Invoicing

Invoicing is where a sale becomes a billing document. You prepare invoices, pro formas and corrections as drafts and issue them in the name of one of your sales entities (your invoicing companies). Then you send them to the customer and record what has been paid. A draft has no number and can be changed freely. Issuing gives it a number and closes it to editing.

Where to find it: Finance → Invoicing

When you'll use it

• Billing one order, or several orders of the same customer on one invoice.
• Writing an invoice or a pro forma by hand, for something that was never an order.
• Issuing a draft, or taking a freshly issued invoice back to draft to fix it.
• Sending the document by e-mail, downloading or printing the PDF, exporting a batch for your accountant.
• Removing a document that should not exist.

Key concepts

• Document type — Invoice, Pro forma or Correction. A pro forma is not an accounting document. It announces a payment and can later be converted into an invoice. A correction always refers to an invoice that is already issued. See Corrections & cancellation.
• Draft and issued — a draft has no number and is not in legal circulation. Its PDF preview carries a watermark. Issuing assigns the number and locks the document. From then on it can only be corrected, cancelled or, while the conditions allow, reverted to draft.
• Sales entity — the seller printed on the document. Each one has its own numbering, bank accounts and logo. See Sales entities.
• Buyer type — Company or Individual. It decides which numbering series the document takes its number from. For a Polish seller connected to KSeF (Poland's national e-invoicing system) it also decides whether the document goes there.
• Left the system — the moment a document first reached the buyer: it was e-mailed, or its PDF was downloaded or printed. Complaia records the date and the way. After that, Complaia warns you before you revert, cancel or delete the document, because the buyer may already have it.
• Status — what the list and the invoice page show:

Status	Meaning
Draft	No number yet. Editable and deletable.
Issued	Numbered and in circulation. The basis for the buyer's payment.
Partially paid	Issued, with payments that cover only part of the amount due.
Paid	Settled in full.
Overdue	The due date has passed and the invoice is not settled in full. Pro formas never become overdue.
Cancelled	Withdrawn from circulation. The number stays with the document.

The numbering series

A number is taken only at the moment of issue, never when the draft is created. It comes from a series, and four things decide which series a document belongs to:

What	In practice
The seller's tax ID	The series is tied to the seller's tax number, not to the entity.
Document type	Invoices, corrections and pro formas are numbered separately.
The period	The year or the month of the issue date, depending on the number format of the entity. With continuous numbering there is no period.
The buyer type	Company and individual buyers have separate series. See The consumer series.

Documents under the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme have a series of their own. See OSS returns.

The next number is always the highest number that still exists in the series, plus one. So a number released by reverting or deleting the newest invoice is used again by the next one. For the same reason, a number can be released only from the newest document in a series. If you moved the series forward with Change next number on the sales entity, numbers below that starting point cannot be released any more.

While you fill in the form, a line under Buyer type reads Will use series … and shows the series this document will join.

The consumer series

An invoice or correction for an Individual gets its number from a separate series with its own counter. Its prefix is the Prefix for individuals setting of the entity. If that setting is empty, the prefix is the company prefix with /B2C added (FV becomes FV/B2C). Pro formas have a single series.

A document for an individual cannot carry a tax ID or an EU VAT number. For a Polish seller connected to KSeF, documents in the consumer series are never sent there. See KSeF.

The screen

📷 Screenshot to add: the invoice list with a draft, an issued and an overdue invoice, and the header buttons

The list is titled Invoices. Each row is one document. Click a row to open it.

Column	What it shows
Number	The document number. A draft shows No number.
Type	Invoice, Correction or Proforma
Seller / Buyer	The names printed on the document
Issue date / Due date	The due date turns red once the invoice is overdue
Gross	The total in the document's currency. An invoice with issued corrections also shows the amount After corrections.
Status	One of the statuses above

On the same screen:

• The search box looks in the number, the buyer name and the buyer tax ID.
• The filter panel filters by Type, Seller, Buyer, Issue date, Due date, Total gross amount, Status and Currency.
• The Status filter offers Draft, Issued, Paid, Overdue and Cancelled. Partially paid is not a filter option. Look for such invoices under Issued or Overdue.
• The header holds Refresh, Export CSV, Export UBL and New invoice. UBL (Universal Business Language) is a standard e-invoice file format.
• For a Polish seller connected to KSeF, two views can appear above the list: All and KSeF: needs attention. See KSeF.

