An unpaid invoice does not give you infinite time to chase it. Every state sets a statute of limitations: a deadline after which you can no longer sue to collect. For a documented commercial invoice, that window runs from three years to ten years depending on the state, and it is shorter than most owners assume.
Correction, August 2026
An earlier version of this post published a 50-state table with no statutory citations, and four rows were wrong. It listed Alaska at 6 years (AS 09.10.053 is 3 years for all contracts), Ohio at 15 years (R.C. § 2305.06 was shortened to 6 years by S.B. 13, effective June 14, 2021), Kentucky at 15 years (KRS § 413.160 is 10 years for any written contract executed after July 15, 2014), and Louisiana at 10 years (La. C.C. art. 3494 prescribes 3 years for open accounts and services rendered). The post also called Illinois the longest window in the nation while listing two states as longer. Every row below now carries the statute it comes from. If you decided not to pursue an Alaska or Louisiana invoice because you believed you had years left, re-check the date. If you wrote off an Ohio or Kentucky balance as too old, you may have had less time than we said but more than you think.
Two things matter more than the table itself, so they come first.
If you sold goods, your answer is four years, not your state’s number
This is the exception that swallows a large share of small-business invoices, and almost no state-by-state table mentions it.
Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code governs contracts for the sale of goods, and UCC § 2-725 sets a uniform four-year limitations period for breach of those contracts. It was written specifically to take sales contracts out of the general state contract statutes so a company selling into thirty states would not face thirty different deadlines. Every state has adopted some version of it.
The practical consequence: if you sell products, a four-year clock is the one that applies, even in Illinois or Iowa where the general written-contract period is ten years. If you sell services, your state’s general contract statute in the table below is the right number. If you sell both on the same invoice, expect an argument about which predominates, and plan around four years.
One more wrinkle in § 2-725 that works in your favor at contract time and against you if you are careless: the parties can shorten the period by agreement to as little as one year, but they cannot extend it. Read the terms and conditions on any purchase order you sign. A one-year limitations clause buried in a customer’s standard terms is enforceable in most states.
The statute is a defense, not an automatic bar
The old version of this post said a court “will not enforce” a time-barred debt. That is close enough to be dangerous.
In nearly every state, the statute of limitations is an affirmative defense. The defendant has to raise it. A court will not usually dismiss a stale claim on its own, which is exactly why default judgments on time-barred consumer debts became a scandal and drew CFPB enforcement attention.
Two things follow. First, an expired statute does not extinguish the debt. The customer still owes you the money as a matter of contract; you have just lost the ability to compel payment through the courts. Asking for it is lawful. Second, and more important: do not sue, and do not threaten to sue, on an invoice you know is time-barred. If the defendant raises the defense you lose and pay your own costs, and a threat of legal action you cannot lawfully carry out is the kind of representation that draws unfair-practices claims. We are a first-party recovery tool, so the FDCPA does not apply to us directly, but state unfair and deceptive practices statutes reach creditors collecting their own debts. What the FDCPA means for a business collecting its own invoices covers where that line sits.
When the clock starts, and what restarts it
The clock generally starts on breach: the date payment was due under your terms and did not arrive. Net 30 on an invoice dated March 1 means the clock starts around March 31, not on the invoice date.
Open accounts work differently in several states. Where a running account exists, the period may run from the date of the last transaction or the last payment rather than from each individual invoice. That usually helps you, because a customer who paid something eighteen months ago may have reset the starting line for older balances on the same account.
Which brings up the thing the old version of this post got backwards. It said you cannot restart the clock, then said three paragraphs later that a written acknowledgment resets it. The second statement is closer to right. In most states, a debtor’s written acknowledgment of the debt, or a partial payment on it, restarts the limitations period. What you cannot do is restart it unilaterally. Sending a demand letter on day 1,800 does nothing to the clock. Getting the customer to sign a payment plan on day 1,800 can restart it entirely.
That is a real and legitimate lever late in the life of an invoice. A signed payment plan agreement or a written settlement acknowledgment gives you a fresh window in most states. It is also the reason chasing a small payment on a nearly-dead account is worth more than it looks: $200 and an email confirming the balance can be worth years.
Use it on live accounts where you are negotiating in good faith. Do not use it as a trick on a debt you have already told yourself is uncollectible, and if the balance is large enough to matter, have a local attorney confirm how your state treats revival before you rely on it.
