The Invoice module is your central point for managing customer invoices in Xentral. Here you can create and edit invoices and manage the entire invoice lifecycle – from creation and release to dispatch. You define customer data, link sales orders and delivery notes, and set payment terms. The Invoice module also supports you in managing payment statuses, canceling invoices, creating partial invoices, as well as batch processing and individual PDF adjustments for invoice documents.
The invoice is the central document in the sales process. It not only serves as a request for payment to the customer but, as an official document, is the basis for accounting and input tax deduction. In an ERP system, correct invoicing ensures full GoBD compliance and minimizes queries in accounting.
Important
A legally compliant invoice must contain certain mandatory information so that it is recognized by the tax office. While simplified rules often apply in the B2C sector (e.g., for small-value invoices), you must meet stricter requirements for the identification of business partners and the tax breakdown in the B2B sector.
Here is the most important information that must be included on an invoice:
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Invoice number: A unique, consecutive number that identifies the invoice. It may only be assigned once per invoice issuer and is essential for gapless documentation (GoBD).
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Invoice date and time of performance: The date of issue as well as the time of delivery or performance. These can be identical, but both must be recognizable (if necessary by a reference to the delivery note).
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Complete addresses: Name and address of both the performing company and the recipient of the performance. In the B2B sector, the correct company name is crucial; in the B2C sector, the private address is usually sufficient.
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Tax number or VAT identification number (VAT ID): The tax number of the invoice issuer issued by the tax office. For B2B transactions within the EU, the VAT IDs of both parties must also be listed (reverse charge check).
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Quantity and type of delivery/performance: A precise description of the items or services (e.g., item number, description, quantity). This allows for comparison with the delivery note and the sales order.
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Fee and tax amount: Breakdown of the net amount by tax rates (e.g., 7% or 19%) as well as the tax amount due on it. In the B2C sector, the statement of the gross final amount is mandatory; in the B2B context, the focus is on the net consideration.
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Payment terms and bank details: Indication of the due date (e.g., "Payable within 14 days") as well as the IBAN/BIC for the transfer.
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Other mandatory information: Depending on the industry and business case, further information may be required, e.g., for intra-community deliveries, exports, or when applying tax exemptions.
You have two options for creating a new invoice. First, you can continue a sales order as an invoice via the action menu in the opened sales order. In the majority of cases, this is the correct procedure, as all relevant automatisms such as the shipping transfer in Xentral are subsequently triggered and a permanent relationship between sales order and invoice is established.
Proceed as follows to continue an existing sales order as an invoice and generate the PDF receipt.
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Open the Sell > Sales order menu in Xentral.
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Click on the sales order you want to continue as an invoice.
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Click on the Action menu at the top right of the opened sales order.
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Select the Continue as invoice option from the dropdown menu.
The invoice is automatically filled and created with the relevant information from the sales order. A notification is then displayed above the sales order informing you that the invoice has been successfully created. You can use the link in the notification to switch directly to the detail view of the newly created invoice to edit it if necessary or to create the PDF version.
In exceptional cases, you can create a new invoice by clicking on + NEW in the Invoice module. The manual creation of an invoice in Xentral usually has no reference to a specific sales order, but makes sense in the following practical cases:
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You can manually request down payments or partial payments if a project is to be financed in advance. This ensures cash flow even before the entire sales order is technically processed in the system.
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If you want to charge for price differences or forgotten fees without having to laboriously reopen the already closed original sales order. This saves you time on small corrections that should be recorded cleanly separated from the main document for accounting purposes.
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If you want to bill one-time services or other revenues that are not managed as standard items in your warehouse. This is particularly practical for spontaneous consultations or the further billing of ancillary costs.
In the overview of the Invoice module, you will find all invoices available in Xentral. You can distinguish between invoices, unsent invoices, and invoices in progress. You can also filter by various criteria. For this purpose, both the filter icons above the overview table and the column headers of the overview table itself are available to you. Use the options in the Bulk batch processing area below the overview table to carry out actions for several invoices at the same time.
In the following chapters, you will learn more about the available filter options, the possibilities for editing individual invoices, and for batch processing in the Invoice module.
In the Invoice module, the following filters are available to sort your existing invoices as needed.
