> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.getatelier.design/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Invoices

> Billing the client — from a schedule, from a contract, or from tracked time, with terms, tax and discount.

An invoice is a bill. In Atelier it is rarely typed from scratch, because
the numbers already exist somewhere — on a schedule, in a proposal, or in
the hours you logged.

**Three sources, one document.** That is the whole idea of the invoice
form.

## The list

**Finance → Invoices.** Filter by client, project or status; sort by
number, issue date, due date or total.

Each row: number (`INV-2026-002`), project, client, status, issue date,
due date, total.

## Building one

### The header

| Field              | Notes                                                                                       |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Project**        | Required. Everything else keys off it.                                                      |
| **Client**         | Auto-filled from the project.                                                               |
| **Invoice number** | Generated for you (`INV-2026-003`) and editable, if your accountant has a numbering scheme. |
| **Issue date**     | Defaults to today.                                                                          |
| **Due date**       | Set directly, or use the terms preset beside it.                                            |

### Payment terms

The dropdown beside the due date holds the standard set:

**Due on receipt · Net 15 · Net 30 · Net 45 · Net 60 · Net 90**

Choosing one moves the due date; the date remains editable afterwards.

<Info>
  Terms on an invoice are a **due-date preset** — a single number of days.
  The staged, trigger-based terms that govern a whole job live on the
  proposal instead, as payment milestones. Two mechanisms, two places,
  deliberately.
</Info>

### Line items

Each line has a **type** — **Goods** or **Svc** — then description,
quantity, unit, unit price or rate, discount %, tax % and amount. The
**Columns** control hides what you are not using.

The type matters: the totals panel reports **products subtotal** and **tax
on products** separately, because goods and services are frequently taxed
differently.

### Where lines come from

Five buttons, and the last three are why the form is worth using:

* **From schedule** — pull the FF\&E straight off the project's schedule,
  with markup and tax as costed. The usual route for a procurement
  invoice.
* **From contract** — bill an agreed milestone from the proposal, rather
  than re-keying the amount.
* **Time entry** — turn logged hours into billable lines at the project's
  rate.
* **Add product / Add service** — a one-off line typed by hand.

<Tip>
  For an FF\&E invoice, start from the schedule's **Financials** view and use
  **Create invoice** there instead. Same result, fewer steps.
</Tip>

### Totals

Products subtotal, tax on products, a **discount** in currency rather than
percent, and total due.

## Before you send

1. **Check the studio details.** Logo, legal name, business address, tax
   ID and the payment block in the footer all come from **Settings →
   Studio**. Set them once, before the first invoice.
2. **Check every line has a price.** Lines pulled from a schedule with no
   vendor cost invoice at zero. The project Overview's *No price set*
   card lists them.
3. **Check the tax rate against the delivery address.** Rates follow
   where the goods land, not where your studio is.
4. **Check what the terms commit you to.** Net 90 on a job where you have
   already paid the vendor is a cash-flow decision, not a formality.

## Sending it

<Info>
  **Mark as sent** changes the invoice's status — it does not email
  anything. Atelier has no way to deliver a document to a client on its
  own. Copy the client link (**Shared**, in the invoice toolbar) and paste
  it into your own email, or attach the PDF.
</Info>

## Recording payments

The one action on an invoice with a real effect. **Record payment** logs
an actual payment — it is a new entry, not a checkbox — and you can add
as many as it takes:

| Field         | Notes                                                                                       |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Amount**    | What came in. Can be less than the balance — partial payments are normal, not an edge case. |
| **Date**      | When it was paid.                                                                           |
| **Method**    | Bank transfer, card, cheque, whatever fits.                                                 |
| **Reference** | A transaction ID or note, for reconciling against your bank statement.                      |

The invoice's status is never set by hand. It is recalculated every time
from the sum of its payments against the total: **`PARTIALLY_PAID`** once
something has come in but the balance isn't clear, **`PAID`** once it is.

## After you send

The **Finance dashboard** tracks it from there: invoiced, paid,
outstanding, overdue, with overdue and partially paid invoices listed
under *Needs attention*.

<Warning>
  A sent invoice is out of the assistant's reach. It writes drafts only —
  once an invoice is `SENT`, and at every status after including `OVERDUE`
  and `PAID`, changes are made in Finance by hand or superseded by a change
  order.
</Warning>