When a freelancer tells you they can't invoice, the cause is almost always a setup step on the Contract, the Task, or their onboarding. This article lists each blocker, the message your freelancer sees, and how to clear it, so their invoice reaches your approvers without a support ticket.

Who can do this: Team members who manage the freelancer's Contract or Task. Some fixes need permission to edit Contracts or Contract templates.

Availability: Every account. Some of the rules below apply only when your account has them turned on, as noted.

Your workspace may use different names for Partners, Contracts, Tasks or Invoices, such as Freelancers, Engagements or Assignments. The steps are the same.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Quick reference
• The Task field is empty or greyed out
• "Before you can add Invoices you have to complete your onboarding"
• "Task must be linked to a Contract."
• "This Task needs to be accepted before invoicing it."
• A change request is waiting on the freelancer
• The Contract's end date has passed
• Your freelancer doesn't see an Add Invoice button
• You can't raise an invoice for a freelancer
• The profile is archived or duplicated
• The invoice won't save, or fields are blank
• Related articles
• Support/Resources

Quick reference

The Task field is empty or greyed out

When your invoice settings require a Task, the freelancer needs one to invoice. Freelancers can't create Tasks, so the Task list only shows Tasks your team has assigned to them.

If the freelancer works under a Contract, the Task is created when the Contract goes Live. A Contract goes Live only after every workflow stage is done: agreements signed, tax and bank details entered, review and approval stages completed, and required Contract fields filled in. A blank required field is enough to keep it from going Live.

To fix it:

1. Open the freelancer's Contract and check its status.
2. If it isn't Live, open its workflow and find the stage that isn't complete.
3. Complete any stage your team owns, such as a review or approval, and fill in any required Contract field that's blank.
4. If there's no Contract, create one, or create a Task and assign it to the freelancer.

Once the Contract is Live or the Task is assigned, the Task appears in the freelancer's Task list.

"Before you can add Invoices you have to complete your onboarding"

Your account requires freelancers to finish every onboarding workflow on their profile before they can add an invoice. Their own steps can show 100% while a stage is still waiting for your team to review it. Uploading a document can also send a stage back for review.

To fix it:

1. Open the freelancer's profile and check their onboarding workflows on the More info tab.
2. Find any stage waiting for review and approve it, or tell the freelancer what's missing.

For more help, see How to Check a Freelancer's Onboarding Status and What's Outstanding. If every stage looks complete and the freelancer is still blocked, contact Worksuite Support with the freelancer's name and email address.

"Task must be linked to a Contract."

Your account requires invoices to be linked to a Task inside a Contract. This message appears when the freelancer picks a Task that was created outside the Contract, or when the Contract isn't Live yet.

To fix it:

1. Ask the freelancer to open the Contract, go to its Tasks tab, select the Task, and click Add Invoice from there.
2. If the work isn't on the Contract yet, send a change request that adds a Task for it. Once the freelancer accepts it, the work is part of the Contract. See How to Submit and Track a Contract Change Request.
3. Remove any duplicate Task that was created outside the Contract, so the freelancer doesn't pick it again.

Only the Contract's creator, admins, or team members with permission to edit the Contract can send a change request. If nobody on your team can, contact Worksuite Support.

"This Task needs to be accepted before invoicing it."

When Task acceptance is turned on for your account, a Task must be accepted before anyone can invoice it. While the Task is Pending:

• Your freelancer can't add an invoice to it.
• Your team can't add one either, including through bulk import or the API.
• Approving a timesheet on that Task doesn't create an invoice.

Invoices that already exist aren't affected. Ask the freelancer to open the Task and click Accept task.

Task acceptance is available on request. Ask your Business Solutions Architect or contact Worksuite Support to turn it on or off.

A change request is waiting on the freelancer

If you've changed a Contract, for example its dates, rate or scope, the freelancer must accept the change request before they can invoice against the change. They'll see a banner on the Contract with a Review changes button. Ask them to open it and accept the change request.

The Contract's end date has passed

A Contract template can allow invoices for a set number of days after a Contract's end date. After that, the freelancer sees a message that the submission deadline for the Contract has passed.

Admins set this in the Contract template, in the Contract expiration section, with Payment submission grace period (days). Leave it empty for no cutoff. The setting applies to Contracts created from the template after you change it. See How to Create and Manage Contract Templates.

Important: If a Contract reaches its end date before it goes Live, it's cancelled or it expires, depending on your account, and no Task is created to invoice against. Extend the end date before it passes.

If the deadline has already passed and the freelancer still needs to bill for the work, raise the invoice for them, or contact Worksuite Support.

Your freelancer doesn't see an Add Invoice button

Check these in order:

• Freelancer invoicing is turned off. Some accounts are set up so freelancers can't create invoices. Your team raises invoices for them, or creates them while approving timesheets. This setting is available on request through your Business Solutions Architect.
• Their partner type doesn't use invoices. Some partner types, such as employees and workers hired through an Employer of Record, are paid through payroll and can't invoice in Worksuite. If the type is wrong, open their profile, click the more options button next to Edit and choose Change partner type. This needs Can change Partners type.
• They're on a different profile. If the freelancer has more than one profile or email address, the Contract may be on another one. Ask them to log out and log in with the email address the Contract was sent to.

You can't raise an invoice for a freelancer

Your account may allow your team to add invoices only for freelancers who are fully onboarded. If they aren't, saving the invoice fails.

To remind them:

1. Open the freelancer's profile.
2. Click the more options button next to Edit and select Send email login link. If they haven't registered yet, select Resend invitations instead.

The freelancer gets an email with a link to log in and finish their onboarding.

For freelancers with a Contract, add the invoice from the Contract: open the Contract, go to the Tasks tab, select the Task, and click Add Invoice.

The profile is archived or duplicated

Invoices can't be added for an archived freelancer or agency profile. If the freelancer has duplicate profiles, the Contract or Task may sit on the wrong one, and it won't appear when they try to invoice. Restore the profile if it should be active. To move a Contract or Task to the right profile, contact Worksuite Support.

The invoice won't save, or fields are blank

If clicking to save does nothing, or a list such as Category is empty, ask the freelancer to:

1. Check that every required field is filled in.
2. Check Invoices to see if the invoice already went through.
3. Do a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R on Windows, Cmd + Shift + R on Mac), or try an incognito window or another browser.

If it still fails, contact Worksuite Support with the freelancer's name and email address, the Contract or Task name, a screenshot or screen recording of what they see, and the browser name.

Related articles

• How to create an invoice in a talent's profile: raise an invoice on a freelancer's behalf
• How to Create a Contract: set up the Contract that invoices link to
• Add New Projects & Tasks: create and assign a Task
• Bulk Generate Payments While Approving Timesheets: create invoices from approved timesheets
• How to Approve and Schedule Invoices: approve and schedule invoices once they arrive

Support/Resources

Still have questions about invoices your talent can't submit? Click Support in the bottom-left corner of Worksuite to contact our Support team, or email support@worksuite.com. Including a link to the page you're on and a screenshot helps us answer faster.