Payments

Payments record money a customer has sent you. You record the payment against the customer, then allocate it to one or more of their invoices. The allocation is what updates each invoice’s paid amount, balance due and status.

Key concepts#

• Payment: a record that money arrived from a customer, for example a bank transfer. Recording a payment in UnitX doesn’t charge a card or move money.
• Allocation: part or all of a payment applied to one invoice. One payment can be split across several invoices.
• Refund: marks the whole payment as refunded. Its allocations stop counting towards any invoice.

Who can use it#

Record a payment#

1. Open the Payments tab

   Go to CommercePayments. The form is below the list of payments.

2. Choose the customer and amount

   Pick the Customer who paid and enter the Amount as a decimal, such as 500.00. The amount must be greater than zero.

3. Select Record payment

   The payment appears in the list with the status Succeeded, dated today, in US dollars. It isn’t applied to any invoice yet.

Allocate a payment to an invoice#

1. Select Allocate to invoice

   The button is on each payment with the status Succeeded. It opens the Allocate payment dialog.

2. Pick the invoice

   Invoice lists every invoice with a balance still due, shown as INV-1042 · $3,000.00 due. If none do, the dialog says No invoices have an outstanding balance to allocate against.

3. Enter the amount to apply

   Type how much of this payment goes to the invoice in Amount to apply, then select Allocate.

4. Repeat to split the payment

   To spread one payment across several invoices, allocate again for each invoice until the whole payment is used.

Allocation rules#

• The invoice must be open, partially paid or overdue. Draft invoices are listed in the dialog but are refused, so issue them first.
• You can’t apply more than the invoice’s remaining balance.
• All allocations from one payment together can’t add up to more than the payment amount.
• You can only allocate a payment that hasn’t been refunded.
• Allocations can’t be edited or removed afterwards.

Worked example#

AnyDay sends a single transfer of $5,000.00 to cover two invoices: INV-1041 for $3,000.00 and INV-1042 for $4,500.00.

1. Record a payment of 5000.00 for AnyDay.
2. Allocate 3000.00 to INV-1041. It becomes paid.
3. Allocate 2000.00 to INV-1042. It becomes partially paid with $2,500.00 due.

Refund a payment#

Select Refund on a Succeeded payment. It takes effect immediately, with no confirmation step.

• The payment’s status changes to Refunded, and it can’t be allocated or refunded again.
• Refunds always cover the full payment. To give back only part, refund the payment and record a new one for the amount you kept.
• Allocations aren’t deleted, but they stop counting. Every invoice the payment was applied to is recalculated, so a paid invoice can go back to partially paid or open.
• A refund in UnitX is a record, so return the money itself through your bank or payment provider.

Limitations#

• The payment list shows each payment’s amount and status only. It doesn’t show the customer, the payment date or how much is still unallocated, so note these down when a payment is split.
• The form has no fields for payment method, date, currency or a reference such as a bank transaction ID. An integration can supply them through the API, and can also apply a payment to an invoice in the same step it is recorded.
• Payments can’t be edited or deleted.

Related#

• Invoices
• Ledger
• Roles and permissions