Have an invoice paid in several instalments

For a large amount, you can ask for payment in several parts: for example 30% on order, 40% on delivery and 30% on installation. You issue a single invoice, with a payment schedule. To Bill follows each instalment, sends a reminder if it is late and recognises its payment.

Before you start

In the editor, the Payment in instalments option only appears if the QR-bill is turned on: see The QR-bill. It does not exist for a quote or for a recurring invoice.

Split the invoice into instalments

1. Create the invoice as usual: client, dates, lines. See Create an invoice.

2. Under Options, open Payment in instalments, then choose Instalment payment (1). To Bill suggests three instalments of one third each, 30 days apart.

3. Choose to enter the instalments as an Amount or as a Percentage.

4. For each instalment, enter its Instalment label (for example “Deposit on order”), its Due date and its amount or percentage. Add an instalment adds a row; the bin removes one. Distribute evenly (2) splits the total into equal parts.

5. Check the bottom of the list: Remaining must be 0. Otherwise, To Bill shows There is an unallocated amount remaining in the instalments or The total of the instalments exceeds the invoice amount, and the draft is not saved until the instalments add up to the invoice total.

   

Closed, the option sums up the schedule, for example “In 3 installments”, which is repeated under the Total. The invoice saves itself, like any invoice: all that is left is to send it.

What the client receives

The PDF contains the full invoice and a QR-bill for the amount still owed. Depending on your document template, it also lists the instalments (reference, amount, due date) or adds one page per instalment, with its own QR-bill.

Each instalment also has its own payment slip: on the invoice’s page, in the Installments section, an instalment’s download icon creates its PDF with its own QR-bill and reference. Send it to your client when the instalment falls due.

Follow the instalments

On the invoice’s page, the Installments section lists each instalment, its percentage, its due date and its amount. A settled instalment is marked Paid. As long as the invoice has not been sent, you can still change the due dates.

To record an instalment’s payment: Record a payment, then, under Payment type, choose the instalment paid or Whole invoice. See Collections. A payment recorded for an instalment settles that instalment first. Anything above it, like a payment with no instalment specified or a credit note, settles the other instalments in the order of their due dates. The instalments’ payment slips, the reminders and the delay shown follow this allocation.

Late payments and reminders

An invoice in instalments is overdue as soon as an instalment that has fallen due is not paid. The delay is counted from the due date of the oldest unpaid instalment. The reminders only claim the instalments that have fallen due, and their levels start again for each new overdue instalment.

One invoice, not separate instalment invoices

To Bill does not issue separate instalment invoices: the invoice covers the total amount as soon as it is sent. If you want to invoice each stage when it is done, create one invoice per stage.

Legal basis

• With the agreed consideration method, the VAT debt arises on invoicing: Art. 40 para. 1 let. a VAT Act. To Bill therefore books the whole invoice, VAT included, on the date it is issued, even if it is paid in instalments.
• For supplies that give rise to a series of partial invoices or partial payments, the debt arises with the issue of each partial invoice or with the collection of each partial payment: Art. 40 para. 1 let. b VAT Act. An invoice in instalments, by contrast, covers the total amount as soon as it is sent. To invoice each stage when it is done, create one invoice per stage.
• With the received consideration method, the debt arises on collection: Art. 40 para. 2 VAT Act.