Refonte Tutor Payment Terms And Invoicing in 2026

Wed, Jul 22, 2026

Why payment terms deserve a dedicated read

Most tutors sign a contract, glance at the payment clause, and assume the rest will sort itself out. Then the first invoice cycle arrives and the questions start: When exactly do I bill? What counts as a billable hour? Which currency? Do I owe VAT? Why is the bank transfer showing a lower amount than I invoiced? Should the invoice go to the French SAS or the UK office address? These are not edge cases. They are the everyday operational questions that determine whether tutoring for Refonte Learning feels professional or feels like chasing paperwork.

This article is the payment and invoicing companion to the broader Refonte tutor contract: what tutors should know pillar. The parent piece explains the contract as a whole. This one zooms in on the money mechanics: rate structures, billable activity definitions, invoice cycles, submission format, payout timing, currency and FX, tax handling for different jurisdictions, common invoicing mistakes, and how disputes get resolved. If you are considering tutoring for Refonte, or you are already onboarded and want to run your invoicing cleanly, this is the reference to bookmark.

A quick framing note before we dive in. Refonte engages tutors as independent contractors, not as employees. That single fact changes almost everything about how payment works. You issue invoices, Refonte pays them, and you are responsible for your own tax filings in your country of residence. If that model is new to you, read the independent contractor status explainer alongside this one, because the legal status determines the invoicing obligations. The goal here is not legal advice, it is operational clarity so you know what to expect, what to prepare, and where the common pitfalls sit.

We will also cover the parts tutors rarely think about until they hit them: what happens if a learner cancels last minute, how group sessions versus one-on-one sessions are billed differently, how content creation hours (recording a module, reviewing a project rubric) are logged separately from live delivery hours, and how end-of-quarter reconciliation works if your hours were disputed. Payment terms sound dry on paper. In practice they shape your cash flow, your tax planning, and your relationship with the operations team. Getting them right on day one saves a lot of friction later.

The rate card: how tutor compensation is structured

Refonte tutor compensation is not a single flat hourly figure. It is a structured rate card that varies by activity type, seniority band, and program tier. Understanding the structure matters because your invoice will list line items against these categories, and mixing them up is the most common source of invoice rework.

The activity categories tutors typically bill against include:

Live one-on-one mentoring sessions with enrolled learners
Live small-group workshop sessions (typically 4 to 12 learners)
Cohort delivery for larger classes (13 or more learners), where applicable
Project review and written feedback (asynchronous, capped per project)
Capstone or portfolio evaluation, billed as a fixed-fee deliverable
Content development (recording modules, drafting exercises, building rubrics)
Office hours or open Q&A blocks
Admin and onboarding time (in-scope only when explicitly agreed)

Each category has its own rate. Live one-on-one rates are typically the highest per hour because they are the most demanding delivery format. Group workshops pay a per-session or per-hour rate that reflects the higher learner count. Asynchronous project review is usually rate-capped per submission, not per hour, because it forces a productivity discipline: you cannot bill five hours to grade a single project unless the scope explicitly justifies it. Content development is often a fixed-fee deliverable tied to a module spec, with milestone payments.

Seniority bands recognise that a senior ML engineer running an advanced MLOps cohort is not billing at the same rate as a junior tutor supporting an introductory Python module. Bands are set at onboarding based on the credentials review, technical assessment, and program fit. They can be revised upward at performance reviews, which are informed by the tutor quality metrics framework: learner outcomes, satisfaction scores, session completion rates, and rubric adherence.

Program tier is the third dimension. Flagship programs like the AI Engineering Program attract senior tutors and carry rate premiums that reflect the depth and specialisation required. Introductory or foundation tracks pay standard-band rates.

All of this is spelled out in your signed rate schedule, which is an annex to the main contract. If you cannot find yours, ask operations to resend it before your first invoice. Do not guess. Invoices submitted against wrong rates get rejected and delay payment.

What counts as a billable hour, and what does not

This is the section most tutors wish they had read before their first invoice cycle. The rate card tells you how much per hour. The billable-activity definition tells you which hours actually qualify.

