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Write off money that isn't coming

Close out a debt a customer is never going to pay.

What this is for

A write-off tells your books the money is lost. It raises a credit note to your bad-debt account so your accounting software agrees, and takes the amount off what the customer owes — which matters if you use credit limits, because an old debt nobody can write off would block that customer forever.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Set your bad-debt account code once, under Admin → Accounting.

  2. 2

    Open the job's Accounts tab and open the invoice you're writing off.

  3. 3

    Choose Write off, enter the amount, and pick a reason.

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Tips & gotchas

  • →You can write off part of an invoice — if a customer settles at sixty cents in the dollar, write off the rest. The invoice stays owed for the remainder.
  • →Only an invoice that has reached your accounting software can be written off. If it's stuck with a sync error, fix the sync first.
  • →Written-off amounts show on the customer's record, so the next person deciding whether to extend them credit can see the history.

Related guides

Credit a customer backRaise a credit note when a job shrinks or the customer changes their mind.Put a customer on hold or set a credit limitStop work going out to an account that owes you money.Read your reportsSee sales, margin, production and purchasing at a glance.