Filter |
Description |
|---|---|
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Payment status open |
Displays only invoices where the payment status is set to OPEN. |
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Payment status not paid / partially paid |
Displays only invoices that have not yet been paid or have been partially paid. |
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All of today’s invoices |
Displays all invoices whose creation date is the current date. |
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Canceled |
Displays only canceled invoices. |
An invoice can have the following statuses:
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CREATED: The invoice is in progress, has been newly created, but not yet released. It does not yet have a number in the number range and is in draft mode.
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RELEASED: The invoice has been released.
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SENT: The invoice was sent via the "Send" action.
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CANCELED: The invoice was continued as a credit note. Partially canceled invoices (partial credit note) are also displayed as canceled.
An invoice can have the following payment statuses:
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OPEN: Payment is still completely outstanding.
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PARTIALLY PAID: The invoice has not yet been fully settled – either due to a missing payment or a partial credit note.
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PAID: Payment has been made in full. The customer has paid the amount in full or you have completely canceled or credited the invoice. If a customer has received a partial credit note for an invoice and pays the remaining amount, the invoice is also set to "paid".
Batch processing in the Invoice module allows you to carry out actions for several invoices at the same time. First select several invoices via the checkboxes on the left and carry out one of the following actions by clicking on Execute:
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Mark as paid
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Mark as open
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Send by email
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Mark invoice as sent
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Collective PDF
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Print (For this option, the desired printer must be selected in the Printer field)
When creating new invoices or editing existing invoices, a wealth of information and setting options are available to you. In the following chapters, you will find more detailed information on each tab and setting area of the invoice.
When you create a new invoice or click on the pencil icon of an existing invoice, the detail view opens. Here you define all important invoice information.
In the Invoice tab, you define all central information that an invoice should contain. Here you define customer data, link sales orders and delivery notes, set payment terms (payment method, due date, cash discount), and configure dunning parameters such as dunning level and dunning date. Additionally, you store tax data, taxation type, and shipping-relevant information. In the Invoice tab, you can also insert free text and header text, determine PDF options such as letterhead or logos, and add internal remarks that do not appear on the document.
The following table contains more detailed information on the available fields in the Invoice tab.
Field designation |
Description |
|---|---|
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General area |
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Customer |
Selection of a customer or supplier to whom the invoice is issued. |
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Project |
Selection of a project to which the invoice should be assigned. |
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Aktionscode |
Indication of a promotion code. |
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Status |
The status of the invoice automatically filled by Xentral. |
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Sales order |
Specification of a sales order if it should be linked to the invoice. |
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Dev. customer number |
Indication of the debtor number of the customer or supplier. |
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Your order number |
Indication of the purchase order number. |
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Internal designation |
Indication of an internal designation for the invoice. |
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Delivery date |
Date on which the delivery of the invoiced goods or services takes place. |
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Delivery note |
Indication of the delivery note number linked to the invoice. |
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Date |
Indication of the invoice date. |
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Copy of invoice |
Indication that an invoice copy should be created. |
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Write protection |
Indication that write protection should be activated. Subsequently, the details of the invoice can no longer be edited. |
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Quittung |
Indication that a receipt should be created. |
Dunning area |
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Set all settings manually |
Activate this option to carry out all the following settings manually. This is usually not necessary if you use the Incoming payments module with bank reconciliation — the target and actual amounts are then calculated automatically. |
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Payment status |
Indication of the payment status of the invoice. |
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Paid on |
Indication of the date on which the invoice was paid. |
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DEBIT |
The debit amount, i.e., the invoice amount. |
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ACTUAL |
The amount actually paid. |
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Discount given |
Indication of the amount granted as a cash discount. Clicking on the plus icon applies the total invoice amount. |
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Dunning level |
Indication of the dunning level. |
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Reminder date |
Indication of the date on which the reminder is sent. |
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Lock |
With this option, the block can be activated. |
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Comment |
Indication of a comment for the reminder. |
Note
After specifying the customer under General, Xentral automatically fills the information in the Master data area of the Invoice tab from the customer or supplier master data. These can be supplemented or changed. More information can be found in the article Addresses (Basics) - Introduction to master data maintenance for customers and suppliers.
