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For a larger job, you can ask a business customer for an advance payment before the work is done. When the job is finished, a final invoice bills its full value and deducts the confirmed advance payments. A billing case links these invoices together.

Who can do this?

Owners and Managers can create billing cases and advance and final invoices for their shop. Staff cannot use invoicing.

Where to do it

In the web app, select a shop in Germany, open Invoices and select New invoice. Choose the type under Invoice stage.

Create an advance invoice

  1. Select the customer under Legal business name.
  2. Set Invoice stage to Advance invoice.
  3. Under Billing case, select the job. If it is new, select New billing case, enter a Project or order name, optionally a Contract reference and an Expected service date, and select Save.
  4. Enter the Expected service date for the planned work. It cannot be before the invoice date.
  5. Add items that describe the agreed advance, then select Save draft.
  6. Open the draft, select Issue invoice and confirm.
Send the advance invoice and collect its payment like any other invoice. You can issue several advance invoices for the same billing case.

Create the final invoice

  1. Select New invoice and the same customer.
  2. Set Invoice stage to Final invoice.
  3. Under Billing case, select the same job. Use Search billing cases if the list is long.
  4. Check Advance payments received. It lists the open advance invoices of this case and the payments received on each. If it shows No confirmed advance payments are available for this case., nothing will be deducted.
  5. Enter the Service date and items for the full value of the work, not just the remainder. Use the same VAT rates as the advance invoices. The service date must be after every advance payment was received, and the invoice date cannot be before any of them. Otherwise the final invoice cannot be issued.
  6. Select Save draft, then Issue invoice.
When the final invoice is issued, the confirmed advance payments are deducted. The invoice shows them in Advance payment breakdown, and Amount due on invoice shows what the customer still has to pay.

What changes when you issue the final invoice

  • Only confirmed payments are deducted. An advance invoice that has not been paid is not deducted.
  • Payment links for the advance invoices of the case stop working. The customer pays the rest through the final invoice.
  • The billing case is closed for new invoices. Each case can have only one active final invoice.
If you cancel a final invoice, its billing case opens again and the advance payments become available for a new final invoice.

Platform and market notes

These steps describe the web app. Advance and final invoices are available for shops in Germany and are always in euros.

Troubleshooting

  • A billing case belongs to one customer. If a case is missing from the list, check that you have selected the right customer.
  • If the final invoice is rejected because another invoice is already closing the case, wait and refresh the page before trying again.
  • An advance payment that is still being processed shows as Authorized. Wait until it is confirmed before issuing the final invoice.
  • If issuing fails, read the message shown on the invoice, correct the reported problem and select Retry issuance.