Invoice date (fakturadato)
Also known as date of issue, issue date
The invoice date is the day the invoice was issued — and it is not the day from which interest, reminders or limitation are counted.
- Is
- The day of issue
- Interest runs from
- The due date
- Limitation counted from
- When the claim first fell due
In practice
The invoice date is the day the document was written. It is useful for keeping the sequence straight and for finding the record again, but on its own it triggers nothing.
What triggers things is the due date. Interest runs from there, the first reminder can go out from there, and ageing has to be measured from there. Invoice date and due date coincide only where no credit has been granted — and that is rare.
The gap between the two is the credit. On 30-day terms there is a month between them, and during that month the claim is not due. That is an entirely normal state, not arrears.
Where it commonly goes wrong
- Ageing is counted from the invoice date. Every customer on long terms then appears to be in arrears from day one, and the report becomes useless for prioritising.
- Limitation is counted from the invoice date. The period runs from the earliest point at which payment could have been demanded. Count it wrong and you age the claim incorrectly — or, worse, treat it as younger than it is.