Invoicing glossary: the terms between a finished job and the money

Three questions every invoice answers

Every invoice has to answer what is owed, when it is due and how to pay. The first question is about the kind of invoice: a deposit invoice asks for money before work starts, a progress invoice bills a finished stage, and a final invoice closes the balance, while a receipt proves that money arrived. The second is about terms: net 30 and its variants, what counts as late, and whether a late fee or interest can be charged at all. The third is about method: bank transfer, a card payment link, or a hosted checkout such as Stripe Checkout, each with different costs and different speeds.

Tax details that change the answer

In Australia, the GST rules decide what a tax invoice must show, and the ABN rules decide whether a business customer has to withhold part of your payment. A tax invoice needs your ABN, the GST amount and, from 1,000 dollars, the buyer's identity or ABN, and a registered business must provide one within 28 days when asked. These pages link the ATO's own guidance so you can check the current rule before relying on it, because thresholds and wording do change.

How to use these pages

If you are setting up your first invoice template, read the ABN and invoice versus receipt pages, then the payment terms page. If a job is large, read the deposit and progress invoice pages before you quote it, because the payment schedule belongs in the quote, not on the invoice. If clients pay slowly, read the late fee page to see what you can lawfully charge, then the payment link and Stripe Checkout pages to see how to make paying easier. Easier payment usually recovers more money than any fee.

Every page in this collection

• Can you charge late payment fees in Australia?

  There is no general Australian statute that adds interest to a late commercial invoice, so a business only gets what its terms say. That makes the wording on the quote or proposal the real control.

• Do I need an ABN on my invoice?

  The ABN on an invoice does two jobs: it makes the invoice a valid tax invoice and it stops your business customers from having to hold back nearly half of your payment. Leaving it off is an expensive oversight.

• Invoice vs receipt: the request and the proof

  The same sale usually produces both documents, one before payment and one after. Mixing them up leads to customers paying twice or having nothing to show their accountant.

• Stripe Checkout for invoices: how it works

  Stripe offers more than one way to get an invoice paid. Checkout is the hosted page route, which software platforms use so a business can take card payments without building its own payment form.

• What does net 30 mean on an invoice?

  Net terms are shorthand that business buyers understand at a glance, but the details hide in what counts as day one and what happens on day thirty one. Writing them clearly is half of getting paid on time.

• What is a deposit invoice?

  A deposit is the simplest protection a small business has against late cancellations and unpaid materials. The deposit invoice is how it is requested, and it has to line up exactly with the balance invoice that follows.

• What is a payment link?

  A payment link removes the friction between agreeing to pay and actually paying. Instead of copying a BSB and account number, the customer taps a link and pays in under a minute.

• What is a progress invoice?

  Long jobs strain cash flow if the business waits until the end to be paid. Progress invoices spread the payments across the work, and they make the remaining balance visible to both sides at every stage.