Net payment terms
Net-day payment periods, invoice and acceptance clocks, and the difference between a due date, payment and a discount deadline.
Tags: commercial, payment, invoicing
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Meaning and scope
Net 30 gives the length of the payment period. The agreement determines the trigger, counting calendar and payment event. NASSCO uses the latest of three events. NASSCO, clause 28
Early-payment discounts have a separate deadline.
Calendar days, business days and the last day
Hypothetical date arithmetic
In this invented example, the 30-day clock yields 1 July, 3 July or 8 July 2026, depending on the trigger. The invoice is issued 1 June, received 3 June and the goods accepted 8 June. Count calendar days after the trigger, with day 30 due and no last-day adjustment.
| Assumed trigger | Day 1 | Day 30: hypothetical due date |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice issue | 2 June | 1 July 2026 |
| Invoice receipt | 4 June | 3 July 2026 |
| Acceptance | 9 June | 8 July 2026 |
These are arithmetic alternatives, not interpretations of the published contracts. A separate invented rule counting five business days after Monday 1 June, excluding that date and counting only Monday–Friday with no holidays, ends Monday 8 June; five calendar days ends Saturday 6 June. If that invented calendar-day agreement instead moves a weekend last day to the following Monday, its adjusted date is 8 June. A holiday on that Monday would require a holiday rule; none is assumed here.
Calendar-day counting includes intervening weekends; business-day counting requires a defined business calendar. A last-day adjustment is separate. FAR uses calendar days unless specified otherwise; payment on the next working day after a Saturday, Sunday or legal-holiday due date can avoid late interest. This is a clause-specific exception. FAR 52.232-25, opening text and (a)(4)
The event that starts the period
| Published example | Trigger and qualification |
|---|---|
| Graco, General Terms of Sale, 7 January 2026, section 1, GB English page | Accounts are payable on demand; absent a demand, the stated period is 30 days from invoice date. The section also makes payment terms subject to seller approval and includes advance-payment and delayed-delivery provisions. This is not an unconditional promise of 30 days' credit. |
| General Dynamics NASSCO, MRO terms, Rev. L, 16 December 2022, clause 28.1 | Unless the purchase-order face provides otherwise, net 30 runs from the latest of receipt of a proper invoice, scheduled delivery and actual delivery. |
| U.S. FAR 52.232-25, January 2017 clause, paragraph (a)(1)(i) | Subject to the clause's exceptions, payment is due on the later of the 30th day after the designated billing office receives a proper invoice and the 30th day after Government acceptance. |
Sources for the respective rows: Graco section 1, NASSCO clause 28, FAR 52.232-25.
Invoice issue, receipt, delivery and acceptance are distinct dates here. FAR's conditional invoice-date fallback, special-product and interim-payment exceptions qualify its general rule. Constructive acceptance concerns interest computation, not compelled acceptance. These federal provisions establish no private-sale default. FAR 52.232-25, (a)(1)(ii), (a)(2), (a)(5)(i), Alternate I (e)
Due, paid and discounted are different concepts
A due date describes when payment is required under the applicable terms. A payment event describes what has happened. NASSCO deems payment made on mailing or electronic funds transfer and separately says payment does not constitute acceptance. Thus a contractual payment date need not identify bank clearance or prove acceptance of the work. NASSCO clauses 28.1 and 28.3
An early-payment discount has its own eligibility period. Under FAR 52.232-8, that period runs from invoice date, with a conditional receipt-date fallback for an undated invoice. The clause defines the payment event for earning the discount and a qualified following-business-day exception. Discount eligibility is distinct from the ordinary payment deadline. FAR 52.232-8, February 2002, (a)–(b)
For a purely hypothetical offer explicitly defining a 2% discount on a USD 1,000 eligible balance through day 10 and full payment by day 30, the discounted amount is USD 980. Missing day 10 removes that assumed discount; it does not by itself mean day 30 has passed. The example assumes the same defined trigger and day-count convention for both periods and no tax, freight, credits or partial payments.
Late interest is a separate provision, not a rate encoded by “net 30.” Graco's section 1 contains multiple charge provisions; this reference does not resolve their interaction or extract a generally applicable rate. Graco section 1
Evidence limits
The linked public HTML was reviewed on 30 October 2026 PDT. Acquisition.gov displayed FAC 2026-01, effective 13 March 2026; clause dates are identified above. The manufacturer examples cover only the identified Graco regional page and NASSCO MRO revision, whose governing-law provision names California. They are not evidence of universal manufacturing practice, a particular customer's accepted terms or current law in every jurisdiction. No private agreement, bank settlement evidence or charge calculation was examined. Graco, NASSCO clause 2.5, Acquisition.gov
Related reference: Commercial terms.