When you make a mistake on an invoice, you need to fix it properly to stay legal and keep good records.
The most common method is a credit note, which cancels, refunds, or adjusts an invoice. It links back to the original and changes the amount without erasing it.
Debit notes request additional money you forgot to charge, but most businesses rarely use these. Instead, they just send a new invoice for the extra charges.
Corrective invoices are only available in certain countries like Spain and Poland. They create a new invoice to replace the old one, and you’d use them where adjusting the charged amount wouldn’t work, like getting the customer’s name or tax ID wrong.
When do you need corrections?
You might need to fix an invoice if you charged the wrong amount, got customer details wrong, the tax authorities partially accepted the document (possible in regimes like Spain), goods were returned or damaged, or you forgot required information.
Whatever method you use to fix the mistake, it must connect back to the original invoice so you have a complete record of what happened.
How to correct an invoice
- In the Console, click on Invoices in the left sidebar.
- Select the invoice you want to correct.
The invoice must be issued before a correction can be made.
- Click on the Correct button in the top-right corner. This will open the Correction dialog.
The available fields will depend on the $regime of your document, but will always include a Series and a Type:
- Series: usually corrective documents will have a different series from your standard documents or invoices. A common pattern is replacing the standard series for
CN (standing for credit-note).
- Type: the options available depend on the regime, but will often include
debit-note and credit-note. Unless you have a specific account need, it is often a better practice to avoid issuing a debit note by issuing a full refund through a credit note and then issuing a new invoice.
Finally click on the Correct button and you will have a corrective invoice that you should send to the tax authority through a workflow, as you would do with a standard invoice.
