Askingforanadvance
An advance is not a sign of distrust. It is the ordinary way commercial work is funded, and asking for one filters out the clients who were never going to pay.
6 minute read · Updated
Short answer
For a new client in India, an advance of a third is normal and reasonable to ask for. Issue a proforma invoice for the advance rather than a tax invoice, since no supply has happened yet. When you invoice for the whole engagement on delivery, enter the advance as the amount already paid so the document shows the total, the amount received and the balance due — which removes any argument about what the final payment covers.
How much to ask for
| Situation | Advance | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New client, small project | 50% | Your entire exposure is the project. |
| New client, larger project | 33% | Standard, and rarely negotiated. |
| Existing client, good history | 0–25% | Track record has replaced the need. |
| Long engagement | Staged | Milestones matter more than the opening payment. |
| Work with hard costs | Costs + 25% | Never fund someone else's licences or print run. |
The last row is the one freelancers most often get wrong. If a project requires you to buy stock photography, a licence, print or hardware, those costs should be covered before you incur them. You are a supplier, not a lender.
How to ask without it being a negotiation
Put it in the quotation as a term rather than raising it as a request. A stated payment schedule reads as how you work; a question reads as something to be discussed.
Payment: 33% on acceptance of this quotation, balance on delivery. Work begins once the advance is received. That second sentence is not aggressive. It is the part that prevents the situation where you have done three weeks of work while the advance sits unpaid.
If a client pushes back, the useful question is what they would be comfortable with rather than a defence of your terms. Often the objection is procedural — an approval threshold, or a policy about paying before delivery — and a staged schedule solves it without either side conceding anything.
Which document to send
- 01Send a quotation with the payment schedule in it. This is the offer.
- 02On acceptance, send a proforma invoice for the advance. No supply has happened, so this is not a tax invoice and creates no tax liability on the work.
- 03Start once the advance lands, not once it is promised.
- 04On delivery, raise the tax invoice for the full engagement.
- 05Enter the advance in the amount-paid field so the invoice shows total, paid and balance due.
- 06Reference the proforma number so the client's finance team can match the two documents.
Receiving an advance can have GST consequences of its own depending on what is being supplied and when. That is a question for your accountant rather than a formatting question — this describes which document to send, not your tax position on the money.
Why the balance-due line matters
The most common dispute at the end of a project is not about the work. It is about what the final payment is for — whether the advance was a deposit against the total or a separate payment for an early phase.
An invoice that prints the full total, subtracts the amount already paid and shows a balance due leaves nothing to interpret. It takes one field to fill in and it removes an entire category of awkward conversation.
The reference
Freelance invoice format
How a freelancer or consultant in India should invoice: GST or no GST, TDS on your fee, invoicing overseas clients, and getting paid on time.
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Questions people ask
A third is the normal ask for a new client in India and is rarely negotiated. Go to 50% for a small project with a new client, since the project is your entire exposure, and lower or drop it for clients with a good payment history. Where the work has hard costs — licences, stock, print — cover those in full before incurring them.
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