The invoice form opens from New invoice, and from Edit on a draft. It has:

• the sections Document, Based on orders, Buyer, Line items and Payment & dates;
• a Summary of net, VAT and gross beside them;
• extra sections when they apply, for example VAT exemption basis, or the OSS section for a sale to a consumer in another EU country;
• the header buttons Cancel, Save and Issue.

Every field is described on The invoice & money.

The invoice page shows the document.

• On one side: Seller, Buyer, Line items, Notes and Invoice history. The history shows who did what with the invoice and when. It stays empty without the Event log: View permission.
• On the other side: a status card with the status, the amount, the due date and the one action that fits the current state, for example Issue, Mark paid, Record refund or Convert to invoice. Below it: Summary, Payment, Related documents, and the KSeF card for a Polish seller.

The header of the invoice page has:

• on a draft: Preview PDF and Edit;
• on an issued document: Download PDF, Send by email and, once the due date has passed, Send reminder;
• a More menu with, depending on the document: Refresh, Preview PDF, Print, Create correction, Correction to zero, Revert to draft, Cancel invoice and Delete.

An action is hidden when you have no permission for it, or when it does not apply to the document. When an action applies but is not allowed right now, it is shown greyed out, with the reason. In a narrow window all header actions fold into one ⋯ menu.

Common tasks

Create an invoice from an order

1. Open the order and go to its Invoices tab.
2. Click Create draft from order. Two checks may ask you to confirm first:
   • If the order is not marked as paid, the dialog Order not paid appears. Click Create anyway to continue.
   • If the order already has an invoice, the dialog This order already has an invoice lists them. Click Create a new draft to continue.
3. The New invoice form opens with the order selected under Based on orders. Choose the Seller (entity) if you have several sales entities and none is the default. The lines are filled in once a seller is known.
4. Check the buyer, the lines, the dates and the payment method that came from the order. Change what needs changing.
5. Click Save to keep a draft, or Issue to issue it straight away.

You can also start from Finance → Invoicing → New invoice and click Pick orders in the Based on orders section.

Several orders on one invoice. In the order picker you can tick up to 20 orders. They become one consolidated invoice. The picker can show only orders of one client, only orders without an invoice, or all orders. Claims and returns are not offered.

How a consolidated invoice is built:

• The lines of every selected order are added, each marked From and the order number. A delivery cost becomes its own line.
• The buyer details, the currency, the sale date and the payment method come from the orders the first time you select them. After that you can edit them.
• All orders must be in the same currency. One invoice has one currency.
• If the orders carry different buyer details, a dialog asks Which buyer details? and then for the sale date. Choose one complete set, or I'll enter the details myself. Details from different orders are never mixed.
• An order that already has an invoice can still be selected. The form lists it under These orders already have an invoice:, so that a second invoice is a deliberate choice.
• Payments already recorded on the orders are carried onto the invoice. The Summary shows them as Paid and Left to pay.
• When you remove an order from the selection, Complaia asks whether to Remove the lines that came from it or Keep the lines.

Create an invoice by hand

Before you start

You need at least one sales entity. Without one, the form shows No sales entity. Click Add sales entity to create one.

1. Go to Finance → Invoicing and click New invoice.
2. In Document, choose the Document type, Invoice or Pro forma, and the Seller (entity). The default entity is selected for you. Choosing Correction here opens a search for the invoice to correct. See Corrections & cancellation.
3. In Buyer, set the Buyer type. Then either choose a contractor from Entities (customers & suppliers) in Search a partner, or type the details in the fields below.
4. In Line items, choose the currency in the section header and click Add line. Fill in each line: a product from the catalog or a name of your own, Qty, Unit, a price and VAT (%).
5. In Payment & dates, set the Issue date, the Sale date, the Payment term (days) and the Payment method. For Bank transfer, choose the Bank account.
6. Click Save. The draft is saved and its page opens. A draft may be incomplete, but not empty: it needs a seller and either a buyer name or one line.

Issue a draft

1. Open the draft and click Issue in the status card, or click Issue in the header of the form while you are still editing.
2. Confirm. When you issue from the form, the dialog Issue invoice also offers Save as draft, in case you change your mind.

