Fix, cancel or write off an invoice

A draft: just change it

A draft has no number yet and isn't in your books. Open it, change what you need, or delete it with Delete draft. No invoice number is used up.

A sent invoice: cancel it with a credit note

Once an invoice is sent, it has a number and is in your books and your VAT return. The law says you can't change or delete it after that. You correct it with a credit note: an invoice with a minus amount that cancels the original.

1. Open the invoice and choose Cancel with credit note.
2. Confirm. The credit note gets the next number in your series. Your revenue and VAT go down by the same amount, in the quarter of the credit note's date. The original shows as Credited.
3. Nothing is emailed yet. Press Email credit note so your client knows: their books have to match yours.

Then make a new, correct invoice. Duplicate gives you a draft with the same client and lines, so you only fix what was wrong.

A credit note always cancels the whole invoice. To charge less, cancel it and send a new invoice for the right amount.

A client who won't pay: write it off

Tried the reminders, and the client is never going to pay? Open the invoice and choose Write off (the money is uncollectible).

• What was still open becomes a cost (a bad debt).
• You get back the VAT you already paid on it. It comes off your VAT return in the quarter you write it off.
• The invoice can't be changed after that.

A client paid too much

If a payment is more than the invoice, the invoice shows … paid too much. You can:

• Use it for another open invoice of the same client: pick the invoice and press Use for this invoice, or
• Or pay it back: transfer the money back from your bank. When that payment shows up on the Bank page, press This bank payment is the refund and pick it.