Skimmer Billing - Elements of an Invoice

To learn how to identify and utilize the elements of an invoice generated with Skimmer Billing, see the video below. Or, if you prefer, scroll past the video to view our step-by-step text instructions.

Step-by-step instructions . . .

1

Here’s a tour of the elements of an invoice in Skimmer Billing, what each part means, and what you can do with it. To view an invoice, on the website go to Billing, then Invoices. We give a tour of these larger screens in another video, but for now we’re going to go click Details for this outstanding invoice.

2

At the top of the screen, you’ll see the number for this particular invoice, which was just the next number available in the sequence. We cover how you can customize the starting numbers, if you want to, in another video.

Next to the number is Invoice Status, which you can see is currently Sent. There are several status you may see here, depending on where the invoice is in the billing process. Available statuses are Draft, Sent, Partial Paid, Paid, Overdue, and Voided.

Amount Due, at the top right of the invoice, is the current balance owed. It shows what’s left to be paid for this invoice.

Invoice Date defaults to the date when you created this invoice, but that date is customizable. For instance, if you created an invoice today but want it to show as being created tomorrow, this date can be changed.

Due Date is when the invoice is due to be paid. We show you how to set a default due date in another video, so you don’t have to manually choose a due date every time.

3

Next, you see the customer’s name and billing address. Below that is the location address, which is where the service actually occurred. If there’s more than one location associated with customer, any location that received service within the billing period will appear here, with the goods and services they’re being billed for listed below each address.

On the same line as the service location address, you’ll see the tax rate. The number you see is actually a Tax Group combined rate. You’ll see this indicated for each location because in some areas, different addresses may be subject to different tax codes. We show you how to set up and assign tax groups to locations in another video. If you haven’t chosen a tax group for a location, it’ll just say 0%.

4

Next, you see the Invoice Line Items. These are what’s being billed for, including weekly service, work orders, installed items, chemical dosages, every billable sale or action completed by a tech in the field using the Skimmer app. You can also manually add a free-form line item for anything else. For each, you can have an item name, description, quantity, rate, taxable status, and total amount.

Note that the Amount does not yet include applied tax. It’s the base amount before taxes are applied. To see the total taxes calculated, scroll to the bottom of the invoice and look between the subtotal and total.

5

In another video, we show you how to set up a default invoice message, which will accompany the invoice when it’s sent to your customer. If you want to change the message on this specific invoice, you can edit the message before it’s sent. Editing the message here will not affect the default.

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Subtotal is the aggregation of all the amounts from each line item. Next, you’ll see what we referenced before, the Tax line and any taxes calculated. Finally, you have the Total, which is the combination of the two.

If a payment has been made toward this invoice, there will be another line after Total, called Payments, which shows how much has been paid. Following that, you’ll once again see the current amount due.

7

You can do more than just view information from this invoice. There are actions you can take as well.

You can email the invoice again.

You can edit the invoice. Note how clicking the Edit button opens the invoice date and due date, the message, and the elements of each line item, so you can change if them if you need to.

Click More and a dropdown box reveals more actions. Mark as Sent, Preview (which shows what it will look like to the customer), Print, Void, and Delete.

8

We also have two boxes on the right side. The Payments box allows you to manually add a payment to this invoice right from here. Click Add, enter the amount, and adjust the date and payment method as needed. Note that it says Add Payment for Invoice #, so you know exactly which invoice you’re applying this payment for. You can also add a note if you’d like to include something like a check number. When you click Add Payment, details of the payment are now in the box. You can also look at the invoice, between Total and Amount Due, and see that a Payments line has appeared. There we see the amount paid and a new total amount due. If there was an error in adding this payment, you can always go back and edit, delete, or process a refund.

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Outstanding Customer Invoices shows you any other outstanding invoice for this particular customer. For any invoice appearing here, the invoice numbers are hyperlinked, so you can jump right over to view those invoices if you want to. This box will also show the status of those invoices.

So, that’s an overview of the elements of an invoice generated by Skimmer Billing.