Timesheet Template for Excel: Free, With Automatic Hour Calculation
by Adrian Kamp
A timesheet, in German a Leistungsnachweis, documents which services were actually provided in a given period. It is the basis for the invoice. In a dispute it is a central piece of evidence.
This template is built for service relationships with more than two parties: for freelancers who work at a client through a staffing agency. For direct contracts it works just as well.
The Excel version calculates working hours, breaks and monthly totals for you. Both versions contain an approval block for all three parties. Free of charge, no sign-up.
This guide describes German law and German market practice. It is written for freelancers, staffing agencies and clients working in Germany. Statutory references use the German short form with a brief explanation in English. It is general information and does not replace legal or tax advice.
Looking for the BAföG Leistungsnachweis? This page covers timesheets in business. For the certificate of academic achievement under Section 48 BAföG (German student finance), your university is the right place to ask.
Download the timesheet template
Download the Excel template Download the fillable PDF
Free · No sign-up · No email address · Version 1.1 EN
Which version suits you?
| Excel | Fillable PDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic calculation | ✓ weekday, hours, totals | – |
| Fill in on screen | ✓ | ✓ |
| Print and sign | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rows for days worked | 31 | 20 |
| Adaptable to your needs | ✓ | limited |
The PDF version deliberately does not calculate. Form calculations need JavaScript, and many browsers do not run it in their PDF viewer. If you want automatic totals, take the Excel version.
What both versions contain:
- Sheet 1 – Timesheet: header for all three contracting parties, assignment and project data, daily record, summary (Excel only), approval block with separate confirmation and signature fields for all three parties
- Sheet 2 – How to use & legal: usual details, retention periods, deemed approval, e-invoicing, terminology What the Excel version calculates for you:
| Calculated automatically | Details |
|---|---|
| Weekday | Derived from the date, weekends are highlighted |
| Daily hours | From start, end and break, also for assignments running past midnight |
| Monthly total | Updates with every entry |
| Target vs. actual | If an agreed number of hours is entered |
| Fee total | Optional, if an hourly rate is entered |
The PDF version is laid out for printing on two A4 pages. The Excel version is set up for A4 printing, the timesheet in landscape and the guidance sheet in portrait. In the Excel version, the date and break fields are checked against incorrect entries.
Amounts are in euros and dates in the German format. Both versions are designed for assignments carried out in Germany.
What makes this template different
Many timesheet templates are simple tables with the columns date, activity and hours. That is enough as long as only two parties are involved and nobody asks questions.
In practice it is rarely that simple.
There are three parties, not two. When a freelancer works at a client through a staffing agency, the timesheet has two recipients with different interests. The client confirms that the service was provided. The agency invoices in both directions on that basis. This template covers all three roles, in the header and in the approval block.
Approval is the real bottleneck. Filling in the form often takes twenty minutes. Waiting for confirmation can take two weeks. That is why the template contains an approval block with separate confirmation fields for all three parties.
The file should do the arithmetic. Adding up hours in your head invites mistakes. Every difference between the timesheet and the invoice creates queries and delays payment.
Legal context belongs with it. Sheet 2 answers the questions that come up while filling in the form. What belongs in it? How long do you have to keep it? What does the e-invoicing obligation change? What applies to freelance assignments?
What belongs in a timesheet
There is no German statute that prescribes the content of a timesheet exhaustively. What matters is its purpose and the contract in each case. The record has to be able to show who did what, when and to what extent. That is where the details expected in practice come from.
| Detail | Why it is needed |
|---|---|
| Contractor | Who provided the service |
| Commissioning party | Who placed the order and owes the fee |
| Client / place of work | For assignments through an agency: where the work was done and who confirms it |
| Service period | Allocation to the billing period |
| Date of each day worked | Traceability in detail |
| Purchase order, job or project number | Link to the commission; without it, invoice checking at the client often stalls |
| Description of work | The decisive point, see below |
| Extent in hours | Traceable from start, end and break |
| Confirmation | Signature or documented digital approval |
On the description of work. This is where it is decided how meaningful the document is. “Consulting”, “project work” or “support” evidence little. A meaningful description names the specific subject matter.
General: development work Specific: implementation of the SAP to DATEV interface, mapping of accounting records, test against reference data set
The effort is small, the gain in traceability considerable.
Leistungsnachweis, Stundenzettel, Tätigkeitsnachweis, Regieschein: what is the difference?
In everyday German usage the terms get mixed up. In substance they mean different things, and your contract will use one of them.
| Term | Focus | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Leistungsnachweis (proof of performance) | Result and extent of the service | German B2B services, umbrella term |
| Tätigkeitsnachweis (activity record) | Tasks carried out | Time-based pay with details of activities |
| Stundennachweis / Stundenzettel (timesheet) | Working time only | Across industries |
| Arbeitsnachweis (work record) | Collective term, used inconsistently | Not a defined technical term |
| Regieschein / Rapportzettel (daywork sheet) | Time and material work | Construction and trades, VOB context |
What follows from this. The term used in your contract is what counts. If the framework agreement calls for a Stundennachweis and what is submitted is a result-oriented Leistungsnachweis without times, invoice checking can reject it. This template records both times and service content, and therefore covers both.
