Overdue invoices
Last updated: September 2026
Overdue is not a status somebody sets. It is a fact about today's date and an unpaid document — which is exactly why an invoice should be able to tell you it has gone overdue without being asked.
Past due, overdue, in arrears
In practice these mean the same thing: the due date has passed and the money has not arrived. Past due is the softer phrase and the one to use in the first email. Overdue is what your books call it. In arrears usually implies a series — a retainer where more than one period is now unpaid. None of the three is a legal term on its own; what you can actually do about it comes from the terms you agreed.
Whose calendar decides
Yours and your client's, and they are not always the same day. An invoice due on the 30th is overdue on the 1st — in your timezone at midnight, which may be the afternoon of the 30th where they are. Perly works the date out in the reader's own timezone, so the list does not turn something red a day early for one of you and a day late for the other.
A practical consequence: due dates on a Friday get paid on Monday. If that matters to your month, do not date things to the end of a week.
Why it is never stored
Overdue is derived, always, from the due date and whether the document has been paid. Storing it would mean something has to remember to change it at midnight, in every timezone, for every unpaid document — and the day that job fails, an invoice says it is fine when it is not. A status you compute cannot go stale.
What to do on the day
- Check it actually arrived. An invoice that was never opened is not a late payer, it is a lost email.
- Send one short reminder, same thread, with the number, the amount, the due date and the payment details again. No apology and no accusation.
- Then one with a date in it — when you expect it, and what the terms say happens if not.
- Then stop working. This is the leverage, and it only works if the terms said so before the work started.
In Perly, a document past its due date and unpaid shows as overdue on its own, the timeline says whether the client ever opened it, and Remind opens a reminder draft in your mail client with the number, amount and date already in it.
How to have fewer of them
- A date, not a term. "Due 30 November" beats "Net 30".
- A deposit on anything long enough to hurt.
- Late-payment terms agreed in writing before the work, not invented afterwards.
- Payment details on the document itself, so nobody has to email you to pay you.
- Invoice the day the work is done. Most late payments started late.
Common questions
- Can I charge interest on a late invoice?
- Usually only if your terms said so before the work, and many places also set a statutory rate for late commercial payment. What applies to you depends on your jurisdiction and your contract.
- When does an invoice become overdue?
- The day after the due date, if it is still unpaid. Perly works that out in the reader's own timezone rather than the server's.
- Should I resend the invoice or write a new one?
- Resend the same one, with the same number. A new number for the same debt makes it look like two debts and gives a slow payer something to query.
- Does Perly chase clients for me?
- No. Automatic reminders are not built. It tells you the moment something is overdue and writes the reminder for you to send.
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