Tracking Billable Hours as a Freelancer
Why tracked time and billed time diverge
Most freelancers bill fewer hours than they work. Time spent pitching, scoping, invoicing, chasing payment and handling revisions is real work that no client pays for directly. If you set your rate by dividing a target income by 2,080 hours a year, you have assumed every working hour is billable, and the shortfall comes out of your own income.
Tracking honestly is the only way to find your real utilisation. Run the timer for a month on client work alone, compare it against the hours you actually worked, and you have the number your rate should be built on.
What to keep, and for how long
Time records are not themselves a deduction, but they support several. If you claim a home office, deduct a share of your phone or internet, or split a vehicle between business and personal use, the deduction rests on a reasonable allocation of time — and a record kept as you went is far stronger evidence than one reconstructed months later. Records supporting a return should generally be kept for at least three years from the date you filed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the timer keep running if I close the tab?
The session is stored in your browser and the elapsed time is worked out from the clock, not from a counter ticking inside the page. Closing the tab or locking your screen does not lose the time — reopening the page picks the session back up. Clearing your browser data does erase it.
Should I round my billable time?
Rounding up to the nearest six or fifteen minutes is common and widely accepted, provided you tell the client which increment you use and apply it consistently. What causes disputes is rounding that is never disclosed, or that only ever rounds in your favour.
Does my tracked time go anywhere?
No. Everything stays in your own browser. There is no account and nothing is sent to a server — which also means the data does not follow you to another device.