State-by-state limitations periods for unpaid invoices
The Written invoice column is the period for a contract evidenced in writing, which is where an invoice with stated terms, a signed agreement, or an accepted written quote normally lands. The No signed writing column is the shorter period most states apply to oral agreements and informal open accounts.
Remember the override above: if the invoice is for goods rather than services, UCC § 2-725 supplies four years regardless of what this table says.
| State | Written invoice | No signed writing | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6 years | 3 years | Ala. Code § 6-2-34(9); § 6-2-37(1) |
| Alaska | 3 years | 3 years | AS 09.10.053 (written and oral alike) |
| Arizona | 6 years | 3 years | A.R.S. § 12-548; § 12-543(1) |
| Arkansas | 5 years | 3 years | Ark. Code § 16-56-111; § 16-56-105 |
| California | 4 years | 2 years | Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 337; § 339 |
| Colorado | 6 years | 6 years | C.R.S. § 13-80-103.5(1)(a) (sum certain) |
| Connecticut | 6 years | 3 years | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-576; § 52-581 |
| Delaware | 3 years | 3 years | 10 Del. C. § 8106 |
| Florida | 5 years | 4 years | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b); § 95.11(3) |
| Georgia | 6 years | 4 years | O.C.G.A. § 9-3-24; § 9-3-25 |
| Hawaii | 6 years | 6 years | HRS § 657-1(1) |
| Idaho | 5 years | 4 years | Idaho Code § 5-216; § 5-217 |
| Illinois | 10 years | 5 years | 735 ILCS 5/13-206; 5/13-205 |
| Indiana | 6 years | 6 years | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9; § 34-11-2-7 |
| Iowa | 10 years | 5 years | Iowa Code § 614.1(5); § 614.1(4) |
| Kansas | 5 years | 3 years | K.S.A. § 60-511(1); § 60-512(1) |
| Kentucky | 10 years | 5 years | KRS § 413.160 (post-2014); § 413.120(1) |
| Louisiana | 3 years | 3 years | La. C.C. art. 3494 (open account, services) |
| Maine | 6 years | 6 years | 14 M.R.S. § 752 |
| Maryland | 3 years | 3 years | Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 |
| Massachusetts | 6 years | 6 years | M.G.L. c. 260, § 2 |
| Michigan | 6 years | 6 years | MCL 600.5807(9) |
| Minnesota | 6 years | 6 years | Minn. Stat. § 541.05(1) |
| Mississippi | 3 years | 3 years | Miss. Code § 15-1-49; § 15-1-29 |
| Missouri | 10 years | 5 years | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.110(1); § 516.120(1) |
| Montana | 8 years | 5 years | Mont. Code § 27-2-202(1); § 27-2-202(2) |
| Nebraska | 5 years | 4 years | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-205; § 25-206 |
| Nevada | 6 years | 4 years | NRS § 11.190(1)(b); § 11.190(2) |
| New Hampshire | 3 years | 3 years | RSA 508:4 |
| New Jersey | 6 years | 6 years | N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1 |
| New Mexico | 6 years | 4 years | NMSA § 37-1-3(A); § 37-1-4 |
| New York | 6 years | 6 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2) |
| North Carolina | 3 years | 3 years | N.C.G.S. § 1-52(1) |
| North Dakota | 6 years | 6 years | N.D.C.C. § 28-01-16(1) |
| Ohio | 6 years | 4 years | R.C. § 2305.06; § 2305.07 (both cut in 2021) |
| Oklahoma | 5 years | 3 years | 12 O.S. § 95(A)(1); § 95(A)(2) |
| Oregon | 6 years | 6 years | ORS § 12.080(1) |
| Pennsylvania | 4 years | 4 years | 42 Pa. C.S. § 5525(a) |
| Rhode Island | 10 years | 10 years | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13(a) |
| South Carolina | 3 years | 3 years | S.C. Code § 15-3-530(1) |
| South Dakota | 6 years | 6 years | SDCL § 15-2-13 |
| Tennessee | 6 years | 6 years | T.C.A. § 28-3-109(a)(3) |
| Texas | 4 years | 4 years | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004(a)(3) |
| Utah | 6 years | 4 years | Utah Code § 78B-2-309; § 78B-2-307 |
| Vermont | 6 years | 6 years | 12 V.S.A. § 511 |
| Virginia | 5 years | 3 years | Va. Code § 8.01-246(2); § 8.01-246(4) |
| Washington | 6 years | 3 years | RCW § 4.16.040(1); § 4.16.080(3) |
| West Virginia | 10 years | 5 years | W. Va. Code § 55-2-6 |
| Wisconsin | 6 years | 6 years | Wis. Stat. § 893.43(1) |
| Wyoming | 10 years | 8 years | Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105(a)(i); § 1-3-105(a)(ii) |
Rows that need a caveat
Alaska is the outlier worth knowing about. AS 09.10.053 applies a single three-year period to contracts whether written or oral, which puts Alaska among the shortest windows in the country. The same section also permits the parties to waive it by contract, so an Alaska customer’s signed terms could give you longer or shorter than three years.
