Deposit, down payment, progress payment: the words
Part payments come with a small pile of terms that get used loosely, and it helps to pin them down before you bill one. A deposit is money taken up front to secure a booking or to cover something you must pay for before you start, and it is credited against the eventual total. A down payment is essentially the first slice of a larger total, most often said about big-ticket goods or builds. A progress payment, or stage payment, is billed partway through as work completes, and there can be several of them. The distinction between these is contractual, not arithmetic: the amount, the currency, and the fact that it reduces what is left owe are the same mechanics either way.
The tool's deposit field models the single cleanest case: one percentage of the total, requested now, with the remainder shown as a balance. That covers the classic deposit and, with a note, most down payments. Progress payments are usually cleaner as separate documents, one per stage, because each has its own number, date, and amount your client's accounts team has to approve individually. Whatever you call it in your quote, say the same thing on the invoice and in the deposit-terms note; the confusion that delays payment almost always comes from a client calling it a deposit while your document calls it a stage one.
| Term | What it usually means | How to show it here |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit | Upfront money to secure the job or cover costs, credited to the total | Set the deposit percent; due-now shows the deposit |
| Down payment | First payment toward a large total, common on goods and builds | Same field; name it a down payment in the note |
| Progress payment | A stage billed partway through as work completes | Invoice each stage as its own document, dated |
| Final payment | The last amount, released on delivery or sign-off | The balance line on the deposit invoice previews it |
What a deposit covers, and refundable or not
A deposit does two jobs at once, and saying which one you mean makes it easier to collect. It can be money that secures your slot in the calendar, so the client commits and you can turn other work away. It can also be money that funds something real before delivery: materials you have to buy, a deposit you have to place with a supplier, or the first block of your own time. When the deposit covers a concrete cost, say so, because a client who sees what the money is for rarely argues about paying it.
Refundability is where disputes start, so put it in the deposit-terms note rather than leaving it implied. A deposit you describe as non-refundable generally means it is earned once you commit the slot or order the materials. A deposit you describe as refundable means you give it back if the job does not go ahead. There is no single correct answer, and consumer-protection rules in some places limit what you can treat as non-refundable, so the safe habit is to state the policy plainly on the document and keep it consistent with your quote and your contract.
Two practical wordings that hold up well: one that ties the deposit to a specific upfront cost, so the client understands why it is not returned after that cost is spent; and one that ties it to reserving capacity, with a stated cut-off by which a cancellation still gets it back. Write the version that matches your actual intent, and set the note before you download, because a document that reads as a deposit invoice in the browser is only as clear as the sentence you put in the note.
The balance-due line and when it triggers
The number that matters to the client is the balance: what is still owed after the deposit. The tool computes the deposit as your percentage of the invoice total and shows the remainder as the balance, so a 2,000 job at a 50 percent deposit prints a 1,000 deposit and a 1,000 balance. The already-paid field then lets you record the deposit once it actually arrives, and the balance recalculates from what you have received rather than from the original total.
The trigger tells the client when that balance becomes payable. This form gives you three framings: on delivery, on project completion, or on a fixed date. On delivery suits goods, where the remainder is released when the item arrives. On completion suits services, where the client is waiting for a defined finishing point. A fixed date suits work with a firm calendar, where you want the balance due regardless of when either side feels the job is done. Pick the one you can point to and defend.
Be honest with yourself about what the trigger field is. It prints a statement of when the balance is due; it does not schedule anything, does not send the second invoice for you, and does not remind the client when the date arrives. The tool will not watch the calendar and act on it. You still send the balance invoice yourself, when the condition you wrote has actually happened.
Numbering, and billing the remainder later
A deposit invoice is a real document with a real number, and the balance you bill later is a second document that should refer back to the first. Keep both in the same sequential series so nothing looks missing: the deposit is, say, INV-2026-09-021, and when the job is delivered you issue INV-2026-09-022 for the balance and name the deposit invoice in its notes. On the balance document, either bill only the remainder as the total and record nothing in already-paid, or reproduce the full total and enter the deposit you received in the already-paid field so the balance prints as what is actually outstanding. The second approach reads more clearly to an accounts team, because it shows the whole job and then the credit against it.
The numbering here auto-increments from the invoices you have saved in this browser, so consecutive numbers come out right without you tracking them. One caution, though: the deposit invoice and the balance invoice can easily have the same line items and the same total, and if you ever reuse a number, accounts payable will usually reject the document or pay it twice. If your records must tie back to one job across two documents, put the project or purchase-order reference in the client block so both invoices point at the same work.
Because drafts and numbering live in your browser's local storage and do not sync between devices, keep one device in charge of the sequence if you bill from more than one. If the deposit invoice and the balance invoice end up numbered from two different laptops, the sequence you present to a tax reviewer or a client can jump or collide, and spotting that later is worse than choosing one machine now.
Deposit percentage, by trade and by reason
There is no universal deposit figure; it follows what the money is for. Where the deposit has to cover a cost you incur before delivery, it tends to track that cost, so a trade that buys materials up front asks for more than one that sells only its time. Where the deposit is really about booking your calendar, a round share of the total is common, and what is considered normal shifts between industries. Set the percentage to cover your genuine exposure plus a sensible reservation, not to the highest number you can get a client to accept, because an oversized deposit is a frequent reason a prospective job stalls.
The reason to take a deposit at all is behavioral, and it cuts both ways. A client who has paid something up front is materially less likely to disappear before you start, because they now have money in the transaction and a result to show for it. That is the upside. The cost is that you have to be clearer: what the deposit covers, whether it comes back, and exactly what releases the balance. A deposit invoice that answers those three questions protects you; one that leaves them vague invites the argument later.
A few points to get right before you download:
- Name the document and the note consistently, so the client sees the same term you used in the quote.
- State the deposit amount and the balance both, not just the deposit, so the remainder is never a surprise.
- Write the trigger in terms you can prove happened, such as delivery or a dated completion milestone.
- Say whether the deposit is refundable, and up to what point, rather than leaving it to be assumed.
- Record a received deposit in the already-paid field so the printed balance reflects reality.