Is an invoice a timesheet?
No. The two documents have different functions. The timesheet evidences what was provided. The invoice claims payment for it.
In a dispute an invoice alone often does not suffice as evidence that the service was provided. That is why the timesheet is attached to the invoice in practice.
A common mistake is a discrepancy between the two documents. If the timesheet shows 142 hours and the invoice 144, the invoice is regularly queried in checking. The correction delays payment and can cause follow-up costs, for example when payment or early payment discount periods expire.
Make sure that the service period, the number of hours and the project reference are identical in the timesheet and the invoice. The automatic totals in the Excel version are there for exactly that.
The approval process for assignments through a staffing agency
When a freelancer works at a client through a staffing agency, the timesheet typically passes four stations.
- The freelancer records the services provided and submits the timesheet.
- The client, usually the project manager on site, checks and confirms that the service was provided.
- The staffing agency checks the confirmed timesheet against the commission.
- On that basis the agency invoices the client and settles the freelancer’s invoice. Each of these stations is a possible delay. In practice, a large number of emails quickly builds up per freelancer per month: sending the timesheet, following up, answering queries, sending a corrected version, following up again.
The bottleneck is often at station 2. For the project manager at the client, approval is a secondary task. It arrives in a batch at the end of the month and is often dealt with between other appointments. Experience suggests that approval happens sooner when it takes little effort. Additional hurdles such as a separate registration or another password can delay it.
For this process the template offers two things: a header naming all three parties, and an approval block with separate confirmation fields. That documents on a single sheet who confirmed what and when.
A file, however, neither sends itself nor follows up, and it does not automatically log who approved when. If this process runs across many assignments every month, a system can make more sense than a file. How zekanex solves this is further down the page.
Objection periods and deemed approval (Genehmigungsfiktion)
Without an agreed period, a timesheet that goes unanswered does not, as a rule, count as automatically approved. Billing can then stall: the freelancer waits for payment, and the agency may not yet be able to invoice the client.
One possible contractual solution is a deemed approval, in German a Genehmigungsfiktion: if the client raises no objections within an agreed period, the timesheet counts as approved.
Where such a rule is agreed in standard business terms, German law sets specific requirements, for instance that the period is reasonable and that the other party is separately informed of the significance of remaining silent (Section 308 No. 5 of the German Civil Code, BGB). Between businesses, these standards feed into the general review of contract terms.
Important. A deemed approval only takes effect if it has been validly agreed in the contract. A sentence on a form does not create it. This is why the template deliberately contains no pre-formulated deemed approval clause.
Whether and how such a rule should be agreed is a question of contract drafting in the individual case and belongs in legal advice.
Is an Excel template GoBD-compliant?
No, not on its own. You should know that before you rely on it.
The GoBD, the German tax authorities’ principles for keeping and storing records in electronic form, require among other things that records subject to retention are unalterable and traceable. An Excel file does not meet the requirement of unalterability on its own: content can be changed without any change log being created. The same applies to a writable PDF form.
That does not make the template worthless. For ongoing recording and for coordination between the parties it works well. For records that have to be retained, the completed timesheet is usually fixed as an unalterable PDF and archived together with the associated approval in a revision-proof archive.
Retention periods. Where a timesheet serves as an accounting document, for example as an annex to an invoice, the period for accounting documents applies. The Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act shortened it to eight years (Section 147(3) Fiscal Code AO, Section 257(4) Commercial Code HGB, Section 14b(1) VAT Act UStG), and it applies in principle to documents whose period had not yet expired on 1 January 2025. Other records of tax relevance are kept for six years, annual financial statements and balance sheets for ten years. Invoices received electronically are archived in their original format. A printout is not sufficient.
Please check the position that applies to your case with your tax adviser.
What the e-invoicing obligation means for timesheets
Since 1 January 2025, every domestic business in Germany must be able to receive e-invoices in B2B transactions. The obligation to issue them applies in stages.
| From | Who |
|---|---|
| 1 Jan 2025 | Obligation to receive, for all domestic B2B businesses |
| 1 Jan 2027 | Obligation to issue, for businesses with more than EUR 800,000 turnover in the previous year |
| 1 Jan 2028 | Obligation to issue, in principle for all |
A PDF is not an e-invoice. Structured formats under EN 16931 are required, in the German market above all XRechnung and ZUGFeRD.
For the timesheet this means that it moves from being a paper annex into a structured process. The invoice is processed automatically, and the record that supports it should be available in the same logic. An approval process that is organised digitally and traceably can make the changeover easier.
Position as at: September 2026.
What else applies to freelance assignments
For assignments through a staffing agency, the timesheet has a double function. It is the basis for invoicing and at the same time part of the documentation of the assignment.
Whether a person is self-employed or in employment is determined by how the assignment is actually carried out, not by how it is described. In social security law the standard is Section 7(1) Social Code Book IV (SGB IV); a binding clarification is available through the status determination procedure under Section 7a SGB IV. In employment law, Section 611a BGB makes clear that the label used in the contract does not matter if the way the work is actually carried out points to an employment relationship.
