Proposals & Invoices · Article 5.3
Deposit splits: 0%, 25%, 50%, 100% — and when to pick each
The deposit percentage decides how the gross total breaks into two payments: an upfront deposit invoice (Anzahlungsrechnung) and a final invoice (Schlussrechnung) that closes the project.
The deposit decision is half negotiation, half cashflow. The right answer depends on the project length, the client's reliability, and the work-in-progress costs you carry. Clozo gives you four canonical options because anything finer-grained creates chains of small invoices that cost more to administer than they collect.
Step by step
Pick a percentage.
Step 4 of the wizard offers four radio buttons: 0%, 25%, 50%, 100%. Pick one based on the considerations above.
Set the deposit due date.
A date picker — defaults to today (sign date) but you can push it out. The client sees this on the deposit invoice as the "due date".
Set final-payment terms.
Net 7 / 14 / 30 — applies to the final invoice issued when you mark the project complete. Doesn't apply if you picked 100% prepayment.
Confirm in preview.
Step 5 of the wizard renders the deposit and final amounts. Eyeball the maths: deposit + final should equal the gross total, with the same currency.
Why this works this way
0% deposit means the entire amount becomes a single final invoice issued when you mark the project complete. Use only with clients you've worked with before, or for short engagements where your exposure is low (e.g., a one-day workshop). For new clients, 0% deposit is the most common reason a freelancer ends up chasing a payment for months — and for some EU jurisdictions you may even need to bring a small-claims action across borders, which is slow and unrewarding.
25% / 50% splits are the freelancer industry default in the EU. The mechanics are: you sign, the deposit invoice goes out within seconds, the client pays it, you start work; when work is done, you issue the final invoice for the remainder, and that final invoice explicitly references the deposit invoice and deducts both the deposit amount and the deposit VAT (this is the §14 UStG "Schlussrechnung" rule — see article 6.3 for the exact mechanics).
100% prepayment means the entire gross is on the deposit invoice. Counter-intuitively, Clozo still labels this a "deposit" rather than a "full invoice" because the receipt and document chain are simpler if every proposal flows through the same DEP-then-(maybe)-INV path. The PDF reads as a final-style invoice (Rechnung / facture / factuur) for the client; only the document number prefix differs (DEP- rather than INV-). After payment, no further invoice is issued — the project closes on completion.
The deposit due date is separate from the project start date. You can ask for a deposit on signing day with a project starting two weeks later. Many freelancers set the deposit due date to "on receipt" (i.e., sign-day), which is what the email's payment CTA implies anyway.
Why the split is locked after signing: once the client signs, the deposit amount and VAT are baked into the deposit invoice (DEP-), which under EU law cannot be silently rewritten. If you genuinely need to change it later, the only legitimate path is an Amendment (Section 7) — that creates a deposit-correction document (DCR-) which references the original DEP- and either tops it up or refunds part of it.
Troubleshooting
Keep reading
Proposals & Invoices
Anatomy of a proposal
A Clozo proposal is a single legal document with seven moving parts: title, line items, deposit split, payment terms, language, dates, and the metadata that drives VAT and signatures.
Proposals & Invoices
The final invoice (INV-) — Schlussrechnung, facture de solde
The final invoice closes the project. It states the full work value, then explicitly references the deposit invoice and **deducts both the deposit amount and the deposit VAT**, so you don't pay tax twice. This deduction is mandated by §14 UStG and parallel rules across the EU.
Proposals & Invoices
The deposit invoice (DEP-) — Anzahlungsrechnung, facture d'acompte
The deposit invoice is the legal artefact that records VAT liability on an advance payment. Under EU VAT Directive Art. 65, the deposit becomes chargeable the moment the client pays — the deposit invoice is what the law requires you issue.
Proposals & Invoices
Creating an amendment (the 4-step wizard)
The amendment wizard at `/proposals/{id}/amend` walks you through line items, reason, preview, and email — in that order. Five minutes for a simple change, ten minutes for a complex one. The client doesn't see anything until you click Send on Step 4.