Credit notes
The Credit notes page is where you correct an invoice you already sent, or issue a standalone refund. A credit note is legally an invoice in its own right: once issued it is delivered to the client and archived the same way an invoice is, and it can no longer be edited.
Two kinds of credit note
- Linked - corrects a specific invoice. Set Invoice, then pick the Corrected lines: the rows on that invoice this credit note credits. Amount, currency and the rendered PDF all come from the invoice's own selected rows, priced with the invoice's own per-line discount, so you never re-type figures.
- Free - no invoice to correct (an overpayment refund, a commercial gesture). Leave Invoice empty and fill in your own Lines instead, plus a Reason explaining the deduction.
A linked credit note's Currency always matches the invoice it corrects and isn't editable independently. A free credit note has no client of its own (the type carries no client field), so it is archived but not delivered to anyone; deliver it yourself if the client needs a copy.
Actions
- Add New - start a free credit note
- Issue credit note - from an invoice's own action menu, starts a linked credit note pre-filled with that invoice
- Search - find a credit note by its number or client name
- Filter - toggle the status chips: Draft, Sending, Sent, Send failed
- View (eye icon) - read-only details
- Download - PDF, and once numbered, the same normalized XML formats as an invoice
- Send - issue the credit note: it is delivered on the invoice's own channel (email or e-invoicing) and archived. There is no separate "edit after issued" action; a mistake here is fixed with a further credit note
Delivery
A linked credit note is delivered exactly the way the invoice it corrects would be delivered to the same client: by email with its own PDF attached, or through the connected e-invoicing channel (PDP, SdI, Chorus Pro, and so on), evaluated against the credit note's own issue date rather than the invoice's. On an e-invoicing channel it is built in that channel's own credit-note form (for example Factur-X 381, FatturaPA TD04) and names the invoice it corrects.
Some channels cannot carry a credit note at all. KSeF and Invopop are two examples today, since Poland's tax law gives a seller-issued reduction no instrument of its own (see Poland). Sending is refused before a number is spent, naming the channel, rather than issuing a credit note nobody can deliver.
Archiving
Once sent, a credit note gets its own Legal archive card, exactly like a sent invoice: the exact PDF the client received (or, on a structured channel, the file actually deposited), kept for as long as your country's retention rule requires. See Backups for how archives are stored and restored. A credit note issued before this existed keeps none; its download still renders fresh, since it was never delivered through this mechanism.
When a credit note is refused
Before any number is spent, a credit note is refused rather than issued half-way when:
| Situation | What you see |
|---|---|
| The invoice's channel has no lawful way to carry a credit note (for example a French domestic credit note by email after the e-invoicing mandate date) | Refused, naming the channel and the reason |
| The invoice you're correcting has no number of its own | Refused: nothing to correct yet |
| Your country gives sellers no credit-note instrument at all (Poland) | Refused: use a corrective invoice instead |
| A linked credit note has no corrected lines selected, or a free one has no lines | Refused: nothing to credit |
Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Created, not yet sent. Editable |
| Sending | Send in progress |
| Sent | Delivered (or, for a free credit note, archived). Also when it is settled against the invoice's own balance |
| Send failed | The last delivery attempt failed |
First use
With no credit notes yet, the page shows "No credit notes yet" and an Add New button. To correct an existing invoice, use Issue credit note from that invoice instead of starting here.