Year-end invoicing: a November schedule to get paid before the holidays

Why ask each client for their invoice cutoff?

Your due date and your client’s last payment run are two different dates. An invoice can be correct and sent on time, then sit unpaid until January because it reached the accounts team after they stopped processing the year’s invoices, or because the person who approves it is already on leave.

Many companies close their financial year on December 31, and some stop entering supplier invoices before that date. Small clients have the same problem in another form: the owner pays invoices on a Friday afternoon, and the last Friday before the holidays may be December 18. You can’t guess either date, so ask.

Your contract sets the payment term. Without one, the default depends on the country. In the UK, when no payment date was agreed, a business payment is late 30 days after the customer gets the invoice or after you provide the service, whichever is later, according to GOV.UK. In France, the default between businesses is 30 days after the service is performed, according to the French Ministry of the Economy. Both pages were checked on October 16, 2026. Read your own terms before you build the calendar below.

What does the countdown look like, from D-45 to D0?

Pick D0, the day you want December’s money in the bank, and count back. In this table D0 is Thursday, December 31, 2026, and invoices go out with 30-day terms.

If one client says their cutoff is December 11, move that client’s invoice earlier and leave the rest of the calendar alone.

Which invoices can you send earlier?

Only the ones your contract already allows: a milestone you have reached, a deposit the contract provides for, the final invoice of a delivered project. November is not the time to invoice work you haven’t done.

• A milestone reached in November: invoice the day the client approves it, not at the end of the month.
• The final invoice of a project delivered in December: send it with the handoff, as the last item of your client handoff checklist.
• Deposits for projects starting in January: some clients prefer to pay them from this year’s budget. Ask, and you may start January with the deposit already in.
• Monthly retainers: invoice December on its first working day rather than its last.

For a bakery website delivered on December 8, that means the balance invoice leaves on December 8, with the files and access details, instead of waiting for a month-end invoicing session that falls on Christmas week.

What should the November email say?

Three questions and one date: the client’s last processing day, who approves your invoice, their last payment run, and the date you plan to send yours. Keep it short enough to get an answer the same day.

Subject: Your December invoice for [project]

Hi [first name],

I’m planning December so that [project] doesn’t stall over
the holidays. Three quick questions:

1. What is the last date your team processes invoices this year?
2. Who approves my invoices, and will they be away in December?
3. When is your last payment run before the holidays?

On my side, I plan to send the [milestone] invoice on [date],
with the usual 30-day terms. If that works for you, nothing
changes on your end.

Thanks,
[signature]

Send it from your usual project thread rather than from your invoicing tool, so it reads as planning. Note each answer in the client’s file: the same dates usually come back next year. If you close over the holidays yourself, tell clients in a separate holiday closure email.

How do you see December’s due dates at a glance?

Keep one view of sent invoices due by December 31, sorted by due date, with the total under the amount column. In ObsidianObsidianA free note-taking app for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone and Android. Your notes stay as Markdown files on your own computer. Brievora is a vault, a folder of notes and views that you open in Obsidian.obsidian.md BasesBasesThe database feature built into Obsidian: tables, cards and Kanban boards made from the properties of your notes. No plugin to install.help.obsidian.md, that view takes one filter on the due date and a Sum summary. Our Obsidian Bases tutorial covers views and summaries if you are starting out.

filters:
  and:
    - 'type == "invoice"'
formulas:
  days_left: 'if(due, (date(due) - today()).days.round(0), "")'
properties:
  formula.days_left:
    displayName: Days left
views:
  - type: table
    name: Due by December 31
    filters:
      and:
        - 'status == "Sent"'
        - 'due'
        - 'date(due) <= date("2026-12-31")'
    order:
      - file.name
      - client
      - amount
      - due
      - formula.days_left
    sort:
      - property: due
        direction: ASC
    summaries:
      amount: Sum

Each invoice note needs type: invoice, a status, an amount and a due date. We tested this view in Obsidian 1.14.4: an invoice due on January 15 and a paid one stay out, and the total adds up the rest. If you bill in two currencies, add groupBy on a currency property, otherwise the total mixes them. Change the date next year.