Create a Credit Note for an invoice

Learn how to create an Credit Note and apply it to a finalised invoice in Smokeball.

An Invoice Credit Note reduces the amount owed on an invoice that has already been finalised, without changing or deleting the original invoice. You use it to refund fees, apply a discount after the invoice was sent, cancel work, or correct an overcharge, while keeping a clean audit trail back to the original invoice.

You can only have one Credit Note per Invoice.

When to create an Credit Note

Creating a Credit Note can only occur if the invoice is issued and unpaid, fully paid, or partially paid. 

It will not be available for:

• Partially or fully paid split-billed invoices - reverse any payments before creating an Credit Note
  • Refer to Credit Notes on Split-Billed invoices for more information.
• Voided invoices
• £0.00 invoices, i.e. every line item is non-billable or written off
• Invoices with a waived amount and no payments taken
  • You can create an Credit Note for invoices with a waived amount and a payment has been taken. However, total credit is capped as it cannot exceed the invoiced total minus waived amount. 
• Invoices with an Credit Note applied to them already
• Invoices with pending payments - you can create the Credit Note once those payments settle

Credit Notes on Split-Billed invoices

A split-billed invoice can only be adjusted if there are no payments applied to it. Reverse any payments before creating an Credit Note for them.

When an Credit Note is raised against a split-billed invoice with no payments applied, the total credit is split across the debtors using the invoice's split method (split evenly or % allocated per debtor). Any rounding left over is allocated to the remainder debtor.

How to create an Credit Note

1. On your finalised invoice, select the Create Credit Note button.

   

2. Enter the Issue Date. This cannot be earlier than the invoice's issue date.
3. Choose to apply the credit amount in bulk or per line item.

   • To apply a bulk credit amount, enter the monetary amount in the Apply bulk credit amount field, then select Apply. The credit will be spread proportionally across all fee lines, but you can still edit individual lines afterwards.

     

   • To apply a credit per line item, enter a credit amount in the Total Credit Amount field for Time/Fee entries, or enter a credit amount in the Pre-VAT Credit Amount and VAT Credit Amount fields for disbursements.

     

   • You can also Write Off line items by checking the box under W/O for the relevant line item.

     

4. Check the right-hand panel for the breakdown of the adjustment calculation. 

   

5. View a preview of the draft Credit Note by selecting View Preview on the bottom-right corner of the screen. From here you can also save the adjustment as a Draft to work on it later.

   

6. Once you are ready to finalise the Credit Note, click on Final at the top of the right-hand panel. 

   

7. Select Send via Email to email the Credit Note to the debtor, or Send via Client Portal if they use the Client Portal. You can also choose to do neither by not selecting any option.

   

8. Select Finalise Draft.

Viewing and managing your Credit Notes

Invoice Credit Notes live in the Credit Notes tab of the invoice. 

Click on the Credit Note to view the PDF. From this screen you can Email it, Download it or Void it.

Handling a credit balance

A credit balance appears when the adjustment makes the invoice over-credited (Payments + Adjustments now exceed the invoice amount), so money is owed back to the client. When this happens, a Credit Balance message appears on the right-hand panel when creating the Credit Note.

By default, Transfer refund to Client Account is automatically ticked. Once the Credit Note is finalised, a trust deposit transaction is created and linked to this Credit Note and the client account balance is updated. Voiding the Credit Note reverses this trust deposit.

If you untick Transfer refund to Client Account, the credit is still recorded in Smokeball but no money moves - you must handle the refund outside of Smokeball.

Reversing a payment on an invoice with a credit balance

To reverse a payment on an invoice with a credit balance, you must void the Adjustment Note. This releases the credit balance and makes the payment reversible again.

Handling adjustments on overdue invoices with Interest

If the invoice has accrued interest, finalising an adjustment recalculates that interest proportionally, as though the adjustment had applied from the invoice's original issue date. In practice, interest is only charged on the portion of the invoice that remains after the adjustment.

Interest is excluded from the adjustment caps (the credit limit is based on the invoice total excluding interest). The recalculation itself runs in the backend when the adjustment is finalised or voided. 

Good to Know

• Surcharges are not adjustable at the moment. A surcharge on an invoice shows in the calculation breakdown but cannot itself be credited or adjusted. If you need to bring the invoice down to zero, edit the invoice to remove the surcharge first, then create the adjustment.
• If the original invoice is voided, all finalised adjustments linked to it are automatically voided, and any draft adjustments are deleted.
• If an Credit Note has been voided and re-created, the Credit Note Number will be kept, but with a suffix in brackets (e.g. CN-1077 (2)).