Overpayment of self employed invoice

kaija1995

I work as self employed. Last month I worked for a company who, at the end of the period paid me for the work I invoiced them for directly into my bank account, as previously agreed. A week later, they paid me the entire invoice amount again.

I am aware that legally this money is not mine and that I can be asked to repay it. I have no intention of spending it and have infact moved it to my online saver account so there will be no temptation to dip into it.

My question is, am I legally bound to inform them of this overpayment, or can I just wait until they ask for it (in the hopes, lets be honest, they forget!!). It is my choice whether I ever want to work for them again, so that is not an issue.

Also, if they do not realise this money has been overpayed, is there ever a 'statute of limitations' when it would become mine?

Thanks for any thoughts

DVardysShadow

Would you like to to work for them again?

HappyMJ

6 years and its yours. I hope you didn't have any intentions of working for the client again.

alunharford

Silence can constitute deception. My (layman's) understanding is that this would be evasion of liability by deception. 5 years.

MrsTinks

Working for them again or not - they can recover the money through the courts if you don't repay it when they ask... Depends on the type of business you're in really... would it be better if you were known in the industry as being honest or seriously oppertunistic and happy to steal if you thought you could get away with it?
A lot of businesses have links to others, if you specialize and think there is a good chance you will come across people from that company in future working for other companies I'd offer that money back immediately... a bad rep when you're SE is NOT what you need if you want to continue working...

PlutoinCapricorn

I am self employed myself and invoice my clients. If anything like this happened, I would tell them immediately. I think it gives a very bad impression if you don't: reputation is very important. Also, I operate on the basis of "what goes around comes around", you get back what you put out, and like attracts like. I would not want to do business with someone who would even consider hoping that no one will notice so they could keep the money.

cavework

Ask yourself this..
What would you have done do if this customer had ignored your invoice hoping you wouldn't notice?
Be honest with them it will probably earn you more in the long run

McKneff

Quote - My question is, am I legally bound to inform them of this overpayment, or can I just wait until they ask for it (in the hopes, lets be honest, they forget!!). It is my choice whether I ever want to work for them again, so that is not an issue. Quote



Bit hypocritical there OP.

Just pay it back. It's very dishonest not to.


Whats legality got to do with it.

McKneff

Anyway, it will come up in the accounts in the next month or two that you have been overpaid.

I do accounts and an invoice is posted. the payment gets allocated to that invoice. the next payment (the overpayment) there will be no invoice to allocate it to, hence the overpayment will show up and they will contact you. You really would be better just sending them a cheque now, showing your honesty and they will employ you in the future. Simple.

KiKi

When they reconcile the invoices and accounts payable they will realise their mistake. I think 6 years is the legal time.

However, on a commercial and business point, your reputation would be mud, and it will spread; it does when you're self-employed. You might not want to work for them again, but equally businesses might not want your work. As I'm sure you know, when you're SE reputation is everything, and getting and keeping clients is what keeps a roof over your head and food on the table. I'm sure you would be kicking up a massive fuss (quite rightly) if the client 'ignored' your invoice and hoped you forgot about it. I'm equally sure that you'd hope they would be forgiving of an error, just like they've made.

Mistakes happen, so be honest and tell them; that will get you much further than some extra money will in six years' time.

KiKi

Uncertain

Whilst I fully agree with the sentiments expressed by most of the above it is not really what the OP asked!

Six years (five in Scotland) has been answered.

A compromise work around is for the OP to send the client a statement at the end of the month. This will list all invoices and payments received to date.

Obviously it will show that the client is in credit. The OP could then sit tight and wait for a request for a repayment in the knowledge that he has acted "correctly".

If the objective is to gain a little interest whilst remaining honest this (kind off) achieves the objective.

This is what would happen if you, say, pay your credit card bill twice.