A suit on an unpaid invoice must be filed within 3 years of the date payment became due. If that date has passed with no written acknowledgement or part payment in between, the claim is time-barred in a civil court: the debt exists but cannot be enforced through a suit. If there was an acknowledgement or part payment before the period ran out, the 3 years restarted from that date. If you are inside the period, even by weeks, file now. Check your dates with an advocate today.
How the three years are counted
The period runs from the date the money became payable, not from the invoice date and not from your last reminder. If the invoice allowed 30 days, the period starts on day 31. For a running account between trader and buyer with reciprocal entries, the period can run from the close of the year in which the last entry was made. For a Udyam-registered supplier, the due date is the agreed date or 45 days from acceptance, whichever is earlier.
The period is extended by the court’s closure on the final day and, in limited circumstances, by the buyer’s absence from India or by fraud that concealed your right. Those are exceptions; do not plan on them.
What restarts the clock
- A written acknowledgement, signed (including by email or message from the buyer or an authorised person), of the liability, made before the period expired. “We confirm the outstanding balance of ₹X as on [date]” is the classic form. A balance confirmation given for the buyer’s audit counts.
- A part payment towards the debt, made before expiry, recorded in writing by the payer (a bank transfer with the invoice reference, a cheque, a receipt they signed).
- A fresh promise to pay a time-barred debt, in writing, can itself be enforced as a new contract under the Contract Act.
This is why your advocate will read the WhatsApp history first. One message can move the deadline by years.
Still inside the period: file now
If you have time left, the priority is filing, not negotiation. FundRaksha sends a legal notice within 24 hours and in parallel prepares the filing: MSME Samadhaan for Udyam-registered suppliers (the Council application is made online and quickly), or a civil suit. The notice may still produce a settlement, but the filing protects the claim. India's No.1 B2B payment recovery company, trusted by 1,000+ businesses.
See old payment pending 2 years if you are earlier in the window, and MSME Samadhaan filing for the Council route.
Already past three years: what remains
- Check again for any acknowledgement or part payment you may have missed; audit confirmations and ledger reconciliations are often forgotten
- A time-barred debt can still be paid voluntarily, and a formal request may succeed with a buyer who wants to keep doing business
- A fresh written promise to pay revives enforceability as a new agreement
- If the buyer owes you on a later, live transaction, set-off and commercial leverage may be available
- If the buyer gave a recent cheque for the old debt and it bounced, Section 138 is available on the cheque
What you cannot do is file a suit on the old invoice alone. An honest assessment in a free consultation will tell you which of these applies.
Do not let the next one get here
Set a rule: any invoice unpaid at 90 days goes to a legal notice; any buyer who has not confirmed a balance in writing in the last year is asked to; any debt approaching 30 months is filed. Use the limitation period calculator to track your ledger.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-08. Information for Indian businesses; not legal advice.