Split the fee: payment schedules, deposits, and prepaid balances

Payment schedule#Link to “Payment schedule”

“Your payment timeline” shows the agreed installments and their payment status. In Scope & agreement, split the remaining fixed fee into up to twelve payments totaling 100%. Each payment has a name, exact amount, due terms, and trigger: signature, date, delivery, or completion of a key date. Publish it for client review and signature.

• The communications worker checks accepted payment triggers every five minutes.
• Payments due on signature are issued when your client signs the agreement.
• “Check for due payments” checks agreed triggers immediately. Publishing final files or a physical order releases any accepted payment due on delivery; sending a proof for approval does not.
• Signed payment terms are preserved. Amendments keep the original agreement and subtract previously issued installments from the remaining fee.

An agreed invoice and its email are queued together. Its timeline shows provider acceptance and delivery separately. Due dates follow the terms captured in the signed agreement. A failed email remains visible in Communications for retry.

Deposits#Link to “Deposits”

• “Create deposit invoice” bills the deposit percentage set in Settings → Invoicing. “Create balance invoice” bills the rest of the fee.
• Turn on “Require a signed agreement before a deposit invoice” to keep the deposit button disabled until the contract is signed.
• Automatic deposits require a signed versioned agreement with an explicit payment plan. Legacy unsigned schedules remain paused until the client approves their amounts and timing.

Prepaid balance#Link to “Prepaid balance”

If a client pays you up front for future work, record it under “Prepaid balance” with “Add prepaid” and “Record prepaid”. On an unpaid invoice, “Draw prepaid” records a payment from that balance, and marks the invoice paid if the balance covers it.