Billable hours include:

Time spent live with learners, from the scheduled session start to session end (not from the moment you opened the call software)
Session preparation time, but only within the pre-agreed prep allocation for that activity type. A one-hour advanced session might include a 15-minute prep allowance; a standard session might include none, because prep is considered baked into the rate
Project review time, up to the cap defined for that project size
Content development time against a signed statement of work
Time in required tutor training or calibration workshops, when Refonte has explicitly designated the session as paid

Non-billable time includes:

Time waiting for a learner who did not show up, unless the no-show policy applies (usually you can bill 50 percent of the session fee after a 15-minute wait, once per learner per month)
Time spent on personal admin, invoicing, tax filing, or upgrading your own tools
Optional community events, open tutor forums, or peer-learning meetups
Re-recording content because of your own quality issues (as opposed to a scope change requested by Refonte)
Marketing or promotional activity, unless separately contracted

The grey zones are where most disputes arise. Example: a learner books a 60-minute session, arrives 20 minutes late, and asks to extend by 20 minutes. Do you bill 60 minutes, 80 minutes, or 40 minutes? The default policy is that you bill the scheduled duration unless the extension was pre-approved by the learner and logged in the session tool before it started. Another example: you spend 45 minutes writing detailed feedback on a project that was allocated a 30-minute review cap. You can bill 30 minutes as standard, and request an exception for the extra 15 minutes with a short justification. Exceptions are approved case by case, not automatically.

The operational principle is simple. Log time honestly, log it in the platform tool in near-real time (not reconstructed a week later), and when in doubt, ask the program manager before billing. Reconstruction after the fact is where invoicing errors compound, and it is also what makes tutors look sloppy in the eyes of finance.

The invoice cycle: cutoffs, submission windows, and payment dates

Refonte operates on a monthly invoice cycle with fixed cutoff and payment dates. The cycle in 2026 works like this:

The billing period runs from the 1st to the last day of the calendar month
Invoices for the completed month must be submitted between the 1st and the 5th of the following month
Operations reviews and approves invoices between the 6th and the 12th
Approved invoices are queued for payment on the 15th of the month, or the next business day if the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday
Bank transfer arrival depends on your country and bank, typically 1 to 4 business days after the 15th

So an invoice for January work is submitted between February 1 and February 5, approved by February 12, paid on February 15, and lands in your account by roughly February 19 at the latest for most European and UK-based tutors, slightly later for tutors in Asia, Africa, or the Americas depending on correspondent banking.

Invoices submitted after the 5th slip to the next cycle. This is not a punishment, it is a bookkeeping reality: month-end close on Refonte's side has to complete before the next month can be paid. If you submit on the 8th, your invoice will still be paid, but on the 15th of the following month, not this one. Plan accordingly if you have cash flow constraints.

A few tutor-specific mechanics worth flagging:

If you tutor across multiple programs, submit a single consolidated invoice with clearly labelled line items per program, not multiple separate invoices. Multiple invoices from the same tutor in the same cycle slow down approval and increase the risk of a mismatch
Correcting an approved invoice mid-cycle is possible but painful. If you spot an error after submission but before approval, email operations with a corrected version and mark the original as void. If you spot it after payment, raise it as a reconciliation item for the next cycle, do not try to reverse the paid invoice
Retroactive rate changes (for example, if you were promoted to a higher band effective mid-month) are applied prospectively, from the first full billing period after the change, unless explicitly stated otherwise

The cycle is boring by design. Boring means predictable, and predictable means you can plan your finances around it.

Invoice format: what a compliant Refonte tutor invoice looks like

A compliant invoice is one that finance can process without follow-up. That means it contains every field required by both French tax law (since payment originates from a French SAS, described in more detail in the piece on the Refonte legal entity) and your own country's invoicing requirements.

