Delete an invoice
This article explains how to delete an invoice that you’ve created in FreeAgent.
HMRC guidance states that if you have sent an invoice to your customer and need to make any changes, you should create a credit note for the incorrect invoice, and then send a new invoice to your customer with the correct details. In FreeAgent, you can then match the credit note against the original invoice.
If your business is registered for VAT and you delete an invoice that already appeared on a VAT return that you’ve either filed or marked as filed, FreeAgent won’t apply any changes to the locked return. Instead, if the change results in a material change to the VAT calculated, any VAT corrections will be deferred to your next open VAT return.
If you haven’t sent the invoice to your customer, or you would rather not raise a credit note, then you can follow the steps below to delete the invoice. Please note that an invoice cannot be recovered once it’s been deleted.
To make changes to an invoice, find out how to edit an invoice.
1. Find the invoice
Navigate to the ‘Work’ tab at the top of the screen and select ‘Invoicing’ from the drop-down menu.
If the invoice is a draft invoice, you can jump to step 4 to delete the invoice, otherwise you'll first need to set it back to draft. If the invoice has been marked as paid, you will need to remove the payment before you can mark it back to draft and delete it. If the invoice hasn't been marked as paid, you can mark it back to draft and delete it.
2. Remove the payment
To delete an invoice which has been marked as paid, you’ll need to remove the payment from the invoice first.
Before you remove any explanations previously explained as ‘Invoice Receipt’, please check that you don’t have invoice reminder emails set up in your account to avoid triggering any messages to your customers.
To remove the payment, select the relevant invoice from the list of invoices.
Select the blue payment link at the bottom of the invoice beside the invoice total.
If the invoice was marked as paid by explaining the bank transaction in the Banking area, select ‘Remove this Explanation’ in the top-right to remove the payment from the invoice.
Select 'Yes, remove the explanation' in the pop-up window to complete the process.
If the invoice was marked as paid manually, or the bank transaction was entered manually, select ‘Delete this Entry’ in the top-right instead.
Select ‘Yes, delete this transaction’ in the pop-up window to complete the process.
3. Mark the invoice back to draft status
To mark an invoice back to draft status, select ‘Make Draft’ above the invoice template.
If the invoice has no payment connected to it, you can mark it back to draft status from the main Invoices page by navigating to the ‘Actions’ drop down menu next to the relevant invoice and selecting ‘Mark as draft’.
4. Delete the invoice
You can delete an invoice from within the main Invoices page by navigating to the 'Actions' drop-down menu and selecting ‘Delete’.
Alternatively, if you’re already within the relevant invoice, select ‘Delete’ in the top-right to remove the invoice from your account.
Select ‘Yes, delete now’ in the pop-up window to complete the process.