Sales Invoices In Xero
Everything you need to know about billing clients in Xero
Last updated
Everything you need to know about billing clients in Xero
Last updated
Most businesses raise their first invoices in Excel or Word, including Numble! But when you're ready for a professional solution, Xero is ready for you.
Let's cut through the fluff to teach you about:
Login to Xero and navigate to Business > Invoices.
Start by clicking 'New Invoice'.
Subject to 20% VAT
20% VAT on Expenses
Hot coffee
Consulting fees
Zero-rated
Zero Rated Expenses
Coffee beans
Takeaway iced tea
Exempt from VAT or outside the scope of VAT
Exempt Income
Services provided to overseas businesses
Financial intermediary services
Xero enables multiple stage invoices, such as drafts, awaiting approval, and approved invoices. We won't go into detail about this here.
Choose one of the approval options below:
Approve to create the invoice in your accounting records.
Approve and email to add your client's details and email the invoice directly from Xero.
Approve and print PDF to email invoices to your clients yourself.
Approving an invoice records the revenue in your bookkeeping records.
Navigate to an existing invoice in Xero, click Options and 'Copy to draft invoice'.
Duplicating is an easy way to create the same invoices over and over again
If you need to amend an invoice you can navigate to an existing invoice in Xero, click Options and Edit.
To create a credit note, navigate to an existing invoice in Xero, click Options and 'Create and apply credit'.
A credit note is the opposite of an invoice and you may issue a credit note to amend or reverse a previous invoice.
You only need to raise a credit note if your client insists needs the document. It's easier to edit or delete the original invoice instead.
You may also need to create a credit note if your original invoice is in a 'locked period', which means your accounting data on that date is set in stone (usually by an accountant) and can no longer be amended. This happens when we prepare your annual accounts.
You can delete an invoice by navigating to the invoice in Xero, click Options and Void.
This will (almost) entirely remove the invoice from your accounts Xero. It is useful for reversing an invoice that was created in error or an invoice that you no longer expect to be settled.
If you are VAT registered the deletion will be reflected on the next available VAT return.
If the invoice is within a locked period, then you may need to create a credit note instead.
Make it easy for clients to settle your invoices. You can do this by connecting a payment service such as PayPal, Stripe or GoCardless
You can also enable direct debit payments using GoCardless. This is very useful for recurring payments and subscriptions and works very well for us!
To get started navigate to Xero > Company Name (top left) > Settings > Payment services. You'll find a number of default options.
There are a large number of alternatives so we cannot go into detail about each one here. To find instructions for your payment service:
Check out Xero's support guide
Ask for help from your payment service
Ask us for support
You can customise your invoices in Xero > Organisation Name (top left) > Settings > Invoice Settings.
You may define multiple themes if you have multiple brands or send invoices in more than one currency. But most businesses get by with one theme.
Add your logo to the 'Standard' theme by clicking Options > Change Logo
We also recommend the following changes in Options > Edit:
Address Padding = 0.00
Choose a font that most closely resembles your brand and adjust the font size
Uncheck 'Show payment advice cut-away'
Enter your contact details
Enter your bank details under 'Terms and Payment Advice'
There are a few ways to mark sales invoices as paid. Let's walk through our two recommended approaches.
You can remove the payment from Xero in one of two ways.
Navigate to the invoice > click on the 'Less payment' link on the bottom right of the invoice > Options > Remove & Redo
Navigate to the payment in the bank account > Options > Remove & Redo
If you created the payment manually, then it will delete the transaction from Xero.
If you created the payment from a bank statement data, then it will unallocate (but not delete) the cash receipt so it can be reconciled against something else.
These tips are based on decades of experience.
Send invoices as soon as you provide goods/services (or possibly even earlier). Don't be afraid to ask your clients for money. They expect to be invoiced so don't dither.
Keep your design on-brand and simple. Make it easy for customers to find what they need, like your VAT number or your bank details.
Never offer payment terms to clients unless they have specifically negotiated terms beforehand. The average sales invoice is paid two weeks late. If you give someone two weeks to pay then you're essentially asking to be paid a full month after you raise your invoice. This may seriously affect your cash flow.
Remember: you are not in the business of lending money to your customers.
Set up a payment processor. It might take a bit of technical know-how but GoCardless works great for us. Direct debits are also cheaper than card-based payment services.
Be mindful of payment fees. PayPal and most card merchants charge a fee of up to 2.5% of the total payment. This might seem like a small amount but let's look at an example. If your business model generates 10% profit margin then a 2.5% payment fee represents one quarter of your profit!
Always include bank details on your invoice, even if you expect to be paid by other means. This is a useful fallback for when everything else fails.
Make sales invoicing a daily habit. Prepare and send sales invoices immediately. This matters. Reconcile cash receipts every day. Without money coming in, you don't have a business.
The advantage of reconciling receipts every day is that you can set up automated reminders to chase overdue invoices. This saves you time and reduces the inconvenience of 'hassling' clients for payment. Let the robots to the work.