Minimum fields on every Refonte tutor invoice:

Your full legal name or registered business name
Your business address (the address associated with your tax registration, not your holiday address)
Your tax identification number (SIREN or VAT number for EU tutors, UTR for UK tutors, EIN or SSN equivalent for US tutors, and the local equivalent elsewhere)
Your VAT number and VAT status, if applicable in your jurisdiction
Invoice number, using a sequential numbering scheme that never resets and never repeats
Invoice date (the date you issue the invoice, typically the 1st to 5th of the month following the work)
Billing period (for example, "1 January 2026 to 31 January 2026")
The Refonte entity being billed: Refonte Infini Infiniment Grand, SIREN 949 841 605, with the address on file
Line items, one per activity category, with quantity, unit rate, and line total
Subtotal, VAT amount (if applicable), and total due
Payment terms (net 15 from approval date, matching the standard cycle)
Your bank details: account holder name, IBAN, BIC or SWIFT, bank name, and bank country

Optional but recommended fields include a short project reference or cohort code per line item, and a purchase order number if operations has issued one for a specific engagement.

Most tutors use accounting software (FreeAgent, QuickBooks, Sage, or the French equivalents like Freebe or Indy for micro-entrepreneurs) to generate invoices. A PDF export is the standard submission format. Do not send Word documents, screenshots of spreadsheets, or scanned handwritten notes. Finance systems ingest PDFs cleanly and everything else creates friction.

One recurring pitfall: forgetting to sequence your invoice number. Tax authorities in most jurisdictions require sequential numbering with no gaps. If you invoice Refonte as invoice 2026-014, your next invoice to any client must be 2026-015, not 2026-014b or 2026-020. Keep a single running counter across all clients. This matters more than tutors expect, especially at year-end audits.

Currency, FX, and the amount that actually lands in your account

Refonte pays in euros by default, because the paying entity is a French SAS and euro is the operational currency. If you invoice in euros and hold a euro-denominated bank account, the amount invoiced and the amount received are the same, minus any bank charges on your side.

Tutors outside the euro area have three practical options:

Invoice in euros and receive to a euro account. Cleanest option. Services like Wise, Revolut Business, or a multi-currency account at your home bank let you hold euros without conversion, then convert manually at a rate you choose
Invoice in euros and receive to a local-currency account. Your bank converts the incoming SEPA or SWIFT transfer at their spot rate, which typically includes a 1 to 3 percent spread plus a fixed conversion fee. This is the most expensive option and tutors are often surprised by the shortfall
Invoice in your local currency, with the exchange rate pinned to a reference date. This requires explicit agreement in the rate schedule and is not the default. It shifts FX risk to Refonte, which is why it is offered case by case, not universally

A worked example. You invoice 3,000 EUR for January work. You are UK-based with a GBP-only current account. Refonte sends 3,000 EUR by SEPA on the 15th. Your bank receives it on the 17th and converts at their retail rate, which is 2.5 percent below mid-market. You also pay a 12 GBP incoming international transfer fee. Instead of the roughly 2,540 GBP you would get at mid-market (assuming a 0.847 rate), you receive around 2,478 GBP. That 62 GBP gap is FX cost, not Refonte underpayment.

The fix is not to complain to finance, it is to open a Wise or Revolut euro account, receive the SEPA transfer for free (or near-free) in euros, and convert at mid-market when you actually need GBP. Most tutors move to this setup within their first two or three cycles. The one-time setup pays for itself in the first month.

Bank charges on Refonte's side are absorbed by Refonte. Bank charges on your receiving side are yours. This is the international norm, not a Refonte-specific rule, but it is worth stating explicitly because tutors sometimes expect the payer to cover the full path end-to-end.

VAT and tax handling across jurisdictions

Tax is where the independent contractor model creates the most confusion, because the rules depend entirely on your country of residence and your business structure. Refonte does not withhold tax from your payments. You receive the gross amount (net of any FX losses on your side) and you file taxes locally.

