While there is no strict legal time limit for issuing a standard business-to-business invoice, legal limitations (often up to 6 years) apply for pursuing debt. Best practice dictates sending invoices immediately, though they generally remain valid for several years, provided services were rendered. However, specific tax or government contracts may have deadlines.
Stick within the legal time limit for invoicing.
Although the legal time limits for invoicing are usually forgiving, you should send invoices within 30 days to maintain a steady cash flow. Electronic signatures can help you keep track of your invoices.
Unless your contract with them states otherwise they are perfectly within their rights to invoice after three years and they are under no obligation to allow you to pay in instalments.
There's no legal time limit that says you must invoice within a certain number of days (though doing it promptly is definitely best practice). So before you go spiraling into worst-case scenarios, remember: you're still entitled to be paid for the work you've done.
If a customer asks for a tax invoice, you have 28 days to send it.
According to California Code of Civil Procedure § 337(1), the statute of limitations for a written contract is four years. Under § 339(1), the limit for an oral contract is two years.
Under the current guidelines, users must upload invoices within 30 days from the invoice date. If you miss this window, the IRP will reject the invoice, which means it won't be considered valid for GST compliance or for claiming input tax credit.
On the other hand, there's usually no legal requirement that bills be sent out in a timely fashion—so businesses can absolutely bill your months or even years after the fact. If it's a medical debt, there's the added confusion of insurance coverage and the challenge of understanding the bill in the first place.
Written Contracts: For debts involving written contracts, such as commercial agreements, promissory notes, or client service contracts, the statute of limitations extends to four years from the date of the breach.
The general rule is 30 days from the invoice date. However, you can discuss this with your customer and either make it shorter or longer than 30 days. Regardless of what you agree upon, the payment terms and the due date should be clearly stated on the invoice.
Backdating invoices isn't inherently illegal—but misusing it to manipulate revenue or tax periods risks serious penalties.
The general rule is that if it becomes necessary to issue legal proceedings to recover an unpaid invoice, then the creditor must do so within the statutory time limit of six years from when the clock starts to tick.
Most companies don't realise that they are entitled to chase invoices that go back as far as 6 years. It is important to remember that the time limit starts from when your customer last acknowledged owing the debt or made a payment on account against the invoice, not from when the invoice became due.
Is there a time limit for issuing an invoice? Under the Limitation Act 1980, invoices can be issued up to six years after the work was completed or the goods were delivered. While there is no legal restriction within this time frame, issuing invoices promptly is always best to avoid disputes or complications.
As of the latest update, any business with an annual turnover exceeding ₹5 Crore must follow e-invoicing norms. This rule applies if your turnover crossed this ₹5 Crore limit in any single financial year from 2017-18 onwards. It is mandatory for all your B2B supplies and for exports out of the country.
Maybe you've just discovered an old invoice that slipped through the cracks, or maybe you've been chasing down a customer who seems to have completely disappeared. Either way, you're probably wondering, how long can I keep chasing after this money? The short answer is for most debts, that limit is 6 years.
Do invoices hold up in court? No, an invoice will not usually hold up in court. An invoice is simply a request for payment, but it's not a legal document and therefore not legally binding. You may be able to legally enforce an invoice if you also have a valid contract.
Debts more than 12-months old
If you have an old or outstanding bill then you are obliged to pay this. The only circumstances in which a bill can be written off is if the old debt is more than 12-months old and the supplier was at fault in the way the bill was calculated.
If no agreed-upon payment date has been established, a customer must pay a company within 30 days of receiving an invoice or the goods or service.
If you can't provide an invoice immediately, you should at least set aside time each month to process your invoices in a batch. This way, your invoices are being sent out on a monthly basis or within thirty days, which is a generally accepted time frame when it comes to how freelancers collect payments.
Effective April 1, 2025, businesses with an annual aggregate turnover (AATO) of ₹10 crores or more must report their e-invoices within 30 days from the invoice date. Previously, this requirement applied only to businesses with an AATO of ₹100 crores and above, but it has now been extended to a wider taxpayer base.
(e) fails to issue invoice in accordance with the provisions of this Act or the rules made thereunder or fails to account for an invoice in his books of account, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to twenty-five thousand rupees.