Invoice Payment Terms: Net 30, Net 14 and What to Actually Use

The payment terms line is the single biggest lever you have over when money actually reaches your account — and most freelancers never choose it. Net 30 gets typed because Net 30 is what the last invoice said.

It is worth choosing deliberately, because Net 30 is a convenience for the client, not for you. Every day in that window is a day you have done the work and not been paid for it.

What the terms mean

All of them count calendar days from the invoice date — not working days, and not from the day the work finished. That distinction matters: invoice a week late on Net 30 and you have quietly made it Net 37.

Term	Due	Where it fits
Due on receipt	Immediately	Small jobs, new clients, anything you would rather not chase
Net 7	7 days	Individuals and small businesses paying from their own account
Net 14	14 days	The sensible default for most freelance work
Net 30	30 days	Larger clients with an accounts payable process
Net 60	60 days	Enterprise, usually non-negotiable, price it in

Due is not the same as paid

The term sets when payment becomes due. It does not set when it arrives. Most clients pay on or slightly after the due date, and a client with a monthly payment run pays on their schedule regardless of yours.

The practical consequence: if you need money inside a month, Net 30 is already too long. The term has to be shorter than the deadline you actually care about, because the slippage is not optional.

The early-payment discount, with the maths

You will see 2/10 net 30 recommended a lot: a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days, full amount by day 30. It works. It is also far more expensive than it looks.

You are giving up 2% of the invoice to be paid 20 days sooner. Annualised, that is:

(2 ÷ 98) × (365 ÷ 20) ≈ 37% a year

Thirty-seven percent is credit-card territory. On a £3,000 invoice the discount costs you £60 for twenty days of cash. Sometimes that is worth it — if the alternative is an overdraft, or the cash gap is genuinely painful, £60 is cheap. But it is a financing decision, not a courtesy, and it is worth knowing the rate before offering it as standard.

The cheaper version of the same idea: just set shorter terms. Net 14 costs nothing and gets you most of the benefit.

What to actually put on your invoices

Net 14 as your default. It is short enough to matter, long enough that nobody blinks. Most clients who would pay a Net 30 invoice on day 28 will pay a Net 14 invoice on day 14 — the due date is the prompt, not the calendar.

Due on receipt for new clients and small jobs. The first invoice with someone tells you how they pay. Find that out on a small amount rather than a large one.

Net 30 when the client has an accounts payable department. Larger organisations run payment cycles and will not process faster because your invoice asks them to. Fighting it wastes goodwill you could spend elsewhere.

Net 60 only with the price adjusted. If a client needs two months, that is a financing cost and it belongs in the rate.

One detail worth more than the term itself: write an actual date, not just the label. "Payment due 14 October 2026" is harder to misread and harder to postpone than "Net 14".

When the terms are ignored

Terms matter most at the point they are breached, because the due date is what everything afterwards is measured from. In the UK that is literal: statutory interest on a late commercial invoice runs from the day after the due date, so a vague term makes your own claim harder to calculate.

If an invoice has gone past its date, what you can legally charge on a late invoice covers the interest, the fixed compensation per invoice, and whether it is worth claiming.

Frequently asked questions

What does Net 30 mean on an invoice?

The full amount is due within 30 calendar days of the invoice date — not working days, and not from when the work finished.

What does 2/10 net 30 mean?

2% off if they pay within 10 days, full amount by day 30. As above, that discount annualises to roughly 37%, so treat it as borrowing rather than a gesture.

Can I change payment terms on an existing client?

For future work, yes. Terms form part of what you agreed for each engagement, so raise it when scoping the next project rather than quietly editing the line on an invoice for work already agreed.

Sources and notes

Written September 2026. The term definitions are standard commercial practice; the slippage ranges in the diagram are indicative, not measured, and will vary by client and sector. The discount calculation is simple annualisation, shown so you can run it on your own numbers. General information, not financial advice.

• GOV.UK — Late commercial payments: charging interest and debt recovery
• Billvy — What you can legally charge on a late invoice in the UK