In the Free text and Header text areas, you can enter corresponding free and header texts that are to be printed on the invoice if desired. You can design these texts individually. The text output only ever applies to the currently opened invoice.
In the Invoice area of the Invoice tab, you can carry out further optional settings for the invoice if required. You will also find information on the due date and, if applicable, the cash discount here.
The following table contains more detailed information on the available fields in the Invoice area.
Payment method |
Indication of the payment method. |
|---|---|
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Delivery term |
Optional Select a delivery condition that you have previously created in Xentral and that should apply to the invoice. Further information can be found in the article Delivery terms. |
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Sales |
Indication of the sales representative responsible for the invoice. |
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Editor |
Indication of the processor responsible for the invoice, i.e., the Xentral user who processes the invoice. |
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No stationery and logo |
Activate this option to not use letterhead or logo for this invoice. |
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Hide item texts |
Activate this option to hide the item descriptions in the item position table of the invoice. |
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Payment term (in days) |
Indication of the due date of the invoice in days. |
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Payment term discount (in days) |
Indication of the cash discount period in days. |
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Discount |
Indication of the cash discount amount. |
In the Internal comment area, you can insert additional information about the invoice. The internal remark is not printed on the invoice but serves internal information purposes and is only visible to you and your employees in Xentral.
In the VAT check area, you enter tax information for the invoice.
The following table contains more detailed information on the available fields in the VAT check area.
VAT ID |
Indication of the VAT identification number. |
|---|---|
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Taxation |
Indication of how the invoice is taxed. The options Domestic, EU delivery / delivery threshold, Export, and Tax-free domestic are available. |
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Letter ordered |
Marking that the letter was ordered. |
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Letter inbox |
Marking that the letter has been received. |
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Letter received on |
Date on which the letter was received. |
Finally, in the Setting area of the Invoice tab, you can view or store further information on currency, language, exchange rate, and cost center.
The following table contains more detailed information on the available fields in the Setting area.
Display tax |
Selection of how the automatic tax display on the invoice is selected. The options automatically, net, and gross are available. |
|---|---|
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Currency |
Selection of the currency of the invoice. |
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Language |
Selection of the language of the invoice. |
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Exchange rate |
Indication of the exchange rate for the invoice amount if the invoice amount is not in Euro. You can call up the current exchange rate directly from the European Central Bank in the Currency conversion module. Further information can be found in the article Managing currencies and currency conversion. |
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Cost center |
Indication of the cost center you have previously created in Xentral. Further information is available in the article Cost centers. |
In the Positions subtab, you insert the individual positions of the invoice. You can also carry out functions below the table such as inserting a special field, updating the positions of the invoice, creating a new invoice template, creating a voucher, granting a discount in percent on all positions, and searching for or creating new items manually if required.
Note
The Discount in % on all items function is an extra app that always applies the discount to all invoice positions. The no discount allowed setting is not taken into account if it was activated in the product master data.
In the Preview subtab, you see a preview of the later invoice. You can print or download the preview.
In the Protocol subtab of the invoice, you see an overview with the most important invoice information: customer, purchase order number, status, and project. The log allows you to understand at any time which Xentral user last edited the invoice, which steps were carried out, and which sales orders and delivery notes belong to the invoice. Here you will also find the most important documents in a table that you can edit or open as a PDF. The protocol also displays the most important payment information and the billing address. On the right side of the protocol, you will find information on products, payment receipt, all processes for this invoice, dunning, the PDF archive, and the contribution margin.
In the Files tab of an invoice, you can add files to the invoice if necessary. If there are several files, you can use the functions in the Bulk batch processing area to create and download a ZIP file or a collective PDF of all files attached to the invoice.
Proceed as follows to add a file to an invoice.
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Use Smart Search to open the Invoice module.
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Open the desired invoice by clicking on the pencil icon on the right.
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Open the Files tab.
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Click on Create a new file.
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Place the desired file by drag-and-drop or select it by clicking on Select file.
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Click on Save.
The file is uploaded and then displayed in the Overview of the Files tab.
If there are partial payments for an invoice, you can enter them in the Partial invoice tab of the invoice. Enter a freely selectable name for the partial payment in the Designation field and assign the partial invoice to a sales order via the magnifying glass icon under belongs to sales order.
