies)              $  ___
Aftercare kit                          $  ___

Booking deposit (paid [MM/DD/YYYY])   -$  ___
────────────────────────────────────────────────
Subtotal                               $  ___
Sales tax (if applicable in your state)$  ___
────────────────────────────────────────────────
TOTAL DUE                              $  ___
────────────────────────────────────────────────

Payment: Due at end of session.
Accepted: Visa, MC, Amex, Discover, ACH, cash.
Tips: [Cash in the jar / can be added to card charge].

Touch-up policy: [e.g., Free touch-ups within 30 days
on healed skin, excluding hands, feet, fingers.]

Reschedule / no-show: Deposits are non-refundable.
One reschedule with 48+ hours notice.

Aftercare: [Link or short instructions]

Thank you.

Turn this into a reusable file. If you work with an AI tool, paste the block into it and ask for a fillable PDF or a Google Sheet with a formula that multiplies hours by hourly rate, subtracts the deposit, adds an optional sales-tax percentage, and totals the balance due. Use the output as a starting point, then test the calculations before sending it to a client.

Number invoices sequentially (2025-001, 2025-002, 2025-003) and don't restart mid-year. Year-end reconciliation gets ugly fast when the numbers skip.

What should tattoo studios look for in invoicing software?

Many all-in-one tattoo booking platforms charge a monthly subscription and bundle scheduling, consent forms, and invoicing into one product. If you need the scheduling piece, that can be worth it. If you already have a booking system and just need to bill cleanly, you're paying for features you don't use.

What to actually look for:

• No monthly fee, or a fee small enough that a slow month doesn't hurt.
• Mobile-first invoice sending. You should be able to send an invoice from the chair, on your phone, in under a minute, not from a laptop at home three days later.
• Card and [ACH](/business-payments/ach) acceptance. Card for walk-ins and same-day flash; ACH for large custom pieces paid in installments. ACH pricing structures differ from card processing, so check your processor's fee schedule for both.
• Connected business checking. Deposits, payouts, and 1099 prep in one place, so you're not exporting CSVs from three tools every January.
• Honest about cash. If the platform doesn't accept cash deposits, it should say so upfront.

Novo Invoices lets tattoo studios send invoices from a phone and accept card and ACH payments with no monthly fee and no per-invoice fee. Standard card and ACH processing fees still apply. Send invoices from the Novo mobile app, accept card and ACH, and payments deposit into your Novo business checking account. The honest tradeoff: Novo business checking accounts do not accept cash deposits, so cash-heavy tattoo studios need a separate cash-handling plan, such as converting cash to money orders at the post office and mailing them in, or keeping a separate cash-capable bank account and transferring funds to Novo periodically.

How do tattoo shops collect payment for walk-ins and multi-session work?

Tattoo studios typically collect payments across four channels, and each has a specific role.

In-chair card readers and contactless. For walk-ins and end-of-session payment, the reader on the counter (or a Bluetooth reader you can bring to the chair) is the fastest option. QR-code invoices work too: the client scans the code, pays on their phone, and you get a confirmation before they're out the door.

ACH for large custom pieces. A $2,400 back piece paid over three sessions is a case where card fees can add up. ACH pricing structures differ from card processing, so compare both on larger tickets with your processor. The client links their bank once, and installment payments become easy.

Cash tips and cash payments. Reconcile daily, log against the specific invoice, and move cash to your business account weekly, not monthly. The longer cash sits in the shop, the worse the paper trail gets.

Multi-session installments. For long custom work, invoice the client per session with the running balance visible. A client who can see they've paid $600 of a $2,400 estimate is a client who shows up for the fourth session.

What invoicing mistakes should tattoo studios avoid?

• No deposit credit on the final invoice. The client sees the session total, forgets they paid $150 six weeks ago, and disputes the balance. Show it as a credit line, every time.
• No reference to the signed consent form. A single line, Consent form on file, signed [date], ties the paperwork together and protects you if something comes up later.
• Invoice numbers that skip or restart mid-year. Sequential numbering is a five-second habit that saves five hours in April.
• Charging sales tax based on what another shop does. Check your own state.
• Mixing booth-rent artist income with shop income. You can't cleanly issue 1099-NECs if you can't tell whose dollars are whose. If you haven't opened a dedicated shop account yet, the best bank for tattoo studios walks through what to look for.
• Verbal touch-up policies. Put it on the invoice. Free touch-ups within 30 days on healed skin, excluding hands, feet, and fingers, is a common default. Yours may differ; just write it down.

Tattoo studio invoicing FAQ

Do I have to charge sales tax on tattoos?

It depends on your state. Some states tax tattooing as a service and others do not, so check with your state department of revenue and match your invoices to that rule.

Is a tattoo deposit refundable?

Many shops make deposits non-refundable because deposits hold appointment time and may cover custom drawing work. State your policy before the client pays, and confirm that it follows your state's rules.

How do I invoice for a multi-session sleeve?

Estimate total hours upfront, take a deposit against the total, and invoice per session with the running balance shown. Each session invoice should list hours worked, rate, session subtotal, cumulative paid, and remaining estimate. ACH is worth setting up here because card fees on a $3,000+ total can add up; compare both fee structures with your processor.

Do I send a 1099 to guest artists?

If you paid the guest artist $600 or more in the calendar year in the course of your trade or business, yes. Send Form 1099-NEC by January 31. Get a W-9 from every guest artist before they touch a machine in your shop.

Can I send tattoo invoices from my phone?

Yes. Novo Invoices sends invoices from the mobile app, accepts card and ACH, and deposits payments to your Novo business checking account. No monthly fee, no per-invoice fee. Standard card and ACH processing fees still apply.

What's the best invoicing app for a tattoo studio?

Look for no monthly fee, mobile invoice sending, card and ACH acceptance, and a connected business checking account so bookkeeping and 1099 prep live in one place. Novo Invoices fits that profile; the tradeoff is Novo does not accept cash deposits, so cash-heavy shops need a separate cash plan.

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