Glossary · Invoices and billing
Due date
The due date is the last day an invoice can be paid on time. Once it passes, the invoice is overdue.
The due date comes from your payment terms: the invoice date plus the agreed number of days (net 30, say), or a fixed date such as the end of the following month. Print the actual date on the invoice, not just the terms — “net 30” invites the customer to start counting from whenever the invoice reached them.
The due date matters legally as well as practically. In the EU, statutory late-payment interest runs from the day after the contractual due date; in many US states, the legal interest rate on an unpaid account runs from when payment was due or demanded.
A short note a few days before the due date is a useful habit. It surfaces missing POs, wrong addresses and stuck approvals while there is still time to fix them.
Example
An invoice dated 10 May on net 30 terms is due on 9 June. A payment that arrives on 10 June is one day late.