Invoicing

SurelyCrm can create, generate, issue, and track customer invoices without a separate accounts package. Invoices can be built by hand, generated from a customer's plans, produced automatically on a recurring schedule, emailed as a PDF, paid off through recorded transactions, and published to the customer portal.

Enabling invoicing

Invoicing is controlled by the Invoices feature toggle, which is off by default. Enable it in Administration > Feature Toggles.

While the toggle is off, the Invoices entry is hidden from the main menu, the Invoices tab is hidden on customer records, the portal invoice tab is hidden, and the invoice pages return Not Found. Automatic invoice generation also stops. Existing invoice records are retained.

Invoice settings

Open Administration > Invoice Settings to configure the defaults used across all invoices.

Numbering and currency

Setting	Description
Number prefix	Prefix for invoice numbers. The default is INV. Numbers are generated as {prefix}-{year}-0001, incrementing within the issue year.
Currency code	Currency code stored with the settings (for example, GBP).
Currency symbol	Symbol shown on invoices, PDFs, and invoice totals (for example, £).

Tax and company details

Setting	Description
Default tax rate (%)	Pre-filled on new invoices and used by generated and automatic invoices. It can be overridden per invoice. Leave at 0 for no tax.
Company tax / VAT number	Printed on the invoice PDF alongside your company details.
Company address	Address shown on the invoice header.
Company logo	PNG or JPG image shown top-left on the invoice. The logo is stored as a document.

The company name comes from Application Settings. The invoice and credit-note document types are seeded automatically.

Automation and reminders

Setting	Description
Automatic generation	When on, recurring plans are invoiced automatically by the daily background service.
Generate (days before period)	How far ahead of the next billing period an automatic invoice may be generated (seven days by default).
Reminder before due (days)	Stored reminder offset before the due date (three days by default).
Reminder after due (days)	Stored first reminder offset after the due date (three days by default).
Second reminder after due (days)	Stored second reminder offset after the due date (seven days by default).

The invoice list

Open Invoices from the main menu. The list is sorted by issue date, newest first, and shows:

• Number — the generated invoice number.
• Customer — the customer the invoice belongs to.
• Issued and Due dates.
• Total — including tax.
• Status — with an Overdue badge when the balance is unpaid and the due date has passed.

Click a row or the open action to see the invoice detail, lines, totals, payment details, and the PDF actions.

Creating an invoice

1. Click New Invoice on the invoice list, or use the New Invoice shortcut on a customer record.
2. Search for the customer by name, phone number, email, or reference number.
3. Set the Issue date and Due date. A new invoice defaults to today and 30 days later.
4. Adjust the Tax rate, add an optional Reference (such as a purchase order), choose a Payment bank account, and add Notes.
5. Add invoice lines with a description, quantity, and unit price. Use Add Line and the remove action as needed. Subtotal, tax, and total update as you type.
6. Click Create Invoice.

A new invoice is saved as a Draft with an automatically generated number. Bank details are copied onto the invoice at save time, so later changes to the bank account do not alter an existing invoice.

Only active bank accounts that allow customer transfers are offered for payment details.

Generating from customer plans

If the selected customer has active plans, the invoice form also shows a Generate from Plans panel. This is the quickest way to invoice recurring services.

1. Select one or more plans.
2. Optionally override the tax rate.
3. Choose a bank account for the payment details.
4. Click Generate Invoice.

Each selected plan becomes one invoice line using its service name, price, and the next billing period. The due date is the issue date plus the longest Due days value among the selected plans. Expired plans (with an end date before today) are not offered.

Issuing and sending

A draft invoice offers two issue actions:

Action	What happens
Issue & Email	Generates the PDF, stores it on the customer record, posts the invoice total to the customer's balance, and emails the PDF to the customer. The status becomes Sent when the email is sent.
Issue & Store	Generates and stores the PDF and posts the balance, but does not send an email. Use Email Invoice when you are ready to send it.

If the customer has no email address, the invoice is still issued and stored, but no email is sent and a warning is shown. Add an email address to the customer and use Email Invoice afterwards.

After issuing, the detail page provides:

• Email Invoice — re-sends the PDF and increases the send count.
• Download PDF — downloads the stored invoice document.

