Invoices

Invoices are the formal billing documents you issue to clients. Each saved invoice receives a sequential number in the format INV-YYYY-NNNN (for example INV-2026-0001), counted per calendar year. The number is given when the invoice is saved, so while you are still filling in the form the Invoice Number field reads Assigned when saved. Pressing Create Invoice twice, or again after a slow connection, still saves one invoice.

Where Invoices Live

Open Documents > Invoices in the consultant navigation. The list page shows totals for invoices, revenue, outstanding and overdue, and gives you search, a status filter (Draft, Issued, Sent, Partially Paid, Paid, Overdue, Cancelled / Voided), date and amount filters, and Export CSV.

Three Ways to Create an Invoice

The list page header carries three creation buttons:

• Create Invoice — opens the blank invoice form.
• Convert Quotation — opens Convert Quotation to Invoice, which lists only quotations in accepted status. Pick one and the client, line items and pricing are carried across.
• Convert Voucher — opens Convert Voucher to Invoice, which lists vouchers in issued, approved or used status that have not already been converted. Each service is invoiced at the unit price, quantity and fee saved on the voucher; they cannot be changed here, so edit the voucher first if one is wrong. Only a service the voucher saved no price for asks you for one. Pricing it counts as writing an invoice by hand: you need the manual-invoice permission, and above your approval amount the invoice is saved as a draft for a consultant admin or an accountant to send.

Filling In the Invoice Form

1. Under Customer Information, use the client search box to pick an existing client — their name, email, phone and billing address are filled in for you. You can also type the details by hand. Initials, Surname and Email are required.
2. Complete the Billing Address and any reference fields you use (booking reference, quote number, voucher reference, purchase order, customer reference).
3. Add Line Items. Each row has a description (required), quantity, unit price, a VAT on the supplier price choice and a running total. Use Add Item for more rows.
4. Tick Apply Service Fee on a line to add your markup. Choose Percentage (%) or Fixed Amount (R) and enter the value.
5. Add customer-facing Notes and Internal Notes, and decide whether Show Service Fees on PDF is on. When it is off, your markup is hidden from the customer's copy.
6. Click Create Invoice to save. The invoice is stored with status draft. Print/PDF generates the document without saving.

VAT

VAT on your service fee is always charged, at the configured standard rate (15% by default for South Africa). For each line you choose how VAT applies to the supplier's price: No VAT on the supplier price (a new line starts here, for a foreign supplier or one not registered for VAT), Supplier price includes VAT (nothing is added; the VAT inside the price is shown on the invoice) or Add VAT to the supplier price. VAT is never charged on VAT. A RateHawk hotel line shows the VAT its price decided instead of a choice. Payment terms drive the due date: Net 7, Net 14, Net 30 and Net 60 add the matching number of days to the issue date.

Sending an Invoice

Open the invoice and click Send Invoice (the button reads Forward Invoice once the invoice has left draft, and a separate Resend button appears while the status is sent). This opens the send dialog, where you confirm the recipient and pick one or more delivery channels:

• Email — sends the invoice as a PDF attachment.
• In-App Notification — delivers the document to the client's portal. Only selectable when the recipient email matches a registered user; otherwise the option is greyed out with “Recipient is not a registered user”.
• WhatsApp — sends a document link.
• SMS — sends a notification.

You can add a custom message. After a successful send, a draft invoice moves to sent, which puts it on the books.

If your administrator has set an approval amount for you, a hand-written invoice above it is saved as a draft and your consultant admins are told it is waiting. The invoice page then says a consultant admin or an accountant must send it, in place of the Send button.

Recording Payments

Payments are not recorded from the invoice page. Go to Documents > Payments and click Record Payment. Select the invoice from the unpaid list, then enter the Payment Amount (partial or full), Payment Date, Payment Method (EFT / Bank Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Cash or Cheque), an optional Payment Reference and notes. Recorded payments appear back on the invoice under Payment History, and the sidebar shows Total, Paid and Due.

Editing an Invoice

The Edit button on the invoice page reopens the full form for that invoice at any status, including sent and paid. Saving recalculates the subtotal, VAT and total, and recalculates the amount due against whatever has already been paid.

Deleting and Voiding

Nothing is erased. Both the red Delete button on the invoice page and the row action in the list run the same soft void: the invoice is marked voided and dropped out of the active list. In the list the action is labelled Delete for drafts and Void for anything else, and it is only offered on drafts unless you are a super admin.

The void is refused when money has been recorded against the invoice — you will see Cannot void invoice with N recorded payment(s). Reverse the payments first. A fully paid invoice cannot be removed from the list at all.