Client asking to cancel Invoice & resend

Question

I am working on a project where I and the client agreed on a fixed amount project and some extra buffer amount for any extra work. And I suppose to get paid after the completion of the project.

I completed the project with a 1-day delay. The client was ok with that because it was submitted on weekend. I submitted an Invoice for the complete payment on Monday. I was busy with some other project so didn't bother about the payment.

On Wednesday (2 days after sending the invoice) the client told me to cancel the previous invoice and send one more Invoice with the extra buffer amount. In the old Invoice, the buffer amount was not added.

Now I am confused about how to cancel the old Invoice and send a new one? I submitted the Invoice through email.

Answer 1

On the face of it, your problem is a simple one to solve. Depending on your method of invoicing, you either need to just send a corrected invoice with the new amount (if it was an informal or pro-forma invoice) or issue a credit note to the client (to the value of the old invoice) and raise a new invoice with the corrected amount and a new invoice number if they've already added your invoice to their billing system. If you're not sure, phone or email the client and they'll tell you if you need to raise an entirely new invoice with new number.

Given that the difference is only a few tens of dollars, I'd accede to whatever request they have and send them a corrected invoice. It may be that the client wants to reward you for a job well done, has the money already spent in his budget and can't be bothered to account for it or is under the mistaken impression that you're owed it contractually. Whatever the reason, it's probably better to just go with the flow, since the amounts are so small.