Link your accounting software and issue a credit note
Link your accounting software so your invoices are created there with their legal number, then correct an invoice already validated with a credit note or an additional invoice.
A validated invoice can no longer be changed. To lower or cancel it, you create a credit note; to add forgotten lines, an additional invoice. Use this article as soon as a client reports a mistake on an invoice that has already been issued. Allow 2 minutes for a credit note.
The earlier steps, from checking to sending, are described in Check, invoice and send the month's invoices.
Link your accounting software
To do once. With linked accounting software, each invoice is created there with its legal number: it is an electronic invoice.
Step by step
- 1
Open the Settings › Workflows & integrations menu.
- 2
Click the “Integrations” tab, then the “Accounting software” filter.
- 3
On your software's card, for example Pennylane, click “Add an account”.
- 4
In “API key”, paste the key created in your accounting software, then click Save. The card shows “Connected”.
- 5
Open the Finance › Clients menu. The “Accounting software” column shows “Not linked” for your clients.
- 6
Click Export to the accounting software. Your clients are created there: the column changes to “Linked to Pennylane”.
From then on, on the invoices screen, the “Invoice now” button creates each invoice in the accounting software.
Choose the right correction
The “Correct” window starts with the question “What do you want to correct?”.
| Choice | When to take it |
|---|---|
| Remove or lower lines → a credit note | A cleaning invoiced by mistake, an amount that is too high |
| Add forgotten lines → an additional invoice | A forgotten cleaning or supplement |
| Cancel everything → a full credit note | The whole invoice has to be cancelled |
Create a credit note
Step by step
- 1
Open the Finance › Reports and invoices menu, on the month of the invoice.
- 2
On the client's line, open “⋯”, then click Correct. The window “Correct the invoice for … (no. …)” opens, at “Step 1 of 3”.
- 3
Choose “Remove or lower lines → a credit note”, then click Next.
- 4
Under “Choose the lines and the new amount”, tick each line to correct and enter its “New amount excl. tax (0 = remove)”.
- With “Cancel everything → a full credit note”, there is nothing to tick: all the lines are removed.
- 5
Click Next. Step 3 shows the credit note: the original invoice and the amount excl. tax.
- 6
Click Create the credit note. The window “Create the credit note?” opens.
- 7
Confirm with “Create the credit note”. The message “Credit note created” is displayed.
- 8
Click Send to client to send the credit note by email, to the client's billing address. Otherwise, click “Close”.
Add forgotten lines
Step by step
- 1
On the client's line, open “⋯”, then click “Correct”.
- 2
Choose “Add forgotten lines → an additional invoice”, then click “Next”.
- 3
Under “Cleanings this month missing from the invoice:”, tick the cleanings to add.
- 4
For another line, click “Add a line”, then fill in “Property”, the date, “Description” and “Amount excl. tax”.
- 5
Click “Next”, then Create the additional invoice. After confirmation, the message “Additional invoice created” is displayed.
- 6
Click “Send to client” to send it by email.
Find a credit note and its effect on payment
Step by step
- 1
In Finance › Reports and invoices, look for the “Credit note” badge on the invoice line. The amount shown is the net amount due: validated credit notes are already deducted.
- 2
Open “⋯”, then click “View the credit note”. The PDF of the credit note opens in a window of the software, with the “Download the credit note” button.
- 3
Click the client, then open the “Invoice” tab of their preview. There you read “Invoiced”, “Credit notes” and “Net amount due”, then each credit note with its status.
| Status of the credit note | What it means |
|---|---|
| validated | The credit note is deducted from the net amount due and from the next direct debit |
| draft | Not yet deducted: it blocks the direct debit until it is validated or deleted |
| cancelled | The credit note no longer counts |
| to be made elsewhere | The correction is recorded here; the credit note has to be made in your invoicing software |
Attach a credit note created in the accounting software
A credit note created directly in Pennylane is read automatically: several times a day, when the invoice is opened and just before each direct debit. It is attached to its invoice if it was created from that invoice, or if its label quotes the invoice number. Otherwise, it waits for your choice and blocks the client's direct debit.
Step by step
- 1
Open the client's invoice: “Check” button, or “Open the report” in their preview. The point to check “Credit note … created in Pennylane without an invoice: it blocks the direct debit” is displayed.
- 2
Click Attach to this invoice. The credit note joins the invoice's credit notes.
- The credit note is not about any invoice? Click “Not about this invoice”, then confirm: it will no longer block the direct debit.
- 3
Another way: in your accounting software, write the invoice number in the credit note's label. It will be attached at the next reading.
Frequently asked questions
Can a credit note created by mistake be deleted?
No. A validated credit note keeps its legal number. To go back, create an additional invoice for the same amount with “⋯ › Correct”.
Is it better to create the credit note here or in the accounting software?
Here, with “Correct”. The report lines, the client portal and the net amount due are up to date straight away, without waiting for the next reading.
Is the client told about the credit note?
Only if you click “Send to client”: the credit note then goes by email. Otherwise, they see it in their client portal, under its invoice.
What happens if the report has no invoice in the accounting software?
The correction is saved in The Big One, but no credit note is created: it has to be made by hand in your software. The window gives you the amount excl. tax and incl. tax to carry over.