Open the Invoices app. When your company keeps its books in Epiow, issuing, payments and credit notes post to the books for you, in the same step.
Set up once
Select Numbering (above the invoice list, shown to owners and admins) and fill in:
- Invoice prefix and Credit note prefix. Numbers run without gaps and are given out only when you issue a document.
- Registered company address, printed on every invoice. It is saved in your books company details.
- Payment instructions, such as bank details and a reference to quote.
Create the invoice
- Select New Invoice.
- Choose the Customer and fill in Customer Email and Customer Address.
- Set the Issue Date and Due Date.
- Add Line Items: Description, Qty, Unit Price, Discount and Tax code.
- Select save. The invoice is a Draft and you can still edit it.
You enter a tax code, not an amount. Books calculates each line's tax and the totals when you save, so the figures on the invoice always add up exactly. The form shows only an estimate. A UK company takes its codes from the UK VAT rates. A company elsewhere uses the rates it has added (see "Set your own tax rates"). If your UK company is VAT-registered, every line needs a code at issue. Use OUTSIDE for out-of-scope items.
Issue it
On the invoice, choose Issue. The invoice is numbered and its status becomes Sent. A numbered invoice cannot be edited or deleted, which keeps your numbering clean. The books record the sale: Receivables, Revenue and output tax by tax code.
Send it as a PDF or email
Choose Send and reminders.
- Download PDF gives you the invoice with your company details, the customer's, each line with its VAT rate, the VAT summary, the total payable, the payment instructions and the due date.
- To email it, check Send to and select Send. The email carries the full invoice. Sending again to an address it was already sent to needs Send again (already sent to this address) turned on, so a customer is never emailed twice by accident.
If something required is missing, such as your registered address or a customer address, the dialog lists exactly what to add before it will send.
Reminders
On the invoice list, select Overdue reminders (shown to owners and admins), set As of date and select Send reminders. Each overdue invoice gets a reminder 7 and 14 days after its due date, once per step. The dialog also shows each invoice's sends and reminder schedule.
Record a payment
Choose Record Payment, enter the Payment date and the Amount received (a smaller amount is a part payment) and confirm. The invoice moves to Partially Paid or Paid. A payment can never be more than what is owed. Card and gateway payments go to a clearing account, and bank transfers, cheques and cash go to the bank.
Credit an invoice
Choose Credit note on an issued invoice (not on a draft). Enter a Reason, then either Credit the whole invoice or choose the lines and quantity to credit, and select Create credit note. You can credit up to what the invoice has left, at the rates the invoice charged.
Foreign-currency invoices
On a draft, choose the Currency and fill in the exchange rate field, labelled Exchange rate: 1 followed by the currency and your base currency, for the invoice date as an exact decimal. The rate is required to issue. Books keeps the ledger in your base currency and shows the invoice's VAT in the base currency as well, as a UK foreign-currency VAT invoice must. When you record a payment, enter the rate in the field labelled Exchange rate: 1 followed by the currency and your base currency on the payment date. Books books the difference from the invoice rate as an exchange gain or loss, shown on the payment. A credit note on a foreign invoice uses the invoice's own rate.
Void
Choose Void on an invoice that has no payments and no credit notes. Its postings are reversed. If it has either, issue a credit note instead.
Issuing, payments, credit notes, voids and numbering are for owners and admins.