Applying Credit Notes to Invoices
Purpose: A credit note records value owed back to a client — for example after a billing correction or a returned item. In PMSuite a credit note is tied to an invoice at the moment you create it: the Create Credit Note button opens a selector modal listing invoices that are Paid or Partially Paid, and you pick the invoice the credit applies to. This article covers that linking step and what it affects.
Who can use it
Credit Notes sit inside the Invoices module, so access is governed by the invoice permissions in Roles & Permissions (Settings → Roles & Permissions) rather than by a separate credit-note permission:
- Viewing the Credit Note list follows the role's view invoices level.
- Creating a credit note requires the role's add invoices level to be All or Added.
Permission levels are None, Added (records the user personally added), Owns (records assigned to them), and All — so what a given user sees in the Credit Note list depends on the level granted to their role. At the Added level the selector modal only offers invoices that user added themselves.
If someone cannot see credit notes they expect to see, check their role's invoice permission level first, then have them log out and back in — permission changes do not always apply to an already-active session.
Prerequisites
- There must be at least one invoice in Paid or Partially Paid status, since the credit-note selector modal draws from those two statuses.
- Credit note numbering comes from Finance Settings → Prefix Settings, where credit notes have their own prefix (independent of invoices, estimates, estimate requests, orders, and proposals). Set this before you start issuing credit notes so your numbering is consistent.
How to Access
Navigation: Sidebar → Finance → Credit Note
Direct URL: /account/creditnotes
Related finance screens:
- Invoices —
/account/invoices - Payments —
/account/payments - Finance dashboard —
/account/finance-dashboard
In the Finance navigation, Credit Notes sits under the Spending group (alongside Expenses and Recurring Expenses), while Invoices and Payments sit under Revenue.
Linking a credit note to an invoice
Step 1: Open the Credit Note list
Go to Finance → Credit Note (/account/creditnotes).
Step 2: Click Create Credit Note
The Create Credit Note button opens a selector modal.
Step 3: Pick the invoice
The modal lists invoices in Paid or Partially Paid status, each shown as the invoice number followed by the client name. Select the invoice the credit note relates to — this is the link between the credit note and the invoice, so choose it carefully rather than creating an unlinked note and reconciling later.
Step 4: Complete and save the credit note
Fill in the remaining credit-note details and save. The credit note is created with the next number from your credit-note prefix and stays available in the Credit Note list.
Effect on other features
- Invoices: PMSuite invoices carry three payment statuses — Unpaid, Partially Paid, and Paid — plus a separate send status (Not Sent / Sent). The linked invoice is flagged as having a credit note against it. On an invoice that is already Paid, the credit note is purely documentary and the status is unchanged. On a Partially Paid invoice the credit note is applied against the remaining balance: if it covers the balance in full the invoice moves to Paid, and if it covers only part of it the invoice stays Partially Paid and the credit note is marked Closed.
- Payments: Money actually returned to or received from a client is recorded in Finance → Payments (
/account/payments), which has its own fields for Invoice, Paid On, Amount, Currency, Exchange Rate, Transaction ID, Payment Gateway, Bank Account, receipt upload, and Remark. Keep the refund movement in Payments and the paperwork in the credit note. - Finance reports: Credit notes and payments both feed the finance reporting screens (
/account/finance-report,/account/income-expense-report), so keeping them accurate keeps those reports accurate.
Limitations
- The selector modal offers only Paid and Partially Paid invoices, so a fully Unpaid invoice cannot be credited. Workaround: to reduce what a client owes on an invoice that has had no payment at all, edit the invoice itself while it is still Unpaid, or record a payment against it in Finance → Payments — once it becomes Partially Paid it appears in the credit-note selector.
- The selector shows the 300 most recent eligible invoices. Workaround: if an older invoice is not listed, open it from
/account/invoicesand start the credit note from the invoice record itself rather than from the modal. - Credit note numbering is driven by the prefix setting, not chosen per note. Workaround: set the credit-note prefix in Finance Settings → Prefix Settings before issuing notes; it is configured independently of the invoice prefix, so you can match your accounting convention there.
- Visibility depends on the role's invoice permission level, so a colleague may not see a credit note you created. Workaround: raise their role's invoice permission level to All in Settings → Roles & Permissions, then have them log out and back in.
Troubleshooting
The invoice I want isn't in the selector modal. The modal lists only Paid and Partially Paid invoices, and only the 300 most recent. Open the invoice at /account/invoices and confirm its status — if it is still Unpaid, record a payment against it or edit the invoice directly instead. If your role's invoice permission is set to Added, the modal shows only invoices you added yourself.
A user reports "I can't see credit notes." Check the invoice permissions for their role in Settings → Roles & Permissions, then have them log out and back in. Permission changes do not always take effect in an active session.
The credit note number looks wrong. Check Finance Settings → Prefix Settings; credit notes use their own prefix sequence, separate from invoices.
A client wants cash back rather than paperwork. Record the money movement in Finance → Payments (/account/payments) with the transaction details and receipt, and keep the credit note as the supporting document.