Invoicing

The following document discusses working with invoices. If you are looking for documentation regarding configuration of invoice related settings, please visit Invoicing Setup.

Searching Invoices

There are a number of ways to search for and locate invoices.

You can search by Invoice Number using the Intelligent Search from any page of the admin area
For more advanced search options, including searching by line item descriptions, you must use the Invoices List
- There is the global Invoices List that lists invoices for all clients which can be accessed by navigating to Billing > Invoices (selecting a status is optional)
- There is also the clients' Invoices List which is restricted to just a single clients invoices. This can be accessed via the Invoices tab from the Clients Summary page.

Creating Custom Invoices

WHMCS automatically generates invoices for recurring products and services.

To create a one-off custom invoice, follow the steps below:

Navigate to the client you wish to generate an invoice for
Click the Create Invoice link located in the Invoices/Billing panel on the Client Summary page
A new invoice will be created in Draft status
The due date for manually created invoices defaults to the same number of days in the future as you allow for automatic invoice generation. The due date can be customised via the Options tab when managing an invoice.
You can immediately begin adding line items to the invoice
For each one you wish to add, enter a description and amount, followed by the Save Changes button. A new row will then appear to allow adding further line items.
If you wish to customise any of the invoice options including due dates, payment method, tax rates, etc..., you can do so via the Options tab located at the top of the invoice

You can navigate away from the invoice at any time during this process and return to it later. WHMCS will store the invoice as a draft and it will not be visible to the customer until you have marked it as complete and published it. (WHMCS 6.2+)

Publishing an Invoice

To publish an invoice, click the Publish button located to the top right of the invoice creation screen. Two publish options are available:

Publish & Send Email - clicking this button converts the invoice to Unpaid and sends the Invoice Creation email to the customer.
Publish - clicking this button converts the invoice to Unpaid without notifying the customer.

Please Note: The publish buttons will only be displayed when the invoice is in Draft status.

Sending Emails

WHMCS has a range of Invoice related Email Templates which are all fully customisable.

Most of these emails are sent when various automated triggers occur, but all of them can also be sent on-demand by admin level users.

To send an email:

Navigate to the invoice you wish to send an email for
Select the email template you wish to send in the dropdown located under the invoice status banner
Click Send Email to perform the send

Please Note: The system will not allow you to send emails relating to an invoice that is in Draft status. You must first publish the draft invoice before sending an email.

Mass Payment

Mass Payment of Invoices allows customers to pay for multiple invoices in a single transaction.

This is often quicker and more convenient for customers with multiple invoices outstanding, plus it can reduce your transaction costs by only processing a single transaction.

Clients can request to perform Mass Payment via the client area providing it is enabled.

Admin users can also create Mass Payment invoices:

Navigate to the Clients Invoices list within the admin area (accessible from the Client Summary page)
Tick the checkboxes next to the invoices you wish to combine for payment
Click the Mass Pay button located at the bottom of the list of invoices

Mass Payment is different from Merging invoices. With Mass Pay, the separate invoices are maintained, and when the Combined invoice is paid, the original invoices are marked paid by way of credit being applied. Merging invoices on the other hand will actually combine all the individual invoice line items into a single invoice, deleting all but one of the merged invoices.

Mass Payment invoices that are generated do not count towards the total balance due by a customer and are not displayed within the client area.

Adding Funds

Adding of funds or credit to an account allows a client to prefund their account ahead of time.

When this option is enabled, clients can deposit funds into their account between a minimum and maximum amount that you define. These funds are known as the clients Credit Balance.

Automatically generated invoices will always check to see if a client has a positive Credit Balance and auto apply money from the credit to the invoices when generated. If sufficient, the Credit Balance will zero the balance on the invoice and result in it being processed as paid automatically without the customer having to do anything.

Admin users can create add funds invoices:

Navigate to the Client Summary page for the client in question
Click the Create Add Funds Invoice option found under the Billing/Invoices section
Enter the desired amount to be deposit to the account where requested
Click Submit to complete the process and create the invoice

The customer will receive an email that an invoice has been generated along with a link to pay.

This feature should be used any time you want to charge a customer and add the amount immediately to their credit balance to allow it to be applied to future or current invoices.

Splitting Invoices

Splitting invoices allows you to separate one or more line items from an invoice into a separate invoice.

This is useful if you have a situation where items have been grouped together on a single invoice that a client wants to renew separately, or where a merge has been done incorrectly.

To split items from an invoice:

Navigate to the invoice you wish to split items from
Tick the checkboxes next to all the line items that you wish to split out into a new invoice
Note: All the line items you select here will be moved to a single new invoice.
Select the Split to New Invoice option in the dropdown located immediately below the invoice line items
The form will auto submit and the page will re-load with the new invoice containing only the line items you had selected

This process does not send any email to the customer. If you wish, you should then use the Send Email option to notify the customer of the new invoice.

Merging Invoices

Merging invoices allows you to combine multiple separate invoices into a single invoice.

This is useful for when a client would like to pay for items that were invoiced separately together at the same time.

To merge invoices, follow the steps below:

Navigate to the Clients Invoices list within the admin area (accessible from the Client Summary page)
Tick the checkboxes next to the invoices you wish to combine for payment
Click the Merge button located at the bottom of the list of invoices

No email notification is sent to customers when performing this action so if you wish to notify the customer, you should use the Send Email option in the resulting invoice.

Refunding Transactions

Refunding transactions allows you to issue credits & refunds for payments made.

There are 3 options for refunding payments:

Refund through Gateway - Many payment gateways in WHMCS support automatic refund capability, meaning WHMCS communicates with the payment gateway and instructs the refund amount you request to be processed by the payment gateway. This will return the money to the payment method the customer originally paid via.

Manual Refund Processed Externally - This option exists to allow you to record refunds against invoices when the refund has been processed outside of the system. For example you may use this if you process a refund directly within your payment gateway or a chargeback/dispute occurs.

Add to Client's Credit Balance - This allows you to refund money to the Clients Credit Balance for use towards future invoices.

To perform a refund, follow these steps:

Navigate to the invoice you wish to perform a refund for
Select the Refund tab
If multiple transactions have been made for the invoice, select the transaction you wish to issue a refund against.
Only one transactions can be refunded at a time and the refund amount cannot exceed the total amount of the transaction.
Enter the amount to be refunded if a partial amount, otherwise leave blank to refund the entire transaction value
Choose the appropriate Refund Type (see above for details)
If you do not wish to send an email confirming the refund has been processed, uncheck the Send Email tickbox
Click the Refund button to perform the refund

The page will re-load and display the results of the refund attempt in the case of choosing to Refund through Gateway. Should it fail for any reason, the Gateway Log will help you diagnose why.

Even if a refund cannot be automated for your particular gateway, you can still use this process to enter the refund billing entry into WHMCS which will update the income totals and reflect the refund on the invoice. Then you would go to your gateway and actually send the refund from there.