Net 14 or net 30? Choosing payment terms

“Net 30” looks like small print. It is not. It is a loan: for thirty days after you invoice, your client holds money that is yours, and you pay your own bills in the meantime. The number of days is one of the few things in a freelance job that is entirely a choice, and most people leave it to whatever the client's form says.

Here is what the common terms mean, what they do to your month, and what the law adds in the EU.

What the terms mean

• Due on receipt or due on delivery. Payment is expected when the invoice arrives or the work is handed over.
• Net 14, net 30, net 60. Payment is due that many days after the invoice date, not after delivery and not after the client opens the email.
• Milestones. The fee is split into parts, each due when a stage is delivered. Each part then has its own terms.

An invoice dated on the day you deliver and marked net 30 is due thirty days later. If it is sent a week after delivery, the clock starts a week late. The date on the invoice matters as much as the number of days.

What each one does to your month

Take a €3,000 job, delivered and invoiced on 10 November. Same work, same client, four different cash flows.

At net 60 you have done the work in November, and it is a January number. Every bill between now and then is paid from something else. That is the real cost of long terms, and it is the reason to look at them next to your buffer rather than next to the client's preferences. If you have not worked out how much cushion you have, budgeting on irregular income walks through it.

The days on the invoice are a loan you did not know you were making.

How to choose

Ask four things, in this order.

1. How big is the buffer? If one late payment would stop you paying rent, shorter terms are not a preference, they are a requirement.
2. How big is the client? Large organisations often have a standard payment run and a standard term, and many will not move. That is information. You can still ask for a deposit, or for milestones, so that less of the fee sits behind the long term.
3. How big is the job? For a small job, “due on delivery” costs the client little and saves you chasing. For a large one, split it so that no single invoice leaves you waiting a quarter for most of the money.
4. What do you do when the answer is no? Shorter terms are a request. A long term from a client you want to keep may be worth accepting, if you price it in, take a deposit, or cap the amount you let any one client owe you.

Terms and deposits work together. A deposit shortens how long your own money is out; the terms decide how long the balance is.

What the law says in the EU

In the EU, the Late Payment Directive (2011/7/EU) covers payments between businesses, and a freelancer invoicing a company is generally a business for this purpose. The European Commission describes the rules like this:

• Businesses can agree their own payment terms, and the directive allows up to 60 days. Anything longer has to be expressly agreed and must not be grossly unfair to the person being paid.
• When a payment is late, the creditor is entitled to interest. The statutory rate is the European Central Bank's reference rate plus at least eight percentage points.
• The creditor is also entitled to a minimum fixed sum of €40 for the cost of recovering the debt.
• When a contract sets no date, interest starts 30 days after the invoice is received.

Three things to hold on to. First, these are the EU's minimum rules, and each country applies them in its own law, sometimes more strictly for the creditor. Second, they cover business-to-business payments; an invoice to a private individual is a different situation. Third, the dates are what the rules count from, so an invoice sent late starts the clock late.

You may read that the EU is about to cap payment terms at 30 days. The Commission proposed a revision in September 2023, and the European Parliament adopted its position in April 2024 (its version allowed 60 days when expressly agreed). The Parliament's own tracking page shows the file blocked in the Council, with information updated as of September 2026. Plan around the rules that exist today.

Write it down

A term that lives on a call is a term you will argue about. Put these in the quote and again on the invoice:

• the invoice date, or the event that triggers it (for example, on delivery)
• the number of days, and the resulting due date on the invoice itself
• how you want to be paid, and to which account
• what happens if payment is late, in plain words, and only what you can stand behind

A short line is enough: “Payment is due 14 days after the invoice date.” Then the invoice says the date.

Keeping track of it

An invoice that has been sent but not paid is money you are owed, not money you have. In Kreativo, a balance counts as still to collect until you mark it received, so a net-30 invoice does not make the month look better than it is. It sits in the number that tells you what to chase, and you can see how it compares with what has landed.

Kreativo does not send the invoice. It records what you agreed and what you were paid.

The short version

The days on an invoice decide which month the money belongs to. Choose them against your buffer, not against the client's form. Ask for a deposit or milestones when the term is long. Write the term and the due date down. And remember that in the EU, the law adds interest and a minimum fee when a business pays late, but only counts from what you agreed and the date you invoiced.

Sources

Checked on 13 October 2026.

1. European Commission, Late payment (opens in a new tab). The Directive's summary: payment terms, interest at least eight percentage points above the ECB reference rate, the €40 minimum, who is covered, and that EU countries may be more favourable to creditors.
2. European Union, Directive 2011/7/EU on combating late payment in commercial transactions (opens in a new tab). The legal text.
3. European Parliament, Legislative Train: revision of the late payments directive (opens in a new tab). Commission proposal of September 2023, Parliament position of April 2024, and the file's blocked status in the Council (page updated as of 20 September 2026).