They want to split the invoice. Here’s what each payer owes.

Two AP inboxes. One job you already quoted.

In 2026 the brief is still one site, one deck, one campaign. Then two names show up on the kickoff thread: the brand and the agency, a parent and a subsidiary, a co-sponsor who “will cover their half.” Nobody multiplied the quote by the two shares they just named. Agreeing to “we’ll split the invoice” without those two products means one inbox can sit at $0 while the other thinks the whole $5,000 is theirs — or nobody’s.

Payer A dollars = invoice you type × share A you type. Payer B dollars = invoice × share B. Two products, two names. This card does not gross a processor cut, does not stretch the bill across N days, and does not multiply hours by a floor. The hub still owns target income, weeks you can actually bill, and the tax buffer you choose there. No 50-state filing table ships with this split. Dollars are labeled USD so 5,000 × 0.60 reads as $3,000. If $90/hr is still a guess, rebuild it on how to set a freelance rate before you treat either AP as covering a real week.

Worked USD: $5,000 × 0.60 / 0.40 = $3,000 / $2,000

First preset: invoice $5,000. Shares you type 0.60 and 0.40. Payer A: 5,000 × 0.60 = $3,000. Payer B: 5,000 × 0.40 = $2,000. Those two invoices add to the quote. The leftover share is 0 because 0.60 + 0.40 = 1. The 0.60 / 0.40 pair is on the card so the arithmetic is visible. It is a digit pair you can replace. It is not a standard two-payer split. It is not “everyone does 60/40.” It is not “50/50 is standard.” It is not a co-brand law this page published.

Second preset: same $5,000, you typed 0.60 / 0.30. Payers: $3,000 / $1,500. Sum of shares 0.90. Leftover share 0.10. Leftover dollars: 5,000 × 0.10 = $500. That $500 is unpaid. Neither AP has it. This page did not hide it inside payer B.

Third preset: same $5,000, you typed 0.70 / 0.50. Payers: $3,500 / $2,500. Sum of shares 1.20. Leftover share −0.20. Leftover dollars −$1,000. The two invoices add to $6,000 on a $5,000 quote. That overshoot is leftover going negative. You typed 0.70 and 0.50. This page did not pick them as a market.

Type the two shares you actually have. Do not mill 50/50.

Blogs love a tidy “just split it 50/50.” This card does not ship that table. No co-brand 50/50 mill. No “standard two-payer split.” No 60/40 corridor dressed up as research. The 0.60 / 0.40 in the worked example is a digit pair you can clear. Paste the shares from the two POs you actually have. If you do not have shares yet, do not treat 0.60 / 0.40 — and do not treat 0.50 / 0.50 — as official. Get the numbers, then type them.

Type a fraction, not a percent: 0.60, never 60. A 60 in that box would be 6,000% of the quote; each input stops at 1. The hole is always 1 − (share A + share B), and unpaid leftover dollars = invoice × that hole. A positive hole is cash neither AP has claimed. A negative hole means the two invoices added up past the quote. A zero hole means the two payers cover the job. That is the whole machine.

Three gates, three things, one lump, and a wait live elsewhere

This is not one client paying on three dates. Three invoices on the same quote — each gate = invoice × a share you type, leftover if those shares miss 1 — live on the milestone gates card. Worked there: $5,000 × 0.30 / 0.40 / 0.30 = $1,500 / $2,000 / $1,500. That is one payer, three calendars. This card is two payers, one job. If they named three release dates from the same AP, price the gates there. If two companies each owe a slice, price the two products here. Do not mash two inboxes into three gates.

This is not three things on one PO from one buyer. Total = (hours A + hours B + hours C) you type × hourly floor lives on the bundle card. Worked there: (8 + 4 + 2) × $90 = $1,260. One payer, three lines. This card is one job, two payers. Opposite direction. If they named a site + a deck + cuts and one check, leave this card. If they named one brief and two AP departments, stay here.

This is not one percent now from one client. How to ask for a lump, how to split remainder, and whether to gross PayPal or Stripe so the keep still lands, live on the freelance deposit guide. That page is one inbox, one kickoff check. This page is two named invoices to two named payers. One check from one AP before you start: price the lump there. Two inboxes each owe a named share: stay here.

This is not a wait. The Net 30 vs deposit card compares money in your account this week against 100% sitting until day N. The 30 on that card is a digit you can change, not an APR this page invented. Nobody here asked you to float the whole bill. They asked two companies to each pay a slice. If one PO still says Net 30 on the whole amount from one AP, price the wait on that card. If the thread lists two payers, price the two products here.

This is also not a closet SKU and not a take-rate. Etsy, Depop, eBay listing cuts belong under seller-fees. Do not paste a marketplace keep-table onto two AP invoices. This is also not a commission path-mount: no agent cut of a sale, no referral percent, no “10% of whatever they close.” Two payers sharing one job is not a commission schedule. This is also not a 50-state tax engine. Whatever tax share you already chose stays on the hub.

Send both payer dollars before you lock the week

Name the quote. Name share A and share B. Name both payer dollars. Name the leftover if the shares miss 1 — that leftover is unpaid until someone claims it. Paste from this card so the two dollars match the screen.

• Worked $5,000 × 0.60 / 0.40. Quote $5,000.00. Payer A share 0.60 = $3,000.00. Payer B share 0.40 = $2,000.00. Shares sum to 1. Unpaid leftover $0.00. This is not three gates, not three things on one PO, not one deposit, and not 50/50 as a standard. 0.60 / 0.40 is the split I typed.
• Shares miss 1 — unpaid leftover. Quote $5,000.00. Payer A share 0.60 = $3,000.00. Payer B share 0.30 = $1,500.00. Shares sum to 0.90. Leftover share 0.10 = $500.00 unpaid — not on either invoice yet.
• Shares overshoot 1. Quote $5,000.00. Payer A share 0.70 = $3,500.00. Payer B share 0.50 = $2,500.00. Shares sum to 1.20. Leftover share −0.20 = −$1,000.00 — the two invoices claim $6,000.00 on a $5,000.00 quote.

Do not lecture them that “real companies split 50/50.” Without two shares from two real POs, do not park the calendar on a made-up pair. One client, three release dates: milestone gates. Three deliverables, one check: bundle. One lump before kickoff from one inbox: freelance deposit. Floor still invented: how to set a freelance rate.

Planning figures, not an AP mill

Sketching two payer dollars is not counsel, not a collections desk, and not a 50-state return. There is no official 50/50. There is no co-brand statute. There is no marketplace fee table and no commission path-mount. Use the two shares you already have. Two POs that actually bind them get drafted by counsel where you work, before kickoff. Punching numbers here does not issue those POs.

Inputs: one invoice, two shares. Outputs: payer A = invoice × share A, payer B = invoice × share B, leftover share = 1 − A − B, unpaid leftover dollars = invoice × leftover share, plus a sentence you can paste. USD on this page. Tax share stays on the hub. Three gates stay on milestones. Three things, one payer stay on bundle. The lump stays on freelance deposit.

Rate calculator One client, three gates Three things, one payer One deposit, one client Build the hourly number

If the weeks you can bill moved, rebuild the floor on the hub. Two names on one brief: print each payer = invoice × share here. One buyer, three calendars: milestones. Three SKUs, one check: bundle. One kickoff lump: freelance deposit.

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