Payments¶
In Odoo, payments can either be automatically linked to an invoice or bill or be stand-alone records for use at a later date:
If a payment is linked to an invoice or bill, it reduces/settles the amount due on the invoice. Multiple payments on the same invoice are possible.
If a payment is not linked to an invoice or bill, the customer has an outstanding credit with the company, or the company has an outstanding debit with a vendor. Those outstanding amounts reduce/settle unpaid invoices/bills.
Payment methods¶
Several payment methods are available in Odoo to allow different configurations for different types of payments. Payment methods include manual payments (such as cash), checks, and batch payment files (such as NACHA and SEPA). Payment methods can be configured in the Incoming Payments and Outgoing Payments tabs of a bank or cash journal.
See also
Payment methods for Point of Sale
Preferred payment method¶
A preferred payment method can be defined on a contact so that it is automatically selected when a payment is created for that contact. From the search bar, invoices and bills can be grouped by Payment Method to simplify group payments.
To set a preferred Payment Method for a customer or a vendor, go to or and select the customer or vendor. In the Sales & Purchase tab of the contact form, select the preferred Payment Method in the Sales section for invoice payments or in the Purchase section for vendor bill payments.
Tip
Access a full list of all contacts from the Customers or Vendors list view by removing the Customers or Vendors filter. Alternatively, access the full contact list through the Contacts app.
Checks¶
Vendor bills can be paid by check using a dedicated outgoing payment method, which allows check numbers to be tracked and checks to be printed directly from Odoo.
For incoming customer check payments, you can use the default Manual Payment payment method, or you can create a payment method specifically for checks to help identify such payments quickly. To create a Check payment method, follow these steps:
Go to and select the Bank journal.
In the Incoming Payments tab, click Add a line.
As Payment Method, select Manual, then enter
Checkas the Name.
When registering a customer payment on an invoice or not related to an invoice, use the new Check payment method.
Note
Registering a customer payment by check in Odoo does not move funds. Checks must be deposited in order to make the payment. Once deposited to your bank, the check should appear as a bank transaction, at which point it can be reconciled with the registered payment.
Tip
For best practice, enter the check number as the Memo when registering a customer payment by check.
Batch payments can simplify reconciling deposits containing multiple checks.
Registering payment from an invoice or bill¶
To register a payment for an invoice or a bill, follow these steps:
Click Pay on a customer invoice or vendor bill. In the Pay window, select the Journal and the Payment Date.
If previously set, the contact’s preferred Payment Method is automatically selected but can be updated if necessary.
If using payment terms, the Amount is automatically set based on the installment amounts defined by the payment term. To pay the full amount instead, click full amount.
If necessary, edit the Memo.
Click Create Payment.
After the payment is registered, the customer invoice or vendor bill is marked as In payment.
If no outstanding accounts are configured:
No journal entry is created.
The Amount Due is not updated.
After the invoice/bill is reconciled with a bank transaction, the invoice/bill is marked as Paid.
More payment information is accessible by clicking the Payments smart button.
Note
If a bank transaction is reconciled in a different currency, a journal entry is automatically created to post the currency exchange gains/loss amount.
When a bank transaction is reconciled with an invoice with cash-basis, a journal entry is automatically created to post the cash-basis tax amount.
If outstanding accounts are configured:
A journal entry is created.
The counterpart is reflected in an outstanding receipts or payments account.
The Amount Due is reduced based on the payment amount.
After the payment is reconciled with a bank transaction, the invoice/bill is marked as Paid.
More payment information is also accessible by clicking the (information icon) and clicking view.
Tip
If the main bank account is set as the outstanding account on the bank journal’s payment method, registering the full payment on an invoice or bill moves the invoice/bill directly to the Paid status without requiring bank reconciliation.
Note
Unreconciling a payment unlinks it from the invoice or bill but does not delete the payment.
If a payment is (un)reconciled in a different currency, a journal entry is automatically created to post the currency exchange gains/losses (reversal) amount.
If a payment is (un)reconciled on an invoice with cash-basis taxes, a journal entry is automatically created to post the cash-basis tax (reversal) amount.
Online payments¶
To make invoice payment more convenient, the Invoice Online Payment feature can be enabled, adding a Pay Now button to the customer portal. This allows customers to view invoices online and pay directly using their preferred payment method, simplifying the payment process.
To activate the online payment, go to , scroll down to the Customer Payments section to enable Invoice Online Payment, and click Save.
After creating the invoice, click Send to email it to the customer, who receives an email with a link to view the invoice on their customer portal. From there, they can click Pay Now to select a Payment Provider.
Note
Make sure payment providers are configured correctly.
By default, Wire Transfer is the only enabled payment provider, but payment details must still be entered.
See also
As soon as the customer has paid, a payment for the invoice is registered, and the invoice is marked as In payment.
If the payment method configured in the payment provider has no outstanding accounts:
No journal entry created.
The Amount Due is not updated.
After the invoice is reconciled with a bank transaction, the invoice is marked as Paid.
If the payment method configured in the payment provider has outstanding accounts:
A journal entry is created.
The counterpart is reflected in an outstanding receipts or payments account.
The Amount Due is reduced based on the payment amount.
