What is the difference between simple and cumulative invoicing of a progress claim?
When you invoice a progress claim, you choose between simple and cumulative invoicing. The difference lies in what appears on the invoice and in what Robaws deducts. How this fits into the whole of advance and instalment invoices is explained in How do I invoice a job in parts: advance, progress claims and cumulative?
Navigate quickly to:
Simple or cumulative
Simple | Cumulative | |
|---|---|---|
On the invoice line | What you carried out in this progress claim. | All the work up to and including this progress claim. |
Deducted | Nothing. | All previous progress claim invoices of this project, and the advances from the Advance payments block of the progress claim. |
To pay | The amount of this progress claim. | What has not been invoiced yet. |
Did you forget to invoice a previous progress claim? | It stays uninvoiced. | It is automatically included in this invoice. |
Advance | Is not deducted. | Is deducted in full on the first cumulative invoice. |
If you invoice without an advance and you invoice every progress claim, your customer pays the same amount with both methods. Only the presentation differs.
Example
You build an office for 100,000 euros excl. VAT. You invoiced an advance of 20,000 euros from the financial planning of the quotation. That advance is in the Advance payments block of your first progress claim.
Progress claim | Finished | Method | On the invoice line | Deducted | To pay excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 30% | Cumulative | 30,000.00 | advance 20,000.00 | 10,000.00 |
2 | 70% | Simple | 40,000.00 | – | 40,000.00 |
3 | 100% | Cumulative | 100,000.00 | advance 20,000.00, progress claim 1 10,000.00, progress claim 2 40,000.00 | 30,000.00 |
Together with the advance, your customer pays exactly 100,000 euros.
What do you see on the invoice?
In Robaws
On a cumulative invoice there is one line with the total of all the work up to today. The Advance invoices and installments block on the right lists all invoices that Robaws deducts. At the bottom you see the amount that is still to be paid.
If an invoice is missing, click Add in that block and choose it. If an invoice does not belong there, remove it from the block.
On the PDF
On the PDF of an invoice with advance or instalment invoices, the previous invoices are deducted in the totals. At the bottom there is an overview of all previous invoices, with their date and amount, and the total invoiced so far.
Setting it up
Go to Settings > Progress claims and in the Settings card choose at Phase billing cumulative strategy:
- Simple: every progress claim invoice is simple.
- Cumulative: every progress claim invoice is cumulative.
- Ask: with every progress claim invoice you choose between Simple and Cumulative in the Invoice strategy window.
Only this setting for the progress claims determines how you invoice a progress claim. The same setting for the quotations applies to invoices from the financial planning.
Questions
Why is my advance not deducted?
Robaws only deducts an advance if it is in the Advance payments block of the progress claim, and if you invoice that progress claim cumulatively. If you invoice simply while there is an advance on the progress claim, Robaws warns you that it is not deducted. See How do I deduct an advance invoice from my progress claims?
I do not see the Advance invoices and installments block on my invoice
You see that block as soon as the Phase billing cumulative strategy for the quotations or for the progress claims is not set to Simple, or as soon as an invoice is already in it. With a simple invoice the block stays empty.
I get a warning about a negative invoice
If the advance is larger than what you invoice in the first progress claim, the invoice would become negative. Robaws warns you first. If you invoice anyway, you get a negative invoice.
Updated on: 06/11/2026
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