Invoicing is the process of sending a bill to your customer that describes how much they need to pay you and why. You may issue an invoice that is different from the order that the customer placed, in case prices have changed or you shipped a different amount than was ordered, such as when you are out of stock. You can also use the information here to keep track of the customer's payment.

The Invoice tab shows you the invoice to be sent to a customer, and is accessible by clicking the button from the bottom of a Sales Order.

A green light is shown if the invoice is fully paid. Otherwise, a red light is shown if the invoice is empty. A yellow light is shown for an invoice that has not been fully paid.

Typically, the invoice will be automatically created for you based on the products that you have picked. Service items will also be included in the invoice automatically. The invoice will automatically update based on the order or items picked.

However, you may also choose to manually edit the invoice if for some reason you wish to adjust it separately from the order. To do this, uncheck the Auto Invoice box at the bottom of the Invoice Tab. This will allow you to modify the invoice.

Invoiced Date - The date from which the invoice is effective. It is defaulted to the current date.

Due Date - The date on which the customer's payment is due. This is calculated by default by taking the Invoiced Date and adding the number of days specified by the Payment Terms for this order. You can also set this date manually.

Date Paid - Tracks when you received payment from the customer.

Payment Method - Shows the method by which the customer paid you for this invoice.

Remarks - Allows you to enter in any extra remarks you have. These remarks will be shown to the customer on the printed Invoice or Receipt.

Sub-Total - Shows the total charged to the customer before taxes and freight.

Tax – You may see one or more Tax fields depending on the Taxing Scheme set for this order. This shows amount of tax charged for this invoice. You may change the amount of tax charged here, but if the invoice is later changed, the tax will be automatically recalculated.

Freight – The amount of freight or other surcharges applied to this invoice. Tax is applied to this field if the selected Taxing Scheme has Tax On Shipping set.

Total – The total amount that the customer should have paid you for this order.

Paid – The amount that the customer has paid you for this order.

Balance – The remaining amount that the customer should pay you for this order. It is calculated by subtracting the amount Paid from the Total field.

The Paid in Full button sets the Paid amount to match the total due and sets the Date Paid to the current date. You can click this to quickly set the balance to zero when the customer has paid you the full amount for the invoice.

Invoice Tab Columns

The main Invoice tab table has the following columns:

Item – The item name or item code for the product or service being invoiced.

Description – A text description of the product or service being invoiced. This will be defaulted to the description from the product information, but can be changed here.

Quantity – The quantity of the item being invoiced. This will be defaulted to one but can be changed to the actual quantity invoiced by the customer.

Discount – A discount, as a percentage, given to the customer on the price of this item. This will be defaulted to the default discount given to this customer.

Tax – (This may be hidden, depending on your company settings.) The Product Tax Code for this item, determining if it is taxed in a special way, e.g. tax exempt. This is defaulted to the Product Tax Code in the product information for this product. More information on Product Tax Codes.

Sub-Total – The total cost of this item for the quantity given and after applying discounts, but before applying taxes or freight. This is calculated based on the Unit Price, Quantity, and Discount, and cannot be modified.

Standalone Invoices

In most cases, your invoices will be associated with an order. However, you may also create Standalone Invoices by clicking New Invoice w/o Order from the Tasks Box in the Sales Homepage. These Standalone Invoices do not have an order associated with them. In this case, the Pricing Scheme and Taxing Scheme can also be set from the Invoice page. See the Pricing and Taxes section in the article Creating a Sales Order for more information on how the pricing and taxes work.

Invoice Documents

You may wish to print out an invoice or convert an invoice to PDF format to invoice your customers. You can also issue a receipt to your customers.