Adding a late fee to an overdue invoice

Check the contract or local rules first. If the fee isn’t already in the contract or on the invoice they accepted, leave it off and ask for the original amount. If you are not sure what applies where you and the client are, leave the fee off. The note below is for stating a fee you already agreed to.

When the fee is already agreed, say the original invoice, the fee, and the new total. Say where the fee comes from, in plain words: the invoice terms, or the agreement they signed. Give the fee as a number they don’t have to calculate. The $25 in the example below is a stand-in. Use the number from your contract. The late fee calculator turns a percent per month, or a flat fee, into that number. It does the arithmetic only.

Ask them to pay the new total, or to reply with the date it will be sent. One fee, stated once, is enough. Don’t add a new fee in every reminder, and don’t invent a larger one because they were slow to answer.

Send this after the invoice is actually late, not on the due date. The first reminder is for a buried invoice with no fee attached. If they pay the original amount and ignore the fee, decide whether the fee is worth another email before you write again. If you are still on the job, you can pause the work until the balance, including the agreed fee, is paid.

Copy this and change the names, the amounts, and the fee to the one in your contract.

Subject: Invoice 1842 — late fee added, $1,825 due

Hi Priya,

Invoice 1842 is still open. It was $1,800 for the March furnace replacement, due March 1.

Our agreement includes a $25 late fee after the due date. I have added that $25. The balance is now $1,825.

Please send $1,825, or reply with the date it will go out.

Jordan Hale
Hale Heating