Sales and Purchase Invoices
Invoices are both operational documents and accounting documents. Create them from their source documents whenever possible so quantities, rates, taxes and traceability remain connected.
Source document comparison
| Invoice | Preferred source | Direct creation |
|---|---|---|
| Sales Invoice | Delivery Note or Sales Order | Supported |
| Purchase Invoice | Goods Received Note or Purchase Order | Supported |
Confirm whether stock already moved through Delivery Note or GRN. Creating an invoice does not replace the physical stock workflow.
Sales Invoice
Sales Invoice
Go to: Financials → Sales Invoice
Choose the source
Click Create Sales Invoice. Select a Delivery Note or Sales Order when invoicing existing work, or continue with a direct invoice.
Complete basic information
Select Customer, dates, currency and exchange rate. Leave Document Number empty when automatic numbering is used.
Review items and accounting
Confirm item, unit, quantity, price, income account, Cost Center, Project, warehouse/batch information where shown and line totals. For a batch-tracked item you can split one line’s quantity across multiple batches using its batch allocation control. Use Import CSV / Export CSV on the item table toolbar, or the item search box, to bulk-manage rows on invoices with many lines.
Add taxes, charges and discount
Select each rule and its account. Review whether discount is percentage or amount and whether it applies before or after tax.
Review the remaining tabs
Confirm addresses, accounting, payment, bank details, terms, transport, source documents, associations and attachments as applicable.
Save, assign and approve
Save Draft, assign the invoice if required, then use the approval action. Approval moves the invoice to its unpaid state and posts the accounting entries.
Sales Invoice fields
| Section | Important fields |
|---|---|
| Basic Information | Customer, Invoice Date, Due Date, Document Number, Currency, Exchange Rate |
| Items | Item, Custom Code, Unit, Conversion Factor, Quantity, Rate, Amount, account and dimensions |
| Taxes | Tax, Rate, Amount, Tax Account |
| Charges | Charge, Rate, Amount, Charge Account |
| Discount & Summary | Discount Type, Discount %, Discount Amount, totals |
| Payment | Payment terms, advances, outstanding and settlement details |
| Accounting | Receivable/income accounts, Cost Center and Project |
| Other tabs | Addresses, bank, terms, transport, source and child documents, associations |
Sales Invoice statuses
| Status | User meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Editable and not posted |
| Unpaid | Approved, posted and fully outstanding |
| Partially Paid | Some amount has been allocated |
| Paid | Outstanding amount is settled |
| Overdue | Outstanding after Due Date |
| Credit Note Issued | A return/credit note has been issued against it |
| Return | This document reverses all or part of an earlier invoice |
| Cancelled | Cancelled according to permitted document rules |
Accounting effect
An approved Sales Invoice normally debits the customer receivable and credits income, tax and charge accounts according to the document rows. Payment Entry later reduces the receivable and moves value into Cash or Bank.
Return and credit note
Use the invoice’s return action so ERPX links the new document through Return Against. Review negative quantities and amounts, currency, tax and accounts. The return cannot exceed the original invoice quantity. Approving the credit note requires its linked Delivery Note return to already be approved — “Approve delivery note [number] before approving this credit note — it was created to reverse the delivered stock and still needs to be approved.”
Withholding Tax (WHT/TDS/PAYE)
Use the invoice’s WHT/TDS/PAYE card to record the tax that will be withheld when a customer pays you or when you pay a supplier. Configure a rule with Tax Type: Withholding Tax in Tax and Charges first. The invoice calculates withholding from its Grand Total, but keeps the full Grand Total outstanding until payment.
Add withholding to the invoice
On a Sales or Purchase Invoice, enable Include Withholding Tax. In the WHT/TDS/PAYE card, click Add Withholding Tax, select the rule in Type and check Rate % and the calculated Amount. Use one row per invoice. Save and approve the invoice as usual.
