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- Invoicing & Billing System
- Features
- Invoice preparation
Invoice preparation
Prepare invoices with clear lines, due dates and a preserved document history. A service invoice might contain ten hours of project work, a fixed delivery fee and a separately described reimbursable expense. Review quantities and unit prices independently, then check the taxable treatment of each item. The customer should be able to recognize the work from the invoice without asking the bookkeeper to reconstruct the original notes.
OverviewDraft Invoices×
Invoicing & Billing System · Invoice preparation
New
Draft Invoices
Invoices
| Invoice number | Client | Issue date | Due date | Total | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| INV-82687 | North Pier Events | 21 Oct | 29 Oct | 780 | Draft | |
| INV-38571 | Cedar Vale Architecture | 20 Oct | 24 Oct | 170 | Draft | |
| INV-48909 | Marlow Creek Bakery | 13 Oct | 19 Oct | 40 | Draft | |
| INV-55787 | Juniper Field Studio | 18 Oct | 24 Oct | 60 | Draft | |
| INV-44420 | North Pier Events | 13 Oct | 16 Oct | 340 | Draft |
6 of 6 records
North Pier EventsInvoices · INV-82687
DraftIssue date21 Oct
Due date29 Oct
Total780
What you can do
Keep the business context together
Review the customer, invoice date, payment terms, descriptions and taxable treatment while the invoice is a draft. The amount due comes from preserved line quantities, rates and configured tax amounts. The sent PDF and line snapshot retain the exact document the customer received even after the item catalogue changes.
The invoice number identifies the business document; a delivery attempt identifies an email or download event. Sending the same issued invoice again keeps its number and amount. This distinction helps the team answer a customer who lost the original message without creating another invoice or adding the charge to receivables twice.
Give each decision a clear owner
Assistant sends their own prepared invoices within role scope. Bookkeeper and Owner / Admin can maintain drafts and manage corrections. Monetary totals are computed by the server; changing a displayed status must never create a payment or change the original issued amount.
Due dates follow the terms on the document, rather than whatever default happens to be set on the client today. If the client normally pays after thirty days, preserve that basis when issuing the invoice. Changing future client terms must not unexpectedly move the due date of invoices already sent or change their aging.
Handle exceptions with the original record
A paid invoice cannot be erased or casually voided. Refunds and disputes follow the payment provider result and the retained payment history. A duplicate send command must preserve the invoice number and document revision while tracking the delivery attempt separately.
Use Draft Invoices to compare unfinished charges before issue. A missing description, incorrect customer or inconsistent tax calculation belongs in preparation. Once the document is issued, its preserved lines and PDF provide a stable reference for collection, customer questions and any subsequent correction authorized by the owner or bookkeeper.
Find the work that needs attention
For opening balances, distinguish historical invoices from new documents that should be sent. Bring the original number, customer, currency and verified remaining amount into the import review. Recording a prior invoice as a fresh bill would confuse the customer and distort the collection queue, even if the numeric balance appears correct.
Configure it around your business
Configure numbering, issue permissions and document delivery with representative invoices before routine use. Include a tax-bearing invoice, a partially paid invoice and a corrected historical charge in that review. The customer-visible amount, the invoice balance and the related payment history should tell the same story after each permitted action.
What your team sees
- Draft Invoices — Review the work and supporting records for this module.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Invoices
- The bill the Client owes. Draft becomes Sent after validation and sealing; the first permitted view may mark an unpaid Sent document Viewed. Recognized receipts derive partial paid or Paid from the issued balance. An unpaid Sent, Viewed or partial paid invoice becomes Overdue only after its due date. Paid never becomes Overdue merely as time passes. An evidenced refund or reversal can reopen a positive balance into partial paid or Overdue. An authorized void produces terminal Voided; viewing, reminders or delayed callbacks cannot undo it. Generated by direct user create, by
estimate-converts-to-invoice, or byrecurring-invoice-generationon theRecurringSchedulescadence. The rendered invoice PDF and the line-snapshot are frozen on Send. Line snapshot is a sealed JSON snapshot frozen at Status: Sent — never edited; for the live editable line set see invoice lines. - Invoice lines
- Per-line detail on an Invoice. Snapshots Item info at line creation. Carries the tax-rate resolution and the optional billable-source link to an Expense or time entry that this line came from.
- Clients
- The customer record — kept light. Email is the natural key for dedupe. Carries a default payment term that overrides the business default at invoice creation time.
- Items
- Reusable line-item catalog. Items can be services (priced per hour / day / project) or tangible goods (priced per each).
IsTaxablecontrols whether sales tax is added at invoice line time. - Sales tax rates
- US sales-tax rate per state plus optional ZIP override. Refreshed from a rate-data provider (tax jar / Avalara rate-only). The
sales-tax-auto-calcworkflow resolves the rate from the Client’s billing state + ZIP at line creation. This is rate auto-fill only — no nexus tracking, no marketplace facilitator logic, no filing; the user is responsible for filing.
Who uses it
Permissions- Owner / Admin
- Owner / Admin works within the record, field and action scope below.
- Bookkeeper
- Bookkeeper works within the record, field and action scope below.
- Assistant
- Assistant works within the record, field and action scope below.
Set up Invoicing & Billing System your way.
Start free, then use Proto to change fields, steps and approvals before your team goes live.