The invoicing module in VAT4U is designed to help experts and franchisee companies efficiently manage and issue invoices for the services they provide to clients directly within the platform. By utilizing the invoicing module, VAT experts can centralize their invoicing operations, ensuring that all services provided are accurately documented and billed, all within a single platform. 

To start using the invoicing module in VAT4U, companies simply need to request activation by contacting the VAT4U team. Once the request is made, we will set up the necessary template and sequence numbers for invoices, enabling the invoicing functionality. 

VAT4U offers flexibility in how fees are calculated—whether based on claimed amounts, the number of submitted claims, or approved amounts. These preferences can be easily configured in the pricing settings for each company by navigating to the Companies tab and selecting the desired company.

In the Billing tab, users can specify the recipient of invoices for a specific company. Typically, the client entity itself receives the invoice, but if the client has multiple entities, one entity can be designated to handle invoices for all services across the group. Additionally, the module allows for setting up automated Payment Reminder Emails, ensuring clients are notified if an invoice remains unpaid. 

The Invoicing tab in the settings allows you to define the invoice and order number formats for your system. The invoice number format typically includes a placeholder for the year and a sequence number. For example, you can set the format to include the year (e.g., "2024") followed by a sequence number (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4). This ensures that each invoice generated will be automatically numbered in the correct order, such as "Invoice 2024-1", "Invoice 2024-2", and so on.

The order number format is generally less important as it does not always need to be tied to accounting records. However, you can still define a sequence number to help keep track of orders. By setting up these formats, you'll maintain a clear and consistent numbering system for both invoices and orders within the invoicing module.

In the Invoicing Module under Manage Orders, each claim created generates an associated order, which serves as a pre-calculation for the fee. The order provides an overview of the amounts and allows you to track claims that have not yet been invoiced. If your invoicing is based on the claimed amount, you can directly generate an invoice from the order once the claim is approved. You can customize the currency settings, add additional lines, and link orders to specific claims as needed inside each order:

In the Manage Invoices tab, you can create invoices in two main ways:

Free-Text Invoice: If you need to create an invoice from scratch, you can choose to generate a free-text invoice. This option allows you to invoice any service provided to the client without linking it to a specific order or claim. Simply click "Create Invoice," fill in the relevant details, and generate the invoice.

Invoice from Manage Orders: If you select "Create Invoice" under Manage Orders, the invoice will be associated with a specific order or claim (whether it has been created, submitted, or refunded). You can also attach additional documents as per the options below:

You can also track payment status: mark the invoice as "Paid" when you receive payment or send a reminder email if payment is pending. For recurring invoices, you can duplicate an existing invoice to save time. If needed, invoices can also be deleted.

The Manage Pricing feature allows you to manage the pricing for all your companies from one centralized location, making it easier to set up and maintain pricing. Instead of going into each company's settings individually, you can select the company from the Manage Pricing section.

A key benefit of this feature is the ability to quickly copy pricing setups between companies. For example, if you have 50 clients and want to set up pricing for a new client, you can simply select an existing company that already has the desired pricing setup. By clicking "Copy," all the pricing information from the ABC Company will be applied to the new client, saving you time and ensuring consistency across your accounts.

When sending an invoice to a client directly from VAT4U, you can now customize both the subject line and the body of the email directly within the sending window. Please note that the system will suggest email content in German only if the "Billed To" party's Country of Establishment is Germany. For all other countries, the suggested content will be in English.