When a customer pays what they owe, record a receipt and say which invoices the money settles. Auto-allocate does this for you: it pays the oldest invoice first, then the next oldest, until the money runs out.
Before you start
- You need the Payment receipt permission.
- The customer's unpaid invoices must be saved. Cash sales are already paid and do not appear.
Steps
- Go to Sales → Receipts and press New.
- Choose the customer. Their unpaid invoices are listed, oldest due first.
- Enter the payment under Tender (how much, and by cash, card, transfer…).
- The amount is shared out automatically: the oldest invoice is paid in full first, then the next, and so on. The last invoice it reaches may be part paid.
- Check the Allocation column, then press Save.
Tips
- "Oldest" means the invoice whose due date is earliest; an invoice without a due date counts from its invoice date. Two invoices due on the same day are paid in invoice-number order.
- To pay a particular invoice instead, type the amount in its row or tick it. Auto-allocate then leaves your choice alone. Press Auto-allocate to go back to oldest-first.
- Money left over after every invoice is paid stays on the customer's account as credit, and can be applied to their next invoice.
- Paying the oldest invoices first keeps the AR Aging report right: what is left owing is always the newest.
Common problems
- The newest invoice was paid, not the oldest → someone typed into the Allocation column before entering the tender. Press Auto-allocate to share it out oldest-first again.
- An invoice I expected is not listed → it is fully paid, it was a cash sale, or it belongs to another customer (or another guest's folio).
- "Apply the payment first …" → the customer still owes on invoices, so the money must go to them before any becomes credit. Press Auto-allocate.