A billing credit (also known as a credit memo or credit note or even a negative invoice) is a statement detailing a refund or credit toward an invoice. Simply, it reduces the amount your customer owes you for some or all of an invoice.
Some common applications of Credits include:
- You might have issued an invoice by mistake and wish to print something to show your customers that they don’t have to pay.
- You overcharged a customer.
- A customer has paid an invoice and you need to refund some or all of it.
- Sometimes, they are used to run a promotional offer that credits your customer for a given service.
Before a billing credit can be added to an invoice, you must create the credit on the credits dashboard. Canopy's Credits feature allows you to credit a client's account.
Create a Billing Credit
You can create and apply billing credits in Canopy easily. To get started:
Click Billing on the global navigation bar.
Choose Credits from the slide-in menu
This opens the Credits Dashboard. Let’s get familiar with what’s on this page.
To begin creating a Credit, click Add Credit.
Select a client using the Client Name box and select a Date.
The date defaults to the current day.
Complete the credit information. Fields are automatically filled according to your defined Service Item. Relevant fields include:
- Service: Name of the credit.
- Description: Description of the credit.
- Quantity: Number of credits.
- Rate: Amount to be credited.
Add a note to the Client Notes box.
Input any terms and conditions related to the credit.
Click Save credit.
Now, you’ve created and saved a Credit.
After you Create a Billing Credit, you can apply the credit to an invoice associated with the assigned client.
Credits can also be made by accepting an additional payment. You can then apply those additional payment credits to an invoice as well. Those are discussed further in another video.
Apply Credit to Invoice
To apply a credit to an invoice, we’ll stay here on the Credits Page:
- Click on the Credit # of a relevant billing credit.
- View the Credit information and history.
Here you can see whether payment has been collected for the credit or it was created by a team member.
The credit history and information modal also displays where the credit has been applied previously, and how much of the credit remains.
Click the Add to invoice button.
Alternatively, you can Void or Refund the credit by clicking the More button.
If needed, edit, download, print, or delete the credit by clicking the appropriate icon.
Select an open Invoice from the Invoice # dropdown menu.
Input a credit amount in the Amount to Credit box.
You must input an amount equal to or less than the Credit available. If you try to input a number greater than the Credit available, the amount will automatically reset to the total Credit available amount.
Click Apply for credits.
Ok, all set! The credit is applied to the selected invoice and the Amount to Credit is subtracted from the balance and the transaction is recorded on the credit's information and history modal.