Record your clients’ payments

A collection is a payment received on an invoice. When you record it, To Bill updates what the client owes and the invoice’s status and, if accounting is turned on, books the entry to your bank account.

Where payments come from

• Your bank statement. Imported into the accounts, it is matched with the invoices using the QR-bill’s reference: this is the safest and quickest way. See Reconcile your payments.
• Online payment. A client who pays by card or TWINT on their portal is recorded automatically.
• By hand, from the invoice or from Collections: for a cash payment, or if you do not follow your bank in To Bill.

Record a payment from the invoice

1. Open the invoice, then click Record a payment. The Create a collection form opens, with the invoice and the remaining amount already filled in.

2. If the invoice is payable in instalments, choose under Payment type (1) the instalment paid, or Whole invoice.

3. Enter the date on which the money arrived and the amount received. For a partial payment, simply enter the amount paid.

4. If accounting is turned on, choose the bank account under Arrived on the account (2).

5. Click Save.

   

The invoice’s page shows the payment straight away:

1. What has been received out of the total, with the progress bar, and the Amount due in large type.
2. Payments: each payment with its date and payment method. Add records another payment.

Situation after the payment	Invoice status
Part of it is paid	Partially paid
Everything is paid (to within 5 centimes)	Paid
The client paid too much	Overpaid

A payment in another currency

A client may pay in a currency other than the invoice’s, for example in euros for an invoice in francs. Choose the payment’s currency under the date and the amount: To Bill converts it into the invoice’s currency at the official rate of the payment day, published by the Swiss customs (FOCBS). It shows the rate under the currency (1), for example “Official Swiss customs rate (FOCBS) of 11.10.2026: 1 EUR = 0.94137 CHF”, with what the payment settles of the invoice: “That is CHF 470.69 on the invoice”.

If there is no official rate for that day, for example for an old date or a currency the FOCBS does not publish, To Bill says so: “No official EUR → CHF rate for …: enter the rate applied.” Then enter the rate applied, your bank’s for example, in Rate applied (1 EUR = ? CHF) (1), and click Save. Without a rate the payment is not recorded: it never counts as if it were in the invoice’s currency.

The rate is fixed on the payment when you record it: the amount remaining and the invoice’s status no longer change afterwards. Under Payments on the invoice’s page, the payment shows in the invoice’s currency, with its original amount and its rate, for example “EUR 1'500.00 at the official rate of 11.10.2026 (1 EUR = 0.94137 CHF)” or “… at the rate entered”. With the accounting module, the entry is in francs; for an invoice in a foreign currency, the difference between its rate and the payment’s is an exchange gain or loss. See Foreign currencies.

Legal basis

The VAT is the invoice’s, whatever currency the client pays in: Art. 45 para. 2 VAT Ordinance. The rates allowed to convert a consideration in a foreign currency are the FTA’s monthly average rate or its daily “foreign exchange selling” rate: Art. 45 para. 3 VAT Ordinance.

Small differences

A client often pays a few francs less (bank charges, rounding) or more. If the difference does not exceed your threshold, To Bill points it out right after you save, in the Payment recorded window:

• Settle the difference: the invoice is treated as paid; the difference is booked as a sales deduction.
• It is a discount: the client deducted an agreed early-payment discount; the price and the VAT are reduced.
• Keep the difference: the client paid too much and you keep the difference; it is booked with its VAT.
• Leave open: the invoice keeps its amount due, for example so you can claim it.

The threshold is set in Settings › Invoice, section Differences and default interest: Largest difference (CHF 5 by default) and Account for differences. Turn on Settle automatically so that differences below the threshold are settled without asking.

Discount granted afterwards

If the client deducted an early-payment discount (for example 2% for payment within 10 days): on the invoice’s page, under Receivable, click Actions › Early-payment discount. Enter the Discount amount and the Reason, then click Record the discount. The price is reduced, and the VAT with it, and the amount due goes down by the same amount.

Mark an invoice as paid

To settle one or more invoices paid in full in one go:

1. In Invoices, tick the invoices.

2. Click Change status › Paid.

3. Enter the Date the money arrived. It cannot be in the future.

4. Click Record the payment.

   

To Bill records a payment for everything still owed, on that date. This action is not offered for an invoice that is already partially paid: record the last payment from the invoice instead.

The collections list

In the menu, under Payments, open Collections.

1. Add opens the collection form; first choose the invoice in the list of open invoices.
2. Import a CAMT file reads your bank statement (camt.053 XML file): for each credit, To Bill suggests the matching invoice, by its reference or its amount. Check each match, then save.

The tabs separate Partial payments from Full payments. Filter by date, client, amount or payment method. The icons on each row open the collection or its invoice.

Import the statement into the accounts

If accounting is turned on, import your bank statements into Accounting › Bank instead: To Bill also matches your expenses there and books everything at once. QR payments of the exact amount can be booked there automatically.

Correct a payment

A collection cannot be edited: delete it, then record it again. Open it (eye icon in the list), then click Delete. In the list, you can also tick several collections, then Delete. The invoice is owed again for that amount; the entry is reversed with today’s date.

Payments matched with the bank

A payment matched with a line of your bank statement cannot be deleted here. First undo the match in Accounting › Bank, on the Reconciled tab.

Legal basis

An early-payment discount or a settled difference reduces the consideration. The turnover tax liability is then adjusted “at the time when the correction is booked or the corrected consideration is collected”: Art. 41 para. 1 VAT Act. With the agreed consideration method, the correction counts in the period in which it is booked. With the received consideration method, only what the client actually pays is taxed: the correction counts on collection.