Summary
Description
In this article, we explain how to match payments, receipts or credit notes that you have already entered in Accounting but not yet used to pay or part pay an invoice or credit note.
Do this so:
- You can see which invoices still need to be paid
- The outstanding balance for each customer or supplier contact is accurate
- The invoice doesn't appear on customer statements
How it works
Once matched:
- The invoice is marked as paid or part-paid and the outstanding amount is updated
- The balance of the customer or supplier account updated
- If you use VAT Cash Accounting VAT scheme, the value is recorded on your next VAT return
Use the Unallocated Receipts or Payments report to easily identify sales receipts and purchase payments that aren’t allocated to a specific sales or purchase invoice.
If you’ve already allocated a transaction and you need to remove the allocation, for example, you allocated a credit note to the wrong invoice, you can unallocate it
Resolution
Match a single payment on account or a credit note
Match multiple payments or credit notes
Part pay transactions
This is where you only use part of the value of payment on account or credit note or part-pay an invoice.
- From Contacts, open the relevant customer or supplier.
- From the Manage drop-down, choose Account Allocation.
- Choose
next to the transaction you want to part-pay. - Enter the value in the Amount to pay section and select Apply.
For payments on account, enter this as a negative value. - Make sure the Left to Allocate box at the bottom is 0.00.
- Click Save.
Troubleshooting
Check your allocations
Check which payments, receipts, and credit notes have been allocated to invoices.
- Open the invoice credit note from the relevant list or from the Activity section for the relevant customer or supplier.
- Select the payment link under the Amount Paid value. This opens the Payments and Allocations option.
- From here you can see all the payment links related to the invoice or credit note. Select the link in the Amount column to see the details.
Error - There is a mismatch between the net and VAT element of allocated items
If you use the VAT Cash Accounting Scheme and you try to allocate invoices and standalone credit notes which have different VAT rates, the following message appears.
On this scheme, the VAT calculated on invoices is placed in a VAT holding nominal ledger account until you record a receipt or payment. Once you record the receipt or payment against the invoice, the VAT moves to either the VAT on sales or VAT on purchases nominal ledger account and is then included on a VAT Return.
If no payment is received and instead you create an invoice and then issue a credit note, this removes the value in this account meaning no VAT is due. If the credit note has a different VAT rate, a value remains in the holding account.
An example
You issue an invoice for £100 plus VAT at the standard rate of £20. The customer pays the invoice and the receipt appears on your VAT Return. The customer then returns the items because they were faulty, for which you issue a credit note. The credit note leaves a debit balance of £20 in the VAT on the sales holding account.
They then place a further order for you for £120 with a mixture of different VAT rates:
£90 at the standard rate
£10 at the lower rate
£1.50 which is exempt from VAT
Total VAT £18.50
If you allocate the credit note and the new invoice, this leaves an outstanding debit of £1.50 in the VAT on the sales holding account. As credit notes aren’t included on VAT Returns in this scheme, it means you overpaid VAT when the original receipt was included on the return.
To resolve this, do one of the following:
- Click No. Issue a refund for the credit note and record the invoice as paid. The refund and payment are included on the VAT Return ensuring the difference is included. Your bank balance doesn’t change as the refund and receipt are for the same value and cancel each other out
- Unallocate the original receipt and invoice. You can then allocate the credit note to the original invoice and the receipt becomes a payment on account which you can allocate to the new invoice
- Manually journal the VAT mismatch from the VAT holding account to the VAT on the sales account. In this example you would post the following journal:
| Ledger Account* | Debit | Credit | Include on VAT Return? |
| VAT on Sales – Holding Account (2205) | 0.00 | 1.50 | No |
| VAT on Sales (2200) | 1.50 | 0.00 | Yes |
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