For a Polish seller connected to KSeF and a company buyer, the button reads Issue & send to KSeF and does both. The invoice must also pass the KSeF check before it gets a number. See KSeF.

What must be filled in. Complaia checks these before it assigns a number:

• a correction reason, on corrections only;
• the buyer type and the buyer name;
• the buyer's country, for a company;
• a valid tax number, for a company in Poland;
• the buyer's address (street, postal code, city and country), when the document requires it;
• at least one line with a name and a quantity above zero;
• the issue date, which cannot be later than today;
• the sale date;
• a bank account, when the payment method is Bank transfer;
• the VAT exemption basis, when a line is exempt. See VAT on invoices.

Two questions you may be asked.

• Issue date earlier than today — the draft has an older issue date. Choose to issue with that date, or with today's date. The number then comes from the period of the date you keep.
• Polish company without a NIP — the buyer is a company in Poland with no tax number. Click Go back and fill in, or Issue without NIP if that is correct.

What issuing does:

• assigns the next number in the document's series, using the issue date to decide the year or month;
• copies the seller's current details, the chosen bank account and the logo from the sales entity onto the document, so later changes to the entity do not alter it;
• sets the due date to the issue date plus the payment term;
• for a Polish seller invoicing in a foreign currency, saves the exchange rate. See Foreign currency;
• marks a document with a total of zero as Paid at once, because there is nothing to collect.

After issuing, a note may say that the issue date is late or early compared with the sale date. The invoice is issued anyway. Check the dates.

Convert a pro forma into an invoice

1. Open the issued pro forma.
2. Click Convert to invoice in the status card and confirm. A new invoice draft opens, copied from the pro forma.
3. Review the draft and issue it like any other draft.

A pro forma can be converted once, and only when it is issued and not cancelled. The two documents link to each other under Related documents. A converted pro forma cannot be deleted until the invoice made from it is deleted.

Revert an issued invoice to draft

Use this when you issued an invoice with wrong data and nobody has acted on it yet. The invoice becomes a draft again and its number returns to the series. The next document issued in that series takes the number.

1. Open the invoice and choose More → Revert to draft.
2. Read the dialog and confirm. The edit form opens so you can fix the data and issue again.

Reverting is possible only when all of these are true:

• the invoice is the newest in its series;
• it has no payment recorded;
• it has no corrections;
• for a Polish seller connected to KSeF: the invoice is not in KSeF and not waiting for a KSeF decision.

If the invoice has already left the system, Complaia warns you first: the buyer may have it, and a correction is usually the better choice. You can still continue.

When reverting is not allowed, Revert to draft is greyed out and the reason is shown.

Send, download, print, export

Preview a draft. Click Preview PDF. The preview carries a watermark and does not count as handing the document over.

Download or print the PDF. On an issued document, click Download PDF, or choose More → Print. You can also click the PDF icon next to an invoice on an order's Invoices tab. The first download or print marks the document as having left the system.

Send the invoice by e-mail.

1. On an issued invoice, click Send by email.
2. Check the Recipient email address. It is filled in from the buyer. If you type a different address, it is saved on the invoice for next time.
3. Click Send by email. The customer receives a message in the seller's name with the PDF attached.

After a send, the button counts down for 60 seconds before it can be used again. The dialog shows Last sent: with the time of the previous send. Drafts and cancelled invoices cannot be sent. If the mail server does not confirm the send, Complaia tells you that it is not known whether the message arrived. The document is then treated as having left the system.

Export a batch.

1. On the list, set the filters or the search so that the list shows the documents you want.
2. Click Export CSV or Export UBL.
3. Read the confirmation. With a filter set, it asks whether to export the current view. With no filter, it warns that the export will include all invoices and offers Set a filter.
4. Click Export.

What you get:

• Export CSV gives one file for spreadsheets and accounting software, with every document and its status.
• Export UBL gives UBL e-invoice files for documents in circulation only, without drafts and cancelled ones: one XML file for a single document, otherwise a zip with one file per document.

One export holds at most 2000 documents.

Cancel an invoice

Cancelling keeps the document and its number but takes it out of circulation. The steps and the rules are on Corrections & cancellation.