A cancelled invoice cannot be emailed. Issuing also creates the invoice's balance entry, which is what appears in the customer's account and the portal.

Recording payments

Payments are recorded against the customer, not directly on the invoice list:

1. Open the customer record and go to Transactions.
2. Click Add Transaction and enter the payment date, amount, and method.
3. In Allocate to invoice, choose the open invoice.
4. Save the transaction.

Only invoices with a balance due that are not cancelled are offered for allocation. Partial payments are allowed and reduce the balance due. When the amount paid reaches the invoice total, the invoice is marked Paid and any active invoice workflows are cancelled.

An invoice is treated as overdue when it still has a balance, its due date has passed, and it is not Paid or Cancelled. The invoice list and detail page show the paid amount and balance due.

Voiding an invoice and credit notes

The invoice detail page includes two correction tools:

Void Invoice

Voiding sets the invoice status to Cancelled and optionally adds a reason to the invoice notes. It posts a reversing balance entry once, and cancels active invoice workflows and pending invoice triggers so reminders stop. The invoice remains in the list for audit purposes.

Credit Note

A credit note records a full or partial reduction against an invoice. Enter the total and a reason, then create the credit note. SurelyCrm:

• Numbers the credit note CN-{invoice number}.
• Posts a negative balance to the customer.
• Generates a PDF and stores it in the customer's documents under the Credit Note document type.
• Links the credit note to the original invoice.

A credit note does not change the invoice's status. Use it for adjustments, refunds, or write-offs while keeping the original invoice intact.

Automatic invoice generation

When both the Invoices feature toggle and Automatic generation are on, a daily background service checks each tenant's recurring plans and creates invoices that are due.

A plan is included when it:

• Is marked as recurring and has a billing frequency of weekly, monthly, or yearly.
• Has not ended (or has no end date).
• Has a next billing period within the configured Generate (days before period) window.

For each eligible plan, the service creates a draft invoice, issues it, and emails it to the customer. The due date is the issue date plus the plan's Due days, the line period is the next billing period, and the default tax rate is applied. If an automatic invoice already exists for the same plan and period, it is not created again.

Automatic invoices carry an Auto-generated badge on the detail page. If the customer has no email address, the invoice is issued and stored with a warning instead of being emailed.

Invoice workflows and reminders

Creating an invoice raises an Invoice Added workflow trigger. The CRM ships with two draft reminder workflows and an Invoice Reminder email template:

Workflow	What it does
Invoice Due Reminder	Waits until three days before the invoice due date, then emails the customer.
Invoice Overdue Reminder	Waits until three days after the invoice due date, then emails the customer.

The workflows are created as drafts with the Invoice Added trigger already attached. Review the template, then activate them in Workflows when you are ready to send reminders.

The Wait stage is relative to the invoice due date and supports days, hours, and minutes. If the reminder window has already passed when the workflow reaches the wait, the instance is cancelled and the reminder is skipped. Voiding an invoice or paying it in full cancels its active workflows and pending triggers.

Invoices in the customer portal

When invoicing is enabled, the customer portal gains an Invoices tab and a dedicated page at:

/portal/{customer-id}/invoices

The portal shows only invoices that have a stored PDF and are not cancelled, so drafts stay internal. Customers can download each invoice and, when a balance is due, use the Pay action to open the portal payment page (subject to the Customer Payments feature toggle and the configured payment methods).

The customer record's Invoices tab lists all of the customer's invoices for staff, including drafts and cancelled invoices, with links to open the invoice and, when a PDF exists, download it.

Invoice statuses

Invoices have their own seeded status list:

Status	Meaning
Draft	The invoice exists but has not been sent. It can still be edited until a PDF is generated.
Sent	The invoice has been emailed to the customer.
Paid	The amount paid has reached the invoice total.
Cancelled	The invoice has been voided.

Invoice statuses appear on their own tab under Settings > Statuses, separate from Customer and Lead statuses. The status determines the overdue badge and whether an invoice can still be sent.

Related guides

• Customer payments & balances — recording transactions against invoices.
• Customer Portal — how customers view and pay invoices.
• Workflow Automation — edit the due and overdue reminder workflows.
• Settings & Configuration — invoice settings and document types.