A rough map of common situations:

French tutors registered as micro-entrepreneurs invoice without VAT (franchise en base de TVA) if under the annual threshold, and remit social contributions and income tax through the URSSAF declaration cycle. Above the threshold, VAT applies and you must display a VAT number and charge VAT accordingly
EU tutors (outside France) with a valid VAT number invoice under the reverse-charge mechanism for B2B services. Your invoice shows no VAT, includes the note "reverse charge, VAT to be accounted for by the recipient," and Refonte handles the VAT on its side
UK tutors post-Brexit are outside the EU VAT system. You invoice without VAT if your annual turnover is below the UK VAT registration threshold, or with UK VAT rules and appropriate documentation if above
US tutors invoice without VAT (there is no US VAT) and handle federal and state income tax through their standard IRS filings. Depending on your state, you may also owe self-employment tax
Tutors elsewhere follow their local rules. Refonte cannot advise on your tax residency, and if your situation is complex (dual residency, recent relocation, offshore structures), consult a local accountant before invoicing

The important operational point: get your VAT status right on the first invoice. Changing VAT treatment mid-year creates messy corrections on both sides. If you are unsure, ask a local tax advisor before onboarding. Refonte operations can tell you what fields the invoice needs to comply with French requirements, but they cannot tell you what your local status is.

One more note on year-end. Refonte issues an annual summary of amounts paid to each tutor, useful for cross-checking your own bookkeeping. Some jurisdictions also require the paying entity to file a declaration of contractor payments (in France, the DAS-2 declaration for certain payment types). This is handled by Refonte's accounting team without action from you, but if your local tax authority requests confirmation of payments received, ask operations for a payment summary and they will provide it.

Cancellations, no-shows, and partial-session billing

The rate card tells you what to charge for a completed session. Real life includes sessions that do not complete. Refonte's cancellation and no-show policy is designed to protect tutor time without penalising learners for genuine emergencies.

The default rules:

Learner cancels more than 24 hours before the session: no charge, session is rebooked
Learner cancels 12 to 24 hours before: 50 percent of the session fee is billable
Learner cancels less than 12 hours before, or fails to show: full session fee is billable, once per learner per calendar month. Repeated no-shows from the same learner escalate to program operations and may result in the learner losing booking privileges
Tutor cancels: no fee, and if the cancellation is inside 12 hours you may be asked to offer a make-up slot within a reasonable window
Technical failure (platform outage, verified connectivity issue on Refonte's side): session is rescheduled at no cost to the learner, and the tutor is paid at 50 percent of the session fee for the reserved time

Partial sessions where the tutor and learner both agree to end early are billed at the completed duration, rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes. Sessions that overrun with mutual agreement are billed at the actual duration if the learner confirms in the session tool. Overruns without confirmation are billed at the scheduled duration only.

These rules are enforced through the session logging tool, not through goodwill. When a no-show happens, mark it in the tool immediately with the timestamp. When a cancellation comes through, forward the notification into the tool. Reconstruction from memory a month later is much harder to defend, and operations may push back on unsupported no-show claims during invoice review. The tool is your evidence trail.

Common invoicing mistakes and how to avoid them

After thousands of invoice cycles, the same handful of mistakes recur. Here they are, so you can skip the learning curve.

Wrong entity on the invoice. Bill Refonte Infini Infiniment Grand, SIREN 949 841 605, not a generic "Refonte Learning" or the dissolved UK entity. Finance rejects invoices with wrong or missing entity details on the first pass
Missing sequential invoice number, or a number that duplicates a previous one. This breaks your own tax compliance, not just Refonte's
Mixing billable categories in a single line item. If you tutored 8 hours of one-on-one and 4 hours of group workshop, that is two line items, not "12 hours mixed"
Billing prep time that was not pre-approved. Prep is either included in the rate, allocated within the activity spec, or explicitly agreed as a separate line. "Assumed included" prep gets stripped out on review
Forgetting VAT treatment. EU tutors especially forget the reverse-charge note, which forces a rework
Wrong bank details. Double-check IBAN and BIC before every invoice, especially if you changed banks. Failed transfers add 5 to 10 business days to your payment
Submitting after the 5th of the month. As covered, this slips you a full cycle
Rounding hours creatively. Log actual durations to the nearest 5 minutes. "Rounded up to the nearest hour" invoicing looks unprofessional and does not survive review
Charging for work outside the signed contract. If operations asked you to help with a new activity type verbally, get it added to the rate schedule in writing before you bill
Ignoring the reconciliation window. If an invoice was underpaid or a line was rejected, raise it within 30 days. After that, reopening old cycles gets progressively harder

The first invoice is usually the messiest. By the third, most tutors have a clean template and the whole process takes 20 minutes a month. If you are still spending hours on invoicing after cycle three, something in your setup is wrong and it is worth a call with operations to fix it.