Colorado does not fit the written-versus-oral frame. C.R.S. § 13-80-103.5(1)(a) gives six years to recover a liquidated debt or a sum certain, which is what an invoice is, while the general contract period at § 13-80-101(1)(a) is three years. Invoices for a fixed amount get six.
Kentucky has a split date. Written contracts executed on or after July 15, 2014 get ten years under KRS § 413.160. Contracts signed before that date fall under KRS § 413.090(2) and keep the old fifteen-year period. Any invoice you are chasing now is almost certainly in the ten-year bucket.
Louisiana uses civil-law prescription rather than a statute of limitations, and the article that applies to invoices is not the one most tables cite. La. C.C. art. 3494 prescribes three years for open accounts and for the recovery of compensation for services rendered. The ten-year period at art. 3499 covers personal actions not otherwise provided for, so it does not rescue an ordinary invoice. Treat Louisiana as a three-year state.
Ohio changed twice in a decade. R.C. § 2305.06 went from fifteen years to eight in 2012, then to six by S.B. 13 effective June 14, 2021. Oral contracts under § 2305.07 dropped from six years to four in the same bill. Claims that accrued before June 14, 2021 run to the earlier of June 14, 2027 or the end of the old period.
Shortest windows: the three-year states
Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina and South Carolina all sit at three years or less for a commercial invoice. In these states an invoice that has been unpaid for eighteen months is already halfway through its life, and a “we’ll get to it next quarter” account is genuinely at risk.
If you operate in one of these eight, the practical rule is that anything past 90 days needs a decision rather than a reminder. What to do with an unpaid invoice past 90 days covers the escalation.
Longest windows: the ten-year states
Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming give ten years on a written contract. Montana gives eight. No state now gives fifteen for a contract signed in the last decade, which is the single biggest correction in this update.
A long window is leverage, not a reason to wait. Collectibility falls off a cliff long before the statute does. A customer who has gone quiet for three years has usually changed address, changed banks, dissolved the entity, or simply stopped having the money, and none of that is fixed by the fact that you could still file suit in year nine. Treat the statute as the outer boundary of your legal right and the first 60 days as the boundary of your realistic recovery.
What actually happens when the window closes
You cannot successfully sue, assuming the defendant shows up and raises the defense. You can still ask for payment, negotiate, and accept money if it arrives, and in most states a written acknowledgment or partial payment from the debtor can revive the claim entirely.
Some states pause the clock. The most common tolling grounds are the debtor’s absence from the state and legal incapacity such as minority or adjudicated incompetence. Imprisonment tolls the period in a minority of states and not most, which the previous version of this post overstated. Tolling rules are narrow, fact-specific, and not something to build a recovery plan around.
One distinction worth keeping separate: this table is about the deadline to sue on the debt. If you already obtained a judgment, you are on a different and usually much longer clock, commonly ten to twenty years, and in many states renewable before it lapses. A judgment does not expire on the invoice’s schedule.
When to stop chasing an old invoice
Past the statute, the honest move is to close it out. Keep the door open for an inbound payment, stop spending time on outbound effort, and take the deduction if you qualify. How to write off bad debt covers the mechanics, and when to write off an unpaid invoice covers the timing judgment, which is usually economic rather than legal.
Because that is the real point. Most invoices should be abandoned or settled well before the statute becomes relevant. A $600 balance from four years ago is not worth six hours of your attention in a ten-year state. A $30,000 balance from four years ago probably is, in any state. The statute tells you whether you are allowed to act. It does not tell you whether acting is worth it. Is it worth suing a customer for $3,000? works through that arithmetic.
If the invoice is still inside the window and the balance justifies the effort, the sequence that works is a structured escalation rather than a single letter: a specific ask, a settlement option, then a final demand notice in your name. How to settle an unpaid invoice for less and the final demand letter template cover the last two steps. ti3 runs that five-week sequence automatically so the timing happens without you having to track it. Run a free analysis to see what is still recoverable on your current aging, and which balances are close to their deadline.
FAQ
Does sending a demand letter or a reminder extend the statute of limitations?
