Record customer payments
Customer Collections is where you record money received from customers and apply it to what they owe. Record a payment into your bank account, allocate it across multiple invoices in one step, and handle advances, unallocated amounts, and foreign currency.
Before you start
- Set up your bank accounts in Settings so payments can be recorded against them. See Configure financial settings.
- Have the customer's open invoices ready if you plan to allocate immediately. See Invoice your customers.
Record a customer payment
- Go to Sales > Customer Collections.
- Record a new customer payment, entering the amount received.
- Record the payment into your bank account. For foreign currency payments, enter the currency details — the exchange rate is recorded on the document.
- Allocate the payment across multiple invoices in the same step, or leave part of it unallocated.
- Save the payment.
You can also start from an invoice: use Record payment on the invoice and the payment screen opens pre-filled with the invoice details.
Handle advances and unallocated amounts
- Money received that is not yet tied to a specific invoice can be recorded as an advance payment or left as an unallocated amount.
- You can allocate an unallocated balance later from the payment detail screen.
- Every payment carries a derived allocation state — Fully allocated, Awaiting allocation, or Overpaid (the payment's remaining balance exceeds everything the customer currently owes) — and you can filter the collections list by allocation state, so overpaid payments are easy to spot and unwind.
Work from the payment detail screen
- Go to Sales > Customer Collections and open the payment.
- Use the available actions:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Allocate | Apply the payment (or its unallocated balance) to open invoices |
| Reverse allocations | Undo an allocation if it was applied incorrectly |
| Void | Void the payment |
| Payment PDF | Generate a payment receipt PDF |
A recorded collection and the invoices it settles.
Tips
- Record every receipt, even advances — an unallocated balance can always be applied to invoices later.
- Made a wrong allocation? Reverse allocations on the payment detail screen and redo it — no need to void the whole payment.
- Use the aging report to decide which customers to chase before their invoices go further overdue. See Track outstanding and aging.