Deposit and balance invoices

How to invoice a deposit, then the balance

1. Invoice the deposit first. Before you start, send an invoice for the deposit alone: one row for it under “Line items”, so its total is what your client pays now.
2. Invoice the rest when the work is done. List the whole job under “Line items” and enter the deposit in “Amount already paid”. The invoice shows the total, the deposit as paid and the balance due.
3. Link the two invoices. Give the balance invoice its own “Invoice number”, and put the deposit invoice’s number in “Reference”, so you and your client can match them up.
4. Let the free page fill in the balance invoice. Before you download the deposit invoice, open “Saved on this device” below the form and tick “Keep a list of the invoices I make here”. Once the deposit is paid, press “Mark paid” on the deposit invoice in that list, then “Invoice the balance”: it fills in the client’s name, the amount already paid and the reference. You add the whole job’s lines.

Worked examples by trade

• ContractorsA R40,000 kitchen renovation, with a 50% deposit for materials before the work starts.
• PhotographersA $3,200 wedding: the deposit holds the date in March, and the balance is due in September.
• CaterersA wedding buffet quoted at £3,000, where the final numbers change the total after the deposit is paid.
• Party and event hireMarquee, table and chair hire with an A$600 booking deposit, and why a damage bond is different.

Good to know

• You send the PDF to your client yourself: by email, text, WhatsApp or printed.
• Nothing you type is stored on our servers. Details you choose to remember stay in this browser only.
• Free: up to 5 invoices an hour and 20 a day, per network.