Invoicing

To enable correct invoicing, you must save your company information, such as the address and payment details, in the system. The easiest way to do this is with the dialog Configure invoice data.

To create an invoice for a project, go to the project and right click on > New or click on the New menu button by Invoice.

The invoice number is created automatically depending on the system settings. The current date is entered as the date. You can overwrite this if required.

Services, expenses and outlays

Vertec automatically places all open services, expenses and outlays relating to the project on the invoice according to the following criteria:

1. An invoice interval is defined on the project

   If an Invoice Interval is defined on the project, the task is as follows:

   • The last matching interval before the current date is applied  
   • From and To date (period) are set to the first and last day of this invoice interval.
   • All the open services, expenses and outlays relating to the project within the invoice interval are placed on the invoice and accordingly the from and to date.  
   • To prevent fee being lost, older services, expenses and outlays are also taken into account if they are still open. In this case, the from date of the invoice period is set to the date of the oldest entry.

   • The system setting invoice Automatically fill new invoice with open entries is ignored if an invoice interval is defined.  

2. No invoice interval is defined on the project

   If no Invoice Interval is defined on the project, the system setting Automatically fill new invoice with open entries applies:

   • If it is set to YES, Vertec automatically assigns all the open services, expenses and outlays relating to the project.
   • If it is set to NEIN, Vertec does not assign any services, expenses or outlays.

   • In both cases, from and to Date of the invoice period are not set.  

3. The Period on the invoice is set or changed manually
   • If either from or to date of the invoice period is manually set or changed, the services, expenses and outlays are removed from or added to the invoice accordingly. 
   • If either from or to of the invoice period is deleted, all open services, expenses and outlays of the project are automatically reassigned accordingly.

   • The system setting Automatically fill new invoice with open entries is ignored when manually adjusting the period.  

If the system settings Expenses must be approved and/or Outlays must be approved are on YES, open expenses or outlays are only assigned if they are approved.

Downpayments

Downpayments are added according to the following criteria:

• Downpayments are only considered if the property Automatically on invoice is set.
• Downpayments which are not yet set on an invoice will be invoiced.
• Already charged downpayments, which have not yet been deducted from other invoices or have only been partially deducted from other invoices, are deducted.

Afterwards, if you adjust the from or to date on the invoice, the services, expenses and outlays are removed or added to the invoice accordingly. If the from/to date is deleted, all entries up to and including the invoice date are assigned.

Invoice amounts

The invoice amounts are calculated as follows:

• Fixed price: If an amount is entered manually under Services > Charged, it is considered a fixed price. The amount appears on the invoice in green along with the text fixed price. If the fixed price is deleted, the total services on the invoice is used again.
• Discount – as a percentage or as an amount: Does the customer receive a discount on the invoice? Either as an amount or as a percentage of the services provided.
• Fixed-price expense – as a percentage or as an amount: If a percentage is specified, the fixed-price expense is calculated as a percentage of total services. Otherwise, the amount entered under Charged is used as a fixed amount.
• Use entries: Controls whether, in addition to any fixed-price expenses on the invoice, the value of the expense entries of the project appears on the invoice. If this checkbox is not activated, the external expense value is set to 0 on the invoice, and the individual expenses does not appear when printing. The expenses remain on the invoice and are charged with this. It does not matter whether or not the expenses belong to a fixed-price phase. This option only controls whether the expense entries are used on the invoice, regardless of whether or not the phases are defined as fixed price.
  If a fixed-price expense is entered and expense entries are still selected, the total of the expense entries plus the fixed-price expense are charged.

You can also pre-define this information in the project settings.

In the middle box on the form, you can now see the hours, the averaged hourly rate and the standard costs, i.e. the costs corresponding to the break-even point (the standard cost rates have to be entered in the rates table). If the fee that you want to charge is lower than the standard cost, it is shown in red.

The value added tax (VAT) on the invoice can also be defined differently from the project. On the Further Information page, you can find the VAT field:

If the VAT is inherited from the project, it is shown here in black. If it has been overwritten at this level, it appears in green as shown in the example above.

Services, expenses and outlays apply the VAT set on the invoice, provided that no explicit VAT has been defined for the corresponding service type,expense typeor outlay type.

Downpayments, which already have the option of having their own type of VAT, are not changed. Therefore, downpayments do not automatically apply the VAT on the invoice.

The due date is calculated based on the assigned payment term. If no term is assigned, a payment deadline of 30 days is assumed.

In this example, the due date is 03.05.2024:

To show the due date in the list, go to the list settings and add a column with the expression faelligDatum.

You can enter services, expenses and outlays directly in the corresponding lists of the invoice.

Here, for example, a service is depreciated:

Particularly noteworthy is the difference between internal and external values: The internal values are no longer adjusted as they correspond to the values actually entered and should not be changed for analytical purposes.