Tip
Note that the Partial invoice tab is only displayed in your Xentral instance if you use Xentral in the Pro plan. Further information on working with partial invoices in Xentral can be found in the article Partial invoice.
When you cancel an invoice, the payment status initially remains open. To ensure that the invoice is not included in the dunning run, you must mark the invoice as a credit note or cancellation invoice via the action menu.
The status changes to CANCELED, while the payment status remains open. Then open the Accounting > Dunning module and click on Recalculate dunning.
The invoice status remains canceled, but the payment status changes to PAID.
If an invoice has been continued as a credit note or cancellation invoice, it receives the document status CANCELED. You can reverse this cancellation if necessary as follows:
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Remove the link between the invoice and the credit note (cancellation invoice).
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Remove the invoice number in the credit note or cancellation invoice and save the change.
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Carry out the status change in the invoice via the Action dropdown menu.
Proceed as follows to correctly map payment flows, invoices, and credit notes:
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When assigning/selling the goods with an invoice to the customer, you can use a different payment method, e.g., \"Purchase on trial\" or \"Invoice 40 days\".
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Put the goods into storage via the goods receipt as a return if the customer does not keep the goods.
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You then create a cancellation invoice (complete cancellation) or a credit note. The credit note then fully offsets the invoice. A cash flow only takes place if the customer keeps the goods and pays.
There are the following statuses:
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PAID
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OPEN
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PARTIALLY PAID (simultaneously overpaid)
When assigning incoming payments, check whether the invoice is balanced. If an invoice is not set to PAID, this can have the following causes:
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OPEN: The invoice was neither paid by the customer nor fully balanced with a complete credit note or cancellation invoice.
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PARTIALLY PAID: The invoice has been partially paid or you have partially credited or canceled it. Or the customer has paid and you have created a credit note for the same amount. Then the customer must receive the amount back and there is an overpayment.
If the invoice has the status PAID, then:
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The customer has paid the amount in full or
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you have fully credited the invoice (for an invoice amount of €100.00, a credit note of €100.00 fully offsets the invoice), or
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the customer has paid a part and you have offset the other part with a credit note / cancellation invoice.
The canceled invoice changes the payment status from OPEN to PAID as soon as you perform this step once under Accounting > Dunning.
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If the shortfall is exactly the cash discount amount and the customer transferred within the period, the cash discount amount is written into the Cash discount field in the Incoming payment module when payment is received with bank statements.
Note
In the case of manual "mark as paid", fill in the field manually. To do this, enter the actual amount in the field (amount the customer paid). Then click on the cash discount icon. The difference amount is then automatically posted to the Cash discount field.
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If the shortfall is not a cash discount amount, the invoice remains in the status PARTIALLY PAID and is transferred to dunning after the payment deadline has expired. You can then either dun the shortfall or post it as a cash discount.
Under Accounting > Dunning > OPOS, you will find a complete list of all open invoices and the open (partial) amounts. Credited amounts and cash discount amounts are deducted. The next dunning date is also displayed.
The OPOS list often serves as a working basis for employees in accounting who manage debtor invoices and dunning.
If you also want to display the contact person from the address master data on the invoice, you must first activate the Show contact person in invoice, credit note option under Settings > Administration > System settings in the Documents area.
Write protection is automatically activated after the invoice is released to prevent unintentional changes and to ensure data integrity for archiving and DATEV compliance. If a correction is necessary, you can temporarily remove write protection and make changes. In this case, the actions performed are documented in the Protocol subtab of the invoice.
This can have various causes, depending on the payment method used and the settings in Xentral. Ensure that incoming payments are linked to the invoices or the invoices are manually marked as paid. Also check whether the payment status is influenced by manual settings. You can carry out settings manually in the invoice under Details > Invoice > Dunning area. These settings usually overwrite other settings, e.g., the mark as paid by a linked incoming payment.
If you do not use incoming payments in Xentral, then the Autom. paid (invoice) option in the payment method is suitable. Check whether this is activated.
In the invoice under Details > Invoice > Dunning area, check whether the dunning level was set manually in the invoice. If so, remove the manual setting so that dunning automatically assigns the correct dunning level. Observe the behavior of the dunning system and contact Xentral support if the problem persists even though no manual adjustment was made.