Payment terms: Net 30, due on receipt and 2/10 net 30

Payment terms tell the customer when to pay, and sometimes what they save by paying early. They are agreed before the sale, in a quote, an order or a contract, and repeated on every invoice so that nobody has to remember them. This guide works out the due dates of the common terms from one invoice date, prices an early-payment discount, and shows where the terms go in the invoice editor and how a statement of account counts the days overdue.

Common terms and their due dates

The dates are for an invoice dated Tuesday 15 September 2026. Day 1 is the day after the invoice date, 16 September.

How Net 30 comes to 15 October: September has 15 days left after the 15th (16 to 30), and 15 more days into October make 30.

Three things the short names do not say:

• The starting day. Terms like “Net 30” do not say which day the count starts from. This guide counts from the invoice date. If your agreement counts from delivery or from the end of the month, write that into the terms.
• Weekends. Net 60 here ends on a Saturday. Agree whether a payment on the next working day is on time, or type a working day as the due date.
• Month lengths. Net 30 is not “the same date next month”. 30 days after 31 January 2026 is 2 March 2026, because February 2026 has 28 days.

Printing the due date itself, next to the terms, settles all three.

An early-payment discount: 2/10 net 30

Names and figures are invented.

Alder & Finch Electrical sends Pinewood Property Management invoice INV-0101 for 2,450.00, dated 15 September 2026, with the terms 2/10 net 30. No tax is shown on this invoice.

• Discount = 2% of 2,450.00 = 49.00.
• Paid by 25 September: 2,450.00 − 49.00 = 2,401.00.
• Paid after that, by 15 October: the full 2,450.00.

Amounts with cents work the same way, rounded to the cent: 2% of 1,287.45 is 25.749, which rounds to 25.75, so the discounted amount is 1,287.45 − 25.75 = 1,261.70.

If the invoice carries VAT or sales tax, whether the discount reduces the tax is a question for your accountant: the rules differ by country, and the editor does not change the tax line for a discount.

What the discount is worth

The customer who pays on day 10 instead of day 30 keeps 49.00 by paying 2,401.00 twenty days sooner. That is 49.00 ÷ 2,401.00 = 2.04% for 20 days, or about 37.2% as a simple yearly rate (2.04% × 365 ÷ 20). For the seller it is the other way round: 2% of the invoice is the price of being paid 20 days early. Both sides can hold that figure against what money costs them before they offer or take the discount.

Putting the terms on an invoice

1. Date and due date. In the invoice editor, set the invoice Date and type the Due date you worked out; the editor does not calculate it from the terms. If Due date is empty, Check before you send says “Add a due date. If payment is due on receipt, use the invoice date.” It also warns when the due date is before the invoice date.
2. The terms, in words. Open More options and write the terms under Terms with the date and the amount, so that nothing has to be worked out: “2% discount if paid by 25 September 2026: pay 2,401.00. Otherwise 2,450.00 is due by 15 October 2026.”
3. The PDF. While a balance is open, the due date prints under the amount due (“Due Oct 15, 2026”), and the terms print in their own Terms section.
4. The next invoice. With Keep my documents on this device ticked, a new invoice starts with the terms of the last saved invoice. Check the dates and amounts in them before you send it.

When the customer takes the discount

Pinewood pays 2,401.00 on 24 September, inside the 10 days. Record it under Payments on INV-0101: Balance due then shows 49.00, because the editor has no separate field for a discount taken. Either settle the 49.00 in your books the way your bookkeeper prefers, or close the invoice in the editor:

1. Add a second line under Payments with the date, 49.00 and a method that says what it is, such as “Early-payment discount (2/10 net 30)”.
2. Balance due becomes 0.00. Paid now reads 2,450.00, and the Payments section of the PDF lists both lines, so the 2,401.00 received and the 49.00 discount stay apart.
3. Make a payment receipt for the 2,401.00 only. The discount is not money received.

How the terms show on a statement of account

The statement of account ages every open invoice from its Due date. An invoice without one is aged from its invoice date, as if it were due on receipt. Alder & Finch’s statement for Pinewood, dated 31 October 2026, has three open invoices, all on Net 30:

INV-0112 is on Net 30 like the others, but its Due date was left empty, so the statement counts from 9 October and shows it 22 days overdue. With its due date entered, 8 November 2026, it would be Current: the totals would read 1,155.00 current and 1,180.00 in 1–30 days, instead of 760.00 and 1,575.00.

Common mistakes

• Terms without a due date. “Net 30” alone leaves the customer to choose the starting day, and the statement of account ages the invoice from its invoice date, as it did with INV-0112. Type the date.
• Discount terms without the numbers. “2/10 net 30” alone leaves the customer to work out 25 September and 2,401.00. Print both, and a payment of 2,401.00 is easy to match.
• Recording the discounted payment as the full amount. If 2,401.00 arrived, record 2,401.00 and the discount as its own line. A payment of 2,450.00 that never reached the bank makes the receipt and your bank statement disagree.
• Taking the discount after the date. On day 12, 2/10 net 30 means the full amount. If you are the buyer, ask the seller first; if you are the seller, accepting a late discount is your decision, recorded the same way.

See all service job documents, including the invoice and the statement of account.