Retention held back on a contractNew
Money the contract keeps until practical completion — recorded, shown to the customer, and never chased as a debt.
Written 8 October 2026
What is said in this recording
On most construction contracts the customer holds back a percentage — typically 5% — released on practical completion and again after the defects period, often months later. Record it and TaskMyJob treats it as what it is: money owed later, not money that is late.
Step by step
- 1
Open the invoice and find the Retention card.
- 2
Choose Hold some back and set the percentage.
5% of the invoice total is the usual figure. What it comes to is shown as you type.
- 3
Add the release date if you know it.
Leave it blank if you do not — “six months after practical completion” is often not a date yet, and an undated retention is never treated as late.
- 4
When it is released, press Mark it released.
From that moment it is ordinary money owed, and everything chases it normally.
- 5
Set their usual percentage on the customer record.
A commercial customer can carry one, which is offered when you raise their invoices. It is never applied on its own.
Worth knowing
Why this matters more than it looks
An invoice paid short by retention looks exactly like an invoice paid short by a customer who has not finished paying. Without somewhere to record it, the balance reads as overdue, the debtor ageing counts it, and Revenue Radar chases your biggest customers for money that is not late — which would make the whole thing untrustworthy for precisely the businesses who hold the most.
The customer’s copy says so too
Their invoice shows “Retention held (5%)” with the release date, and the amount to pay comes down by it. An invoice whose balance is short of its total with nothing saying why is an invoice somebody rings about.
The invoice total never moves
Retention is not a discount and not a credit note. The invoice is still for its full amount, the VAT is still due to HMRC at the tax point, and what changes is only how much arrives now. Same rule as a CIS deduction, and as a credit note — see those guides.
Once the release date passes
It counts as owed and the card says to chase it — but it is named as retention rather than as a late invoice, because “your invoice is overdue” is the wrong phone call to make about money a quantity surveyor is sitting on.