How to pay an invoice
Paying an invoice is four minutes of checking and one minute of paying. The checking is the part that stops you wiring four thousand euro to somebody who intercepted an email.
Check these before you send anything
- The number and the amount match what you agreed, and you have not already paid this one. Duplicate invoices are usually honest mistakes, and you still only owe it once.
- The payee. The name on the bank account should be the entity that did the work. A mismatch is the single most common sign of a diverted invoice.
- The bank details against what you had before. If a supplier's IBAN has changed, confirm it by phone on a number you already had — never by replying to the email that told you.
- The due date, and whether any discount for paying early applies.
- The tax lines, if you are going to reclaim them.
By the method it asks for
- Bank transfer (SEPA, local, SWIFT). Put the invoice number in the reference — this is the whole reason the field exists, and without it your payment lands in a suspense account. SEPA is same or next day; SWIFT can be five.
- Card. Fast, and someone is paying two or three per cent for it. If the invoice offers no card option, that is usually why.
- Stablecoin (USDC, USDT). Check the network before the address, send a small test if the sum is large and you have never paid them before, and expect it to settle in minutes. An address is valid on several chains and only arrives on one.
- Bitcoin. Confirmations, not minutes, and the amount should be stated in BTC rather than converted by you at the moment you send.
If something is wrong with it
Query it in writing, against the invoice number, before the due date rather than after — a disputed line does not make the rest of the invoice late, but silence does. Ask for a corrected invoice or a credit note with its own number; do not accept an edited copy of the original, because now two documents exist with one number. See invoice or bill for why your copy is a record of its own.
Then close it out
Record it as paid on the date the money left, keep the remittance, and file the invoice — the issued document, not the editable file. If you record what you owe in Perly as a bill, marking it paid is the same motion as on an invoice, and the date is printed on it.
Common questions
- What does "payable on receipt" mean in practice?
- Immediately, in theory; within a few days, in practice. If it matters, ask for a dated invoice instead — see [payment terms](/guide/payment-terms).
- Do I have to pay an invoice with no due date?
- Yes, within a reasonable time, and what counts as reasonable is set by your contract or by local law. The absence of a date is the sender's oversight, not your reprieve.
- Someone emailed me changed bank details mid-project. Now what?
- Treat it as fraud until proven otherwise. Phone a number you already had — not one in the email — and confirm. This is the most successful invoice scam there is, and it works precisely because the invoice looks real.
- Can I pay in a different currency than the invoice says?
- Only if the sender agrees, in writing, with the rate and the date. Otherwise you may settle short and still owe the difference.
- What do I keep, and for how long?
- The invoice and the proof of payment, for as long as your jurisdiction requires — commonly several years.
Make one now
The generator is the front page. No account, no sign-up, no watermark — fill the document in and the PDF is yours.
Open the invoice generator