Sales

Correcting and canceling invoices

A finalized invoice can no longer be changed or deleted. You correct mistakes with a new document: a cancellation invoice reverses the whole invoice, an invoice correction changes only part of it. Folnaro links both to the original invoice and shows whether you still have to refund money to the customer.

What you can still do after finalizing

The editor then shows Finalized On and a note that the content can no longer be changed. Number, date, recipient, lines and amounts stay as they are. These actions remain available:

• send, send again or mark as sent
• record payments and refunds, send reminders and write off a receivable (see Payments, refunds and write-offs)
• save and print as PDF or XRechnung
• duplicate (⌘D), which creates a new draft
• convert to a delivery note or set up as a recurring invoice
• correct part of it with Document > Create Invoice Correction
• reverse it entirely with Document > Cancel Invoice…

Canceling and recording payments also work without an active subscription. Correcting a wrong invoice must always stay possible.

Mistakes in a draft

A draft has no number yet. Edit it freely or delete it with Edit > Delete Draft…. Deleting it leaves no gap in your invoice numbers. Time billed on the draft is open again afterwards. To delete several drafts, use Delete Drafts… in the list’s context menu.

A document with the status Waiting for Number is already prepared. Document > Withdraw turns it back into an editable draft.

Cancellation or correction

Cancel an invoice

If an invoice is wrong as a whole, cancel it.

1. Select the invoice and choose Document > Cancel Invoice….
2. Under Reason (internal), note briefly why, for example “wrong service period”. The reason goes into the history, not onto the document.
3. Leave Then create a corrected copy as a draft on if you want to write the right invoice straight away. Turn it off if you only want to cancel.
4. Click Cancel and Correct or Cancel Invoice.

Folnaro creates a finalized cancellation invoice with its own number that reverses all amounts. It shows negative quantities and amounts with a real minus sign, and its total reads Cancellation amount. The original invoice keeps its number and is marked Canceled. Both stay in your books. Folnaro then opens the corrected copy, or the cancellation invoice when there is no copy. The copy gets a new number when you finalize it.

If the invoice was already paid, the dialog says so. The payments stay recorded; you refund the amount through the settlement.

Write an invoice correction

If only part is wrong, write an invoice correction for the amount by which the invoice changes. The easiest way is from the invoice itself:

1. Select the finalized invoice and choose Document > Create Invoice Correction.
2. Folnaro creates a draft for the same customer with the invoice’s lines as negative quantities. In the inspector, Corrected Invoice shows the original invoice.
3. Keep only the lines that change. Adjust their quantities. Enter quantities as negative figures, as the correction prints them, for example −2 hours.
4. Finalize the correction like an invoice and send it.

Without a source invoice, create a correction with File > New > Invoice Correction and choose the invoice in the inspector under Corrected Invoice.

The PDF is titled “Invoice correction”. Lines, VAT and total are negative, and the total reads Amount in your favor. In the editor it is the Correction amount. Lists show the amount negative like a cancellation, because it lowers revenue. Under Folnaro > Settings… > Number Ranges, Own number range for invoice corrections gives corrections their own sequence; otherwise they share the invoice numbers.

A wrong invoice correction is in turn canceled with a cancellation invoice. A cancellation invoice itself can’t be changed any further.

What Folnaro checks when you finalize

• An invoice correction with a positive total can’t be finalized. It would raise revenue. Anything extra goes on a new invoice.
• If a correction or cancellation refers to no invoice, Folnaro warns and names both ways to set the reference.
• If a correction goes to a different customer than the corrected invoice, Folnaro warns with the invoice’s number.
• The e-invoice of a correction stays valid under EN 16931. If the customer asked for an XRechnung, the correction gets one too (see E-invoices: XRechnung and ZUGFeRD).

Send cancellations and corrections

Send a finalized cancellation invoice or invoice correction like an invoice with Document > Send…, or mark it with Mark as Sent. The email starts from your own text for cancellation invoices or invoice corrections and names the invoice it is about. You adjust the texts under Folnaro > Settings… > Email Templates (see Sending documents by email).

Settle with the customer

A cancellation or correction gives the customer money back on paper. Whether money actually has to move depends on what the customer already paid for the original invoice. In the inspector, the Settlement section shows the amount In the customer’s favor, every refund and offset, and what is Still to refund.

• Refund: if the customer already paid more than they owe after the correction, transfer the rest back. Then click Record Refund…, enter amount, date and method, and click Record Refund. Until then the document has the status Refund due.
• Offset: if the corrected invoice is still open, the correction simply lowers the open claim. Folnaro offsets it on its own when you finalize the correction. If money arrives on the invoice later, the section offers Offset Against ….
• Settled: when nothing is left, the section shows Settled, for example for the cancellation of an invoice nobody paid.

A refund reduces income and VAT in the period the money goes back. More under Payments, refunds and write-offs.

Follow the trail

In the inspector, Related Documents shows each invoice’s Source and everything Created from this document, such as the cancellation invoice, the correction or the corrected copy. Every change, every send and the reason of a cancellation go into the document’s history.

Canceling by agents

A connected agent may only cancel finalized invoices if you allow Cancel documents under Folnaro > Settings… > Agents. It is separate from writing, because a cancellation cannot be undone. See Connecting agents through MCP.

Common problems

I can’t edit or delete a finalized invoice.

That is intended; the GoBD require it. Cancel it or write an invoice correction.

The invoice correction can’t be finalized because it would raise revenue.

The quantities are positive. Enter them as negative figures, for example −2 hours. To charge more, write a new invoice.

Create Invoice Correction is dimmed.

The invoice is still a draft or already canceled. Edit a draft directly. For a canceled invoice, correct the new invoice written after it.

After canceling, the status is Refund due.

The customer had already paid. Transfer the amount back and record the refund in the Settlement section.

An agent can’t cancel.

The Cancel documents permission is off. Turn it on under Folnaro > Settings… > Agents if you want that.