Delete an invoice

1. Open the document and choose More → Delete.
2. Confirm.

What can be deleted depends on the status:

• A draft can always be deleted.

• An issued invoice or correction can be deleted only when all of these are true:

  • it has no payment;
  • it has no corrections;
  • it is the newest in its series;
  • for a Polish seller connected to KSeF: it is not in KSeF.

  The number of a deleted document returns to the series and is used again. If the document has already left the system, Complaia warns you first. A deleted document cannot be restored.

• A paid or cancelled document cannot be deleted.

Link an existing invoice to an order

1. Open the order and go to its Invoices tab.
2. Click Link existing.
3. Search by number or buyer, select the invoice and confirm with Link existing.

Unlink on the same tab removes only the link. The invoice, its lines and its amounts stay as they are.

When it doesn't work

What you see	Why	What to do
Select the seller entity.	No seller is chosen. Nothing can be saved without one.	Choose the Seller (entity).
A draft can't be completely empty. Enter a buyer or add at least one line item.	You clicked Save on an empty form.	Type the buyer name or add a line.
The buyer's NIP must have exactly 10 digits. / The NIP has an invalid check digit. Look for a typo.	The Polish tax number is not valid.	Correct it. For a foreign company, change the Country and use EU VAT.
A buyer with a tax ID or EU VAT number cannot be marked as a private person.	The buyer type is Individual, but the buyer has a tax number.	Choose Company, or remove the tax number.
Complete the buyer's address: street and number, postcode, city and country.	The document needs the buyer's full address.	Fill in the address.
Select a bank account (required for bank transfer payment).	The payment method is Bank transfer and no account is chosen.	Choose the Bank account, or add one to the sales entity.
The issue date cannot be later than today	The issue date is in the future.	Use today's date or an earlier one.
Some of the selected orders already have an invoice.	You selected an order that is already invoiced.	Check that you are not invoicing it twice.
The orders are in different currencies.	One invoice has one currency.	Select orders in the same currency.
One invoice can cover at most 20 orders.	You ticked more than 20 orders.	Split them over several invoices.
After an error on Issue, the form stays open	Issuing failed, but the draft is already saved.	Fix the marked field and click Issue again, or open the saved draft from the list.
Revert to draft, Cancel invoice or Delete is greyed out	The document has payments or corrections, is not the newest in its series, or is in KSeF.	Read the reason shown. Otherwise use a correction.
A warning that the buyer may already have the document	It was e-mailed, downloaded or printed.	Prefer a correction. If you are sure, continue.
Send by email is greyed out with a countdown	The 60-second pause after the last send is still running.	Wait for the countdown to end.
A cancelled invoice is not sent to the buyer.	Cancelled documents cannot be e-mailed.	If the sale took place, issue a new invoice.
Too many invoices to export (…). Maximum 2000.	The current view holds more than one export can take.	Filter by issue date and export in parts.
Another document of this seller already has the number …	The numbering format or prefixes of the entity produce a number that exists.	Check the numbering of the sales entity.

KSeF refusals are listed on KSeF.

Permissions

Permissions are named here as the role editor shows them.

To do this	You need
See the list and open invoices, preview and download a PDF	Finance: View
Create and edit drafts, select orders, convert a pro forma, link or unlink an order	Finance: Create
Issue a draft, revert an issued invoice to draft	Finance: issue invoices
Create a correction	Finance: corrections
Cancel an issued invoice	Finance: cancel invoices
Delete a draft or an eligible issued invoice	Finance: Delete
Record payments and refunds	Finance: mark as paid
Send invoices and reminders by e-mail	Finance: send email
Export the list	Finance: export
See the invoice history	Event log: View

The built-in Accountant role has all Finance permissions except Finance: KSeF configuration.

Related

• The invoice & money — every field of the form, how totals add up, foreign currency
• VAT on invoices — rates, codes and the exemption basis
• Corrections & cancellation — changing or withdrawing an issued document
• Payments — recording money, refunds and reminders
• Sales entities — numbering settings, bank accounts, logo
• KSeF — for Polish sellers: connecting an entity and sending invoices
• OSS returns — for Polish sellers: sales to consumers in other EU countries
• Orders — where most invoices start
• Roles & permissions — where the Finance permissions are granted