Offsetting Payments and Credit Invoices

Introduction: What is Offsetting?

Offsetting means deducting payments that customers have made or credit invoices (refunds) they have received from their outstanding invoices. For example: a customer has a 100 euro credit and still owes 150 euros. After offsetting, the customer only needs to pay 50 euros.

Why Should You Offset?

You want to offset because:

• Customers don't overpay through direct debit (SEPA)
• You first deduct credits and credit invoices before collecting money
• You prevent customers from paying twice
• It's fair: if a customer has credit, it should be used
• Your administration stays neat and correct

Important: Always do this before you create a SEPA payment run!

How Do You Offset Payments and Credit Invoices?

There are two methods: automatic (for many customers at once) or manual (per customer). Choose the method that best fits your situation.

Method 1: Automatic Offsetting (for many customers at once)

Use this method when you want to offset for many customers at the same time. This is faster than doing everything manually.

Step 1: Go to the offsetting menu

1. Go to "Invoices"
2. Click on "(Payments) Per debtor"
3. Click on "Offset"

Step 2: Set filters

Choose administration:

1. At "Administration" choose which administration you want to offset
2. This is usually your company's main administration

Filter customers (optional): You can choose to offset only certain customers:

• Debtor category: For example only "regular customers" or "wholesale customers"
• Specific debtors: Choose specific customers if you don't want to offset everyone
• Leave empty: If you want to offset all customers

Step 3: Set credit invoices to offset

1. At "Credit invoices to offset" optionally choose the types of payments you want to offset with
2. Examples:
   • Cash payments
   • Bank transfers
   • Credit invoices (refunds)
3. Leave empty if you want to offset all types

Step 4: Select invoices to offset against

1. At "Offset credit invoices / payments with" choose which invoices you want to offset
2. Examples:
   • Invoices with payment reference "SEPA B2B" (business direct debit)
   • Invoices with payment reference "SEPA Core" (consumer direct debit)
   • All outstanding invoices
3. These are the invoices from which the credits will be deducted

Step 5: Execute offsetting

1. Check if all settings are correct
2. Click on "Apply"
3. The system will now automatically offset all payments and credit invoices
4. Wait until the process is finished (this may take a while if you have many customers)

Done! All payments and credit invoices have now been offset against the outstanding invoices.

Method 2: Manual Offsetting (per customer)

Use this method if you only have a few customers or if you want to control exactly what gets offset.

Step 1: Go to outstanding payments

1. Go to "Invoices"
2. Click on "(Payments) Outstanding"
3. You now see a list of all payments that still need to be offset

What do you see in this list?

• Payments that customers have made but have not yet been assigned to invoices
• Credit invoices (refunds) that have not yet been used
• The amount that still needs to be offset

Step 2: Offset a payment

1. Click on a payment in the list
2. You now see the details of this payment
3. You also see a list of outstanding invoices from this customer

Step 3: Choose invoice

1. Click on the invoice you want to offset the payment against
2. The system now deducts the payment amount from the invoice
3. The payment has now been processed

Step 4: Repeat Repeat steps 2 and 3 for all payments you want to offset, until you're done.

Practical Examples

Example 1: Automatic offsetting for SEPA

• Situation: You want to do a SEPA direct debit next week
• Action:
  1. Go to offsetting
  2. Choose "SEPA Core" for invoices to offset against
  3. Click on Apply
• Result: All credits have been offset, customers now pay the correct amount

Example 2: Manual offsetting for one customer

• Situation: Customer Jansen has paid 50 euros and has an invoice of 150 euros outstanding
• Action:
  1. Go to Outstanding
  2. Click on the 50 euro payment from Jansen
  3. Click on the 150 euro invoice
• Result: Jansen now has 100 euros outstanding instead of 150 euros

Example 3: Offsetting a credit invoice

• Situation: Customer Pietersen has a credit invoice of 30 euros (refund) and an outstanding invoice of 200 euros
• Action:
  1. Execute automatic offsetting
  2. Or manually: link the credit invoice to the invoice
• Result: Pietersen only needs to pay 170 euros

Important Tips

Tip 1: Always offset before SEPA

• Do this at least one day before you create the SEPA run
• This prevents customers from overpaying
• Customers are happy when they see their credit has been used

Tip 2: Check the result

• After offsetting, check if everything is correct
• Manually check a few customers
• Have the amounts been correctly reduced?

Tip 3: Use automatic for large groups

• Do you have more than 10 customers? Use automatic offsetting
• This saves a lot of time
• It makes fewer mistakes than doing everything manually

Tip 4: Use manual for special cases

• Are you unsure about a customer? Do it manually
• Do you want to see exactly what happens? Choose manual
• Special agreements with a customer? Manual gives more control

Tip 5: Make it a routine

• Offset for example every Friday
• Or always the day before your SEPA run
• This way you never forget and everything stays neat

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: What if I forget to offset before a SEPA?

• Customers then overpay
• You have to refund the money later
• This creates extra work and unhappy customers

Question: Can I undo offsetting?

• Yes, but this must be done manually
• It's better to do it right the first time
• Therefore always check before clicking Apply

Question: How much time does automatic offsetting take?

• For 100 customers: about 1-2 minutes
• For 1000 customers: about 5-10 minutes
• Manually it would take hours!

Summary

You offset to deduct credits and payments from outstanding invoices:

• Automatic offsetting: For many customers at once, via Invoices → Per debtor → Offset, choose filters and click Apply
• Manual offsetting: For individual customers, via Invoices → Outstanding, click on payment and link to invoice
• Why important: Prevents customers from overpaying with SEPA direct debit
• When to do it: Always before you create a SEPA payment run, for example every Friday or the day before