Introduction

Credit notes are used in accounting to reverse in full or in part an existing invoice or payment. This guide will take a brief look at the credit noting tools available within QuickFile. They are applicable for your sales invoices as well as any purchases you make with your suppliers. In this guide we will discuss examples based on your sales, although the same in principle can be applied to your purchases.

Credit notes on paid/part paid invoices

You can apply a credit note to a paid invoice in order to refund the payment or hold the payment on account for the client. When you preview a paid invoice click on the 'More Option' button followed by 'Credit Note' option:

Clicking this button will direct you to the credit note screen where you can enter the particulars for the credit note. You can choose exactly what items you wish to credit note and modify the totals that will be returned to the client. You will only be able to credit up to the amount originally paid on the invoice.

When you save the details of the credit note you will be prompted to decide how the funds should be allocated. You can refund the amount from a bank account or you can transfer the amount to be held on the client’s account, thus enabling you to apply it to future invoices.

Once saved you can preview and send the credit note to your client. When you go back to the original invoice the details of the credit note will appear at the foot of the invoice.

Credit noting an unpaid balance

Credit notes can also be applied to reduce an outstanding balance on an invoice. Let’s say we issue a client an invoice and they subsequently decide that they no longer require one of the products listed on the invoice. You can of course simply modify the invoice and remove the unwanted item or enter an additional negative line to show the amount being deducted back off. The alternative is to credit note a part of the balance on the invoice.

Again from the invoice preview screen click on ‘More Options’ button followed by the ‘Credit Note’ button. We can now enter the particulars relating to what items will be deducted from your original invoice. When the client returns to the original invoice they will be prompted to pay only the remaining balance and any credit note will be detailed at the foot of the invoice.

Generic credit notes

QuickFile also gives you the freedom to enter ad hoc credit notes without having to attach it to an existing invoice. When you enter a new invoice all you need to do is enter negative line totals and the invoice will become a credit note. Credit notes entered in this way allow you to make generic refunds to a client without the need of a pre-existing invoice/payment. It's particularly useful when you start out with QuickFile and you need to allocate funds.

Editing credit notes

Credit notes are locked from editing following creation. If you need to amend a credit note amount you will need to delete it first then recreate it. If you just need to edit an item line description you can use the "Quick Edit" feature on the credit note preview screen. Simply hover over the description, click and a box will appear where you can edit the text.

Conclusion

The credit noting tools in QuickFile have been designed so that you can achieve your aims with a minimal number of steps. If you have any questions relating to the credit noting process please check out the rest of the forum for further information.