The timesheet should therefore reflect the actual circumstances. Where the work is result-based, it can name the result specifically. Wording that suggests being subject to instructions or being integrated into the client’s organisation, although neither is actually the case, paints an inaccurate picture. Where instructions and integration do exist in fact, the question is not one of wording but of how the assignment is carried out.
A clarification we think is important. A timesheet cannot prevent a status review. No document and no software protects against a status determination or determines its outcome. What a properly kept record can do is document what was actually agreed and performed.
For the arrangement in an individual case we recommend legal advice.
When the template reaches its limits
This template comes from zekanex. We build software for exactly the process the file maps.
When that starts to pay off. With a few running assignments, a well-kept file is often enough. The coordination effort grows with the number of parallel assignments; in our assessment it becomes the bottleneck from around ten to fifteen parallel assignments. Time then goes into sending, following up, sorting and matching. That is what zekanex is built for.
| Template as a file | zekanex | |
|---|---|---|
| Recording | manually in the file | structured, recurring items can be carried over |
| Sending | email attachment | automatically generated, personalised link |
| Agency approval | print, signature | in the agency’s own account |
| Client approval | print, signature, scan back | via magic link without an account or in the client’s own account |
| Following up | by hand | automatic reminder |
| Status | search your inbox | visible in the account at any time |
| Documentation | no automatic log | every approval logged with time and person |
| Reporting | your own analysis | reporting for staffing agencies and clients |
| Hosting | your own computer | hosting in Germany |
The project manager at the client can approve without an account and without a password. They open the link and confirm. Anyone who prefers to work with an account of their own can do that too. Experience suggests that approval happens sooner when it takes little effort.
Freelancers can register with zekanex directly. Staffing agencies and clients we onboard after an initial call. Support for the e-invoicing formats XRechnung and ZUGFeRD is planned and not yet available.
Arrange a call (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab) · How the process works (opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab)
Timesheets in Austria and Switzerland
The template is designed for the German market and can in principle also be used in Austria and Switzerland; currency and country-specific requirements may need to be adapted. The terms differ.
- Austria: the usual term is Zeitaufzeichnung. For employment relationships Section 26 AZG (Working Time Act) applies. For self-employed contractual relationships, what is agreed in the contract applies.
- Switzerland: Stundenrapport and Arbeitsrapport are common, and Regierapport for time and material work. The main differences are in tax and social security rules and in retention periods. The content structure of the record is comparable in all three countries.
Frequently asked questions
What has to be in a timesheet?
German law does not prescribe the content exhaustively; what matters is the contract. Usual details are the contracting parties, the service period and individual dates, a specific description of the work, the extent in hours and confirmation by the parties. For assignments through a staffing agency, the client as the place of work and the purchase order or project number are added.
Is an invoice a timesheet?
No. The invoice claims payment, the timesheet evidences the service provided. In practice the record is attached to the invoice.
Does a timesheet have to be signed?
A signature is not required in every case; whether it is needed follows from the contract. It can increase the evidential value. What matters is that the client’s confirmation is recorded traceably. That can also be a digital approval; what weight it carries as evidence is for the court to assess in a dispute.
How long do I have to keep timesheets?
That depends on their function. As an accounting document, for example as an annex to an invoice, a period of eight years applies in principle since the Fourth Bureaucracy Relief Act (Section 147(3) AO, Section 257(4) HGB). Other records of tax relevance are kept for six years, annual financial statements and balance sheets for ten years. Please clarify the position for your case with your tax adviser.
Is an Excel template GoBD-compliant?
Not on its own. Excel does not meet the requirement of unalterability. For ongoing recording the template is suitable. For records that have to be retained, the timesheet is usually fixed as an unalterable PDF and archived in a revision-proof archive.
What is the difference between a Leistungsnachweis and a Stundenzettel?
The Stundenzettel documents working time only. The Leistungsnachweis also documents which service was provided in that time. Many clients ask for both in one document.
When does a deemed approval apply?
Only if it has been validly agreed in the contract. In standard business terms, specific requirements apply. The template deliberately contains no pre-formulated deemed approval clause; a note on a form does not replace the contractual agreement.
Is the template really free?
Yes. No account, no email address, no trial period. You may pass the file on internally and adapt it. The template is provided without warranty and does not replace legal or tax advice.
Is the template available as a PDF as well?
Yes. Besides the Excel version there is a fillable PDF that can be completed on screen, saved and printed. Automatic hour calculation is only available in the Excel version, because PDF forms do not calculate reliably in many browsers.
Is there a German version of this template?
Yes. The German versions of the template and of this guide are available at zekanex.de/ratgeber/leistungsnachweis-vorlage/ (opens in a new tab). Clients and agencies in Germany often expect the German wording on the document.
Download the template now
Download the Excel template Download the fillable PDF
Free · No sign-up · Including guidance and legal context · Version 1.1 EN
The information on this page is general information about German law and does not constitute legal or tax advice. The template is provided without warranty. Legal position: September 2026.