Client may end my contract after I have already done all of the work.

[thepapa]

Client contract was for Individual Tax Preperation. He indicated he had stock trades and crypto which I have considerable experience with. I told him given the 444 crypto transactions he provided the charge would be $875 which he agreed to. Normally I would just charge the hourly charge to add up to the $875. He had a Form 8949 for the crypto transactions which I was able to import into my tax software. Everything else is completed on the return. Now it turns out there are many crypto transactions which were not included. I had to go into his account at CryptoTrader as well as Koinly which I was forced to open an account with. I told him I was not willing to make the crypto calculations because I know it is very time consuming. I suggested a few alternatives to him. I suggested twice to him to file the return we have prepared and then file an amendment later becuase he has a considerable amount due. I even offerred to file the amendment for free. He is now upset because we do not have accurate or complete crypto information and I am not willing to make those calculations. I told him this was work outside of tax preparation. He has turned off the ability to add manual hours on the contract. If he ends the contract now do I not get paid for the work that was completed?

[prestonhunter]

re: "If he ends the contract now do I not get paid for the work that was completed?"

If the client ends the contract now, you still get paid for all the time that you logged.

A client may end a contract at any time. There is nothing wrong with that.

A client ending a contract does not mean I do not get paid.

I get paid for the work that I did.

If a client ends a contract, it means that he stops paying for additional work.

All contracts are supposed to end eventually. That is the nature of freelancing.

If you were working on an hourly contract, then your payment is guaranteed as long as you were following the rules of Upwork Payment Protection.

Even if the client fails to pay, even if Upwork is unable to charge the client's credit card, then you will get paid. Upwork will pay you out of their own pocket...

...if you followed allo rules of Upwork payment protection.

It does not matter who closes the contract. It doesn't matter when the contract is closed. Upwork automatically pays freelancers for all time logged.

If you have any remaining questions, then feel free to ask your questions here. Just make sure you understand the rules. And understand that the rules don't change because you are a singer or cat blogger or cryptocurrency specialist.

[gilbert-phyllis]

On an hourly contract if you used the UW desktop time tracker to log your hours and used it as prescribed, i.e., with adequate keyboard activity and meaningful work memos, then you will get paid. If you used manual time, then you will only get paid if the client approves the payment.

On a fixed price contract you submit completed work using the Request Payment button and the client has 14 days to either approve the payment or request changes. If they do nothing, then after 14 days you get paid. (Funds move from escrow to a 5-day security period, then become available to withdraw.)

 If a dispute arises, you first go through UW's mediation process--which is essentially an UW mediator encouraging the two parties to reach an agreement. If that fails, then either party can initiate arbitration by an outside arbitration service. The initiating party pays $291 (one-third of the arbitration fee), UW pays $291, and the other party pays $291. The arbitrator's decision is binding and the fee is non-refundable. If one party requests arbitration and pays their share of the fee and the other party declines to proceed, then the requesting party gets their $291 back plus whatever funds are disputed.

[prestonhunter]

re: "If you used manual time, then you will only get paid if the client approves the payment."

What Phyllis said is correct. Her post is informative and helpful.

But it is possible for an inexperienced Upwork user to misinterpret something...

Clients do not click a button to approve manually logged time.

Clients do not click a button to approve time logged by the desktop time-tracker application.

Clients are not required to approve of hourly time.

If a client does nothing, then Upwork will automatically charge the client's credit card for all time logged by the freelancer.

But... a client must indeed "approve of" manually logged time... in the following sense:

If a client wants to, a client may proactively navigate to the work diary screen associated with a contract, click on time segments that were manually logged, and then click a button to dispute those time segments. Then Upwork will automatically re over those time segments from the time that the client gets billed for. The freelancer will not receive payment for that time. Because the client "did not spprove" of that time and proaxtively took steps to block payment for those hours.

[gajjarvishal86]

Hello,

The full control is on clients hand when we entered the manual hours. He may agree or may not agee to pay the same.

If the project goes into dispute, it's very likely that the resolution will be in client's favor in case of manual hour entry.

[prestonhunter]

re: "If the project goes into dispute, it's very likely that the resolution will be in client's favor in case of manual hour entry."

It is automatically resolved in the client's favor.

Upwork personnel have clear rules they follow. They are specifically NOT SUPPOSED to do what is "fair" or consider the specific details with regards to justice.

They simply remove the manually-logged time if the client disputes the time during the review period.