The external values can either be manually adjusted individually or adjusted as a whole using the adjustment function. To find out how services are taken into account, see the article on entering services.

Services (or their fee) that have been defined as hidden are passed on to the others.

You can also charge only individual phases using the menu button Actions > Choose phases in the services list.

The checkboxes have three states:

	Checked: All matching entries of this phase are assigned.
	Not checked: Do not select phase (remove everything from invoice).
	Gray: Part (not all) of this phase is assigned on this invoice.

With the Adjustments button, you can also adjust the invoice as a whole. Hidden reductions or increases are restructured proportionally to the remaining entries. Simply click on the Adjustments button. The following window appears:

Here, you can enter an amount that should appear on the invoice as the total amount. The following attributes always refer to this value.

• Fee only: The total amount entered refers exclusively to the services. Expenses and outlays are not included.
• Fee, expenses, outlays: The total amount entered refers to all the attached services, expenses and outlays. Nothing else has to be added.

• Without VAT: VAT still has to be added to the total amount entered in the invoice.
• VAT inclusive: The total amount entered is calculated including VAT. No VAT still has to be added.

Adjustment type hidden

If the system setting Total amount manipulations hidden by default is set, this option is selected by default.  

In this case, the adjustment is not disclosed openly. The customer should not notice anything. The external values of the services (and optionally of the expenses and outlays) are therefore adjusted pro rata, so that the detail lists correspond to the total amount and can be delivered to the customer. Only services that are not fixed (checkbox Fix external values on the service is not checked) are adjusted.

Amounts are rounded, and for services, the system setting of Round minutes to is considered to ensure that the detail lists appear consistent. Therefore, the resulting total amount may slightly differ from the entered amount.

By clicking on the button Revert to original state,  the external value of the not fixed services (and optionally of the expenses and outlays) is reset to the internal value. 

Important to know: Previously made adjustments of external values are lost (except for fixed services). In case of reverting to original state, internal values are used again.

Adjustment type open (discount)

The adjustment is disclosed openly, e.g. out of courtesy. A corresponding discount appears on the invoice, which brings the invoice to the total amount entered. 

To undo this entry, you can simply delete the discount value entered.

Adjustment type open (fixed price)

The adjustment is disclosed openly by setting the invoice at a fixed price to the total amount entered. The relevant amount is entered in the invoice as a fixed price.

To undo this entry, you can simply delete the fixed price entered.

The amount (to be entered in project currency) is deducted from or added to the total amount of services, depending on the sign (- or +). This adjustment is hidden and is not disclosed openly. The operation is the same as described for Adjustment type hidden above. 

The hours are subtracted from or added to the hours of the services, depending on the sign (- or +). This adjustment is hidden and is not shown openly. The operation is the same as described for Adjustment type hidden above. 

If you have made a mistake while adjusting the invoice, use the button Revert to original.

Services, expenses and outlays can be moved directly from one invoice to another, provided that both invoices are open invoices for the same project.

Place the two invoices side by side. This enables you to drag and drop the required services, expenses and outlays from one invoice to the other.

When you have the final invoice open, you can use the Print menu button to print various reports such as the invoice, accompanying letter, service lists as enclosures, etc.

If you are satisfied with the invoice, click on the Charge button to charge it. This means that the invoice is fixed in Vertec and can no longer be adjusted. Downpayments are also fixed in this way. The services, expenses and outlays shown on the invoice are converted from open to charged.

In addition, the following attributes are fixed on the invoice when charging:

• RechnungsAdressText
• RechnungsBriefanrede
• RechnungsGrussformel

These attributes are derived and, for open invoices, are calculated directly on the basis of the address (invoice address, etc.).

For charged invoices, the values originate from the attributes verrRechnungsadressText, verrRechnungsBriefanrede and verrRechnungsGrussformel, which are fixed during charging. This means that charged invoices cannot be adjusted afterwards, even if, for example, the invoice address changes for new invoices.

If you have configured an accounting extension, you can post the relevant posting receipts directly into your accounting program.

Pro forma invoices (checkbox Pro forma invoice on the Further information page) cannot be posted. In this case, the Post button is not available.

Cancelling postings

You can cancel posted invoices by clicking the Cancel button on the Accounting page.

The process varies depending on the accounting extension used. Please refer to the description of the accounting extension you are using.

Deleting invoices

It is only possible to delete invoices that have not been charged or posted. Otherwise, you must first cancel the invoice and click on Undo charge to delete the invoice.

When an invoice is deleted, the invoice number is not reset, so you “lose” the invoice number used by that invoice.

To reuse an invoice number that has already been issued, you can run one of the scripts available in the article Script: reset invoice number. However, a seamless sequence of invoice numbers is not mandatory in most cases.