Disclosure: I'm the maker of Ponte Sheets. Not tax advice; check your rate with an accountant.
Freelance money arrives at random times, so "how much is in my account" is the wrong number. Here's the formula chain I use. The cell references are the real ones from my template: one tab per month (Jan..Dec), with Date in B, Type (Income/Expense) in C, Category in D, Net amount in J and Status (Paid/Pending) in K. Your tax rate goes in a Settings cell named TaxPct. Names like Profit, AfterTaxProfitYTD, MonthlyIncome and DueDates below are placeholders: point them at your own cells.
1. Paid profit only (per month tab):
=SUMIFS(J:J,C:C,"Income",K:K,"Paid")-SUMIFS(J:J,C:C,"Expense",K:K,"Paid")
Pending invoices stay out until they're paid.
2. Income tax set-aside (per month):
=MAX(0,Profit)*TaxPct
If you charge VAT/sales tax, add what you collected minus what you paid on expenses. That money was never yours.
3. Safe to spend:
= after-tax profit - tax still due
Everything left after you set the tax aside.
4. Steady monthly salary:
=IFERROR(AfterTaxProfitYTD/MAX(1,COUNTIF(MonthlyIncome,">0")),0)
Your after-tax profit averaged over the months with income. Optional tweak (not in the template): multiply by 0.9 to build a buffer.
5. Next tax date (generic version; the template uses Settings!C16:C19): put your due dates in four cells and use =MINIFS(DueDates,DueDates,">="&TODAY()).
That's the whole engine: no macros, no Apps Script.
If you'd rather not build it yourself, Ponte Sheets Lite is free (12 monthly tabs, profit dashboard, accountant-ready categories tab). Tax set-aside, safe to spend, steady salary and pending invoices are in Pro ($19). Both are on one page:
https://ofekpoint.gumroad.com/l/bookkeeping-spreadsheet?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=article4
Which other number would you want it to calculate?
Not tax advice.
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