Disputes, reconciliation, and how to raise a payment issue

Most invoices go through cleanly. The ones that do not fall into a few predictable categories: a line item was rejected on review, the amount paid differs from the amount invoiced, or a session logged by the tutor was disputed by the learner or program manager.

The reconciliation process is straightforward but time-bounded:

Line rejections during review: operations emails you within the approval window (6th to 12th of the month) with a specific reason. You respond with either a corrected line, supporting evidence, or an acceptance of the rejection. The rest of the invoice proceeds to payment on the 15th, and the disputed line is either resolved and paid in the same cycle or bumped to the next
Payment amount mismatch: check FX and bank charges first, they explain most of it. If the euro amount received differs from the euro amount approved, raise a ticket immediately with the bank statement extract
Session disputes: if a learner claims a session did not happen and you have logged it, operations reviews the session tool records, calendar invites, and any recorded artifacts. Honest logging protects you here. If the dispute is upheld against you, the fee is reversed in the next cycle, not clawed back from your account

Patterns matter more than individual disputes. One disputed session in a year is noise. Ten disputed sessions in a quarter is a signal that operations will follow up on, and it will affect your quality metrics and potentially your rate band. Keep your logs clean, respond to disputes promptly, and treat reconciliation as a normal part of the workflow rather than a confrontation.

For tutors on the fixed-term French interim contract structure, some aspects of dispute handling differ because the payment mechanism itself differs. If you are on that structure, read the interim tutor contract overview alongside this piece, because payroll-style payments follow the French social security calendar rather than the invoice cycle described here.

Setting up for a clean first cycle

Before your first invoice, do the following in order:

Confirm your legal status and registration in your country. Register as needed (micro-entrepreneur, sole trader, self-employed, LLC, etc.) before your first billable session
Set up your bank account, ideally a multi-currency account that can receive euros without conversion cost
Choose accounting software or a compliant invoice template. Do not use free-form Word documents
Confirm your rate schedule with operations and save the signed PDF
Confirm the entity to bill: Refonte Infini Infiniment Grand, SIREN 949 841 605
Confirm your VAT treatment with a local advisor if you are unsure
Start your invoice number sequence and never reset it
Log every session in the platform tool in near-real time
Diarise the monthly cutoff: submission by the 5th, approval by the 12th, payment on the 15th
Bookmark this article, the parent Refonte tutor contract: what tutors should know explainer, and the operations contact address

The first cycle is where habits form. Get it right once and the rest of the year runs itself.

Where payment terms sit in the broader tutor experience

Payment mechanics are only one dimension of tutoring for Refonte Learning. They matter because getting them wrong creates friction, but they are not what makes the work interesting. What makes it interesting is the learners, the programs, and the technical depth of the material. Tutors on the flagship AI Engineering Program work with career changers, working engineers upskilling into ML roles, and international students building portfolios that get them into their first AI-focused jobs. The payment system exists to make that work sustainable for professional tutors, not to be the centrepiece.

That said, treating your invoicing seriously signals professionalism. Tutors who file clean, on-time invoices with clear line items and correct VAT treatment tend to be the same tutors who log sessions accurately, prep materials properly, and score well on learner feedback. The correlation is not coincidence. The habits that produce good invoices are the same habits that produce good tutoring: attention to detail, respect for the system, and follow-through on commitments.

Refonte Learning has built the payment cycle to be predictable and boring, and that is a compliment. You will know when to invoice, what to include, when to expect payment, and what to do when something goes wrong. If you approach it as an operational discipline rather than an afterthought, you will spend less than an hour a month on the whole process from year two onwards.

If you are considering applying to tutor and want to understand the full picture before you commit, the AI Engineering Program tutor track is a good place to start reading about scope, expectations, and rate structure, and the operations team can walk you through the specifics for your jurisdiction. Payment terms should never be the reason a good tutor walks away. Clarity on day one is what makes the difference.