After reconciliation between the payment and the bank transaction, the invoice is marked as Paid.
Registering payments not tied to an invoice or bill¶
When a new payment is registered via or , it is not directly linked to an invoice or bill.
Stand-alone payments should not be registered without using outstanding accounts as:
No journal entries are created.
The payment cannot be linked to the invoice/bill.
The amount paid or received is not reflected in the accounting.
The Amount Due is not updated based on the payment amount.
For stand-alone payments using outstanding accounts:
A journal entry is created for the payment
The payment’s journal entry matches the outstanding accounts with the account receivable or the account payable until the payment is manually matched with its related invoice or bill.
Then, reconciling the payment with the bank transaction completes the payment workflow.
Payments matching¶
Note
During the bank reconciliation process, a remaining balance is identified if the total debits and credits do not match when records are compared with bank transactions. This balance must either be reconciled later or written off immediately.
For a single invoice or bill¶
By default, payments in Odoo do not create journal entries. As a result, there is no payment to match.
A blue banner appears on top of the invoice/bill when validating it, and an outstanding payment exists for this specific customer or vendor. To match it with the invoice or bill, click Add under Outstanding Credits or Outstanding Debits.
The invoice or bill is then marked as In payment until the payment is reconciled with its corresponding bank transaction(s).
For multiple invoices or bills¶
By default, payments in Odoo do not create journal entries. As a result, there is no payment to match, but this feature can still be used to match miscellaneous journal items.
The Payments matching or Auto-reconcile tool allows reconciling journal items with each other (i.e., payments with customer invoices or vendor bills) either individually or in batches:
Access the Accounting Dashboard.
Click the (ellipsis) button from the Customer Invoices or Vendor Bills journals, and select Payments Matching.
Alternatively, go to .
To manually Reconcile journal items, select the individual items from the list view and click Reconcile.
Auto-Reconcile Feature¶
To use the Auto-Reconcile feature, follow these steps:
In the Journal Items to reconcile list view, click Auto-Reconcile next to the receivable or payable account (or a specific contact’s group of journal items in that account).
In the Reconcile automatically window, click Reconcile.
To use the Auto-Reconcile feature, follow these steps:
In the Journal Items to reconcile list view, click Auto-Reconcile next to the receivable or payable account (or a specific contact’s group of journal items in that account).
In the Reconcile Automatically window, set the Reconcile field depending on how you want to match journal items:
Perfect Match: Each debit journal item will be matched with the corresponding credit journal item of the same value.
Clear Accounts: All reconciled journal items will have the same matching number, as they are selected from the same account.
Click Reconcile.
Invoices and bills are automatically matched to their corresponding payments and marked as In payment until they are reconciled with their corresponding bank transactions.
Registering payments on multiple invoices/credit notes or bills/refunds (group payments)¶
To register payments on multiple invoices/credit notes or bills/refunds, follow these steps:
Go to or .
In the list view, click into the search bar, group by Payment Method, select the relevant invoices/credit notes or bills/refunds and click Pay.
In the Pay window, select the Journal and the Payment Date.
If previously set, the contact’s preferred Payment Method is automatically selected by default but can be updated if necessary.
If using payment terms, the Amount is automatically set based on the installment amounts defined by the payment term. To pay the full amount instead, click full amount.
To combine all payments from the same contact into a single payment, enable the Group Payments option, or leave it unchecked to create separate payments.
Click Create payment.
The invoices or bills are then marked as In payment until they are reconciled with the bank transactions.
The invoices or bills are then marked as In payment until the bank transactions are reconciled with the payments.
Registering a single payment for multiple customers or vendors (batch payments)¶
Batch payments allow grouping payments from multiple customers to ease reconciliation. They are also useful when depositing checks or cash payments to the bank or for generating bank payment files such as SEPA or NACHA.
See also
Payments matching¶
The Payments matching tool opens all unreconciled journal items and allows them to be processed individually, matching all payments and journal items. Go to or go to the Accounting Dashboard, click the (ellipsis) button from the Sales or Purchases journals, and select Payments Matching.
Note
During the reconciliation, if the sum of the debits and credits does not match, there is a remaining balance. This either needs to be reconciled at a later date or written off directly.
Registering a partial payment¶
To register a partial payment, click on Pay from the related invoice or bill.
In the case of a partial payment (when the Amount paid is less than the total remaining amount on the invoice or the bill), fill in the Amount in the Pay window.
In the case of a partial payment (when the Amount paid is less than the total remaining amount on the invoice or the bill), the Payment Difference field displays the outstanding balance. There are two options:
Keep open: Keep the invoice or the bill open and mark it with a Partial banner;
Mark as fully paid: Select an account in the Post Difference In field and change the Label if needed. A journal entry will be created to balance the accounts payable or receivable with the selected account.
Reconciling payments with bank transactions¶
Once a payment has been registered, the status of the invoice or bill is In payment. The next step is reconciling the related bank transaction line with the invoice or bill to finalize the payment workflow and mark the invoice or bill as Paid.
Once a payment has been registered, the status of the invoice or bill is In payment. The next step is reconciling the payment with the related bank transaction line to finalize the payment workflow and mark the invoice or bill as Paid.