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Invoicing and payments

Make invoices from the time your team logged, or from fees you type in. Firmdesk adds the sales tax for the client's province and keeps track of what each client has paid and still owes.

Invoice a client's unbilled time

  1. Go to Time › Unbilled and click Invoice beside the client, or click Invoice unbilled time on the client's Time and billing tab.
  2. Set the Invoice date, and Include time up to: later time stays unbilled.
  3. Under Lines, choose One line per engagement, One line per time entry or One line for all of it.
  4. Click Draft the invoice, then check the draft that opens.

Time from someone with no billing rate adds nothing, so type those amounts in. A spouse's or dependant's time goes on the invoice of the household's main client.

The time is billed and locked as soon as the draft is made. Voiding or deleting the invoice unbills it.

Make an invoice from scratch

  1. Click New invoice on Billing or on the client's page.
  2. Choose the Client. Invoice # and Date are filled in for you.
  3. Under Fees, give each line a Description, and an Amount or Hours / qty and a Rate. A negative amount is a discount. Add lines gives you more rows.
  4. Choose each line's Service, so the Billing overview can report revenue by service.
  5. Click Save. The invoice is saved as a draft.

Sales tax

A new invoice's Sales tax follows the client's Jurisdiction:

  • Ontario: HST 13%. Nova Scotia: HST 14%. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and PEI: HST 15%.
  • The other provinces and the territories: GST 5%.
  • Québec: GST 5% and QST 9.975% when you've entered a QST number in the invoice settings, otherwise GST 5%.
  • No jurisdiction, or "Federal": the firm's own province.

You can change it on any invoice, for example to No tax (e.g. a client outside Canada).

Send it

When the draft is right, click Mark sent. This doesn't email anything: to send the client a copy, use More actions (⋯) › Print or save as PDF. Drafts carry a Draft stamp, so mark it sent first.

A sent invoice counts as billed and can take payments. If Invoices is on under Settings › Portal, the client's contacts see it in their portal; they never see drafts or void invoices. If you edit a sent invoice, send the client the new version.

Due dates

Leave Due empty and the invoice follows Payment terms (days) in the invoice settings, where 0 means due when issued. A sent invoice still owing after its due date shows as Overdue.

Record a payment

  1. On a sent invoice, click Record payment. The Amount starts at what's left to pay.
  2. Check the Amount, Received on and Method, and add a Reference such as the cheque number.
  3. Click Record payment. The invoice then shows Partly paid or Paid.

Money that isn't for an invoice yet can be recorded from Billing › Payments, with Invoice left on Not for an invoice (yet). Edit the payment later to link it.

Void or delete an invoice

Both are under More actions (⋯) on the invoice's page.

  • Void, for a sent invoice: it stays in your records, stamped Void, and can't change.
  • Delete removes the invoice, draft or not. This can't be undone.

Either way, its time is unbilled again, and its payments stay with the client, off the invoice.

The Billing overview

Billing › Overview shows a year, or all years, for all clients, businesses or individuals: fees billed on sent invoices (before tax), payments received, what's owed now and unbilled time. Below come By client type, By service, the invoices Waiting for payment, and each client's figures.

Invoice settings

Owners and admins set these under Settings › Invoices:

  • Name on invoices: left empty, the workspace's name.
  • GST/HST number and QST number, printed on every invoice.
  • Payment terms (days), for due dates.
  • Next invoice number: left empty, one more than the highest so far, starting at 1001. Numbers can't repeat.
  • Invoice notes, printed at the foot of every invoice. {number} becomes the invoice number.

The logo, address and contact info on invoices are the defaults under Logos, Addresses and Contact info.

Good to know

  • Billing is for managers and up: people titled Manager or Partner, and admins and owners. Others don't see Billing or a client's invoices.
  • Invoiced a client outside Firmdesk? Use Mark billed on Time › Unbilled instead. Recently billed can undo it.