Settle the invoice in Payment Entry
Create a Payment Entry for the same party: Pay for a Purchase Invoice or Receive for a Sales Invoice. Enter the actual bank Paid Amount, then select the invoice in Reference Vouchers. Set Allocated to the invoice’s full outstanding amount when closing it. The Applied WHT column fills with the remaining invoice withholding and Advance Tax (Withholding) creates the matching deduction row. Check its tax type, amount and account before saving and approving.
Check the result
The payment’s Settlement Amount Capacity should equal the amount allocated to the invoice: bank amount plus withholding deduction, assuming there are no other adjustments. The invoice should then show Paid.
The withholding row on the invoice does not reduce its Grand Total, post to the ledger, or print on the invoice PDF. The withholding account is used when the matching Payment Entry is approved.
Example: pay a supplier invoice with 5% withholding
Assume a Purchase Invoice has a Grand Total of 1,000.00, with no other taxes, charges, or discounts. Select a 5% withholding rule on the invoice. Its WHT/TDS/PAYE Amount is 50.00 (1,000.00 × 5%), while the approved invoice still has 1,000.00 outstanding.
Create a Pay Payment Entry for that supplier in the same currency. Enter 950.00 as the bank Paid Amount. Select the Purchase Invoice and enter 1,000.00 in Allocated to close it. Confirm Applied WHT: 50.00 on the reference and the matching 50.00 Deduct row under Advance Tax (Withholding). Choose the Withholding Tax Payable account if it was not filled automatically. The Settlement Amount Capacity is 1,000.00:
| Part of settlement | Amount |
|---|---|
| Bank payment | 950.00 |
| Withholding tax deduction | 50.00 |
| Invoice allocation | 1,000.00 |
Save and approve the Payment Entry. The supplier invoice becomes Paid; the bank payment is 950.00 and 50.00 is recorded in the selected withholding payable account. For a Sales Invoice where the customer withholds tax, use a Receive Payment Entry and select a Withholding Tax Receivable account instead.
Apply the invoice’s remaining withholding in full only on the Payment Entry that closes its full remaining outstanding balance. An earlier partial payment can be allocated without withholding, up to the outstanding amount less the remaining withholding. Do not write off the withheld amount or allocate only the bank amount when closing the invoice.
A withholding type belongs in the dedicated invoice card, not the regular Taxes table. A draft Payment Entry that reserves an invoice’s withholding must be updated or deleted before changing that withholding on the invoice. Once the withholding has been paid, its type and rate cannot be changed or removed.
| Rule | Message |
|---|---|
| More than one withholding row | “Exactly one withholding tax is required when WHT/TDS is included” |
| Rate is 0 or over 100 | “Each withholding tax must have a rate greater than zero and not more than 100” |
| A withholding type added to the regular Taxes table | “Withholding tax ‘[type]’ must be added in the Withholding Tax section” |
| Editing a paid withholding row | “A paid withholding tax type or rate cannot be changed” |
| Removing a paid withholding row | “A paid withholding tax cannot be removed” |
Withholding rows are excluded from the Sales Tax Report and Purchase Tax Report.
Create Tax Entry
Once an invoice has at least one tax row with a rate or amount greater than zero, use Create → Tax Entry on the invoice to open a Journal Entry pre-filled as a tax entry for that document, instead of building the journal entry from scratch.
Budget checks
Purchase Invoices can be checked against an active Project or Cost Center Budget. A Block Transaction budget stops the action; Warn Only requires confirmation; No Enforcement records utilization without blocking.
Payment and investigation
- Create or review settlement in Payment.
- Use Create → Tax Entry on the invoice to post its tax directly to a Journal Entry.
- Trace source and downstream documents in Transaction Chain.
- Review unpaid and aging balances in Ledger Reports.
- Open the invoice’s Accounting Ledger action to see its exact posting.
Related pages
- Tax and Charges — configure the tax and charge rules invoices use
- Budgets — how Purchase Invoice budget checks behave
- Payment — record and allocate payment against an invoice
- Basic Reports — Sales/Purchase registers and invoice analysis