Getting an invoice paid

Recording a payment

When a client pays, record it. Part payments are normal — record what arrived and the invoice shows the balance still owed, rather than making you choose between "paid" and "unpaid" when neither is true.

An invoice paid through a payment link records itself; you only enter payments that arrived some other way, like a bank transfer.

Overdue

An invoice is overdue when its due date has passed and it is not settled. That is worked out when you look at it, so it is right the moment you open the screen and it never needs a nightly job to catch up.

Voiding

Void an invoice you should not have issued. The number stays used, the document stays in the history marked void, and it stops counting towards what you are owed. Do not delete and renumber — a missing number in a sequence is the first thing a tax inspector asks about, and you will not remember why in eleven months.

If the work was genuinely done and the client simply will not pay, that is a bad debt rather than a void, and your accountant will want it treated as one.

History

Every client's screen shows everything you have ever invoiced them, what is outstanding, and how quickly they normally pay. That last figure is the useful one when deciding whether to ask for payment up front.