No. Nothing you send changes the clock. Only something the debtor does can, specifically a written acknowledgment of the debt or a partial payment on it, and in most states either one restarts the period. This is the most common misunderstanding about limitations periods, and it cuts against you: the ten reminders you sent bought you no time at all, while a single $100 payment from the customer might have bought you years.
My customer is in a different state than I am. Which state’s statute applies?
Whichever state’s law governs the contract, which is not automatically yours. If your terms have a governing-law clause, courts generally honor it in commercial agreements with a real connection to the chosen state. If your paperwork is silent, expect the customer’s state to be argued, along with where the contract was formed and where payment was due. Some states also apply their own limitations period as procedural law even when another state’s substantive law governs, which is why the same invoice can have two different answers depending on where suit is filed. Recovering an unpaid invoice from an out-of-state customer covers the rest of the cross-border picture, and adding a governing-law line to your standard terms answers this question once instead of per customer.
I have a series of unpaid invoices from the same customer over two years. Does each one have its own deadline?
Usually yes if you treated them as separate transactions, and possibly no if the relationship was a running account. Where a state recognizes an open or running account, the period can run from the last transaction or last payment on the account as a whole rather than invoice by invoice. That generally works in your favor on the oldest balances. It is also fact-dependent enough that if the total is large, it is worth twenty minutes with a local attorney rather than a guess.
Can I still charge late fees or interest on an invoice that is past the statute?
You can keep accruing them in your ledger, and you can ask. What you have lost is the ability to enforce any of it, principal and interest alike, because accrued interest does not carry its own separate clock. It also does not extend the deadline on the underlying debt. See how to charge a late fee legally by state for whether the fee was enforceable to begin with, and late payment interest rates by state for the statutory default rate that applies when your terms were silent.
How do I know whether my invoice counts as a written contract or an oral one?
The question is whether there is a writing that shows the agreement and its terms, not whether anyone signed a formal contract. An emailed invoice stating the scope, amount and payment terms, sent and not disputed, is usually enough to reach the written-contract period. A verbal quote followed by work and a bare invoice with a total on it is weaker. The cheapest insurance is a one-line email at the start of every job confirming scope, price and terms, and keeping the reply. In a state like Washington, that one email is the difference between six years and three.
The statute expires in two months on a balance I want to pursue. What do I do?
Decide this week, because your options narrow to two. Either file, which in small-claims range means a filing fee and a court date and no lawyer in most states, or get something signed. A payment plan or a written settlement acknowledgment restarts the period in most states and is far cheaper than litigation. Filing preserves the claim; a signature buys a new window. Sending another reminder does neither. How to write a demand letter without a lawyer is the fastest way to force the conversation that produces one or the other.
Sources
- UCC § 2-725 (four-year limitations period, contracts for the sale of goods), as adopted by each state
- AS 09.10.053 (Alaska, three years, contract actions written or oral, waivable by contract)
- Ohio Rev. Code §§ 2305.06, 2305.07, as amended by S.B. 13, effective June 14, 2021 (written six years, oral four years)
- KRS § 413.160 (Kentucky, ten years, written contracts executed after July 15, 2014); KRS § 413.090(2) (fifteen years, contracts executed on or before that date)
- La. C.C. arts. 3494, 3499 (Louisiana, three-year prescription on open accounts and services rendered)
- Mont. Code § 27-2-202; Miss. Code §§ 15-1-29, 15-1-49; Ind. Code §§ 34-11-2-7, 34-11-2-9
- Per-state citations are listed in the table above; each was checked against the state code text rather than a secondary summary
A note on who wrote this
ti3 is built by Captira Analytical, a software company that has spent two decades building tools with customers working the unpaid-invoice problem. We sell recovery software, so treat our view on when to escalate as interested rather than neutral. We do not practice law, file liens, or make collection calls, and nothing here is legal advice.
Limitations law changes, sometimes quietly. Ohio and Kentucky both shortened their contract periods in the last decade, which is how the error corrected above got in. Statutes are also applied by courts to specific facts, and the written-versus-oral question in particular turns on evidence rather than on a table. Confirm the deadline with a local attorney before you rely on it for a balance you cannot afford to lose.
Related guides
The companion reference on what you can charge while the clock runs: Late payment interest rates by US state.
Whether your late-fee clause is enforceable in the first place: How to charge a late fee legally by state.
The full recovery playbook this sits inside: Small business AR recovery: complete guide.
How to force a decision before the window closes: Demand letter without a lawyer.