Follow up an invoice and record a partial payment
Check the due date, record money actually received, follow up the remaining balance and keep payment separate from Peppol delivery.
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- Freelancers · Small business owners · People following customer payments
At a glance
Open the saved invoice, check its balance and due date, record only confirmed receipts, then follow up the remaining amount using the original invoice number.
Before you begin
- A saved customer invoice and agreed payment terms
- Confirmation of any money actually received
What you will achieve
- An accurate partial-payment history and remaining balance
- A clear payment follow-up without duplicate invoices
On this page
An invoice can be delivered, approved and still unpaid. Start with the agreed due date and the money you have actually received. A calm follow-up with the right invoice number is usually more useful than sending the invoice again.
This routine works for customer invoices generally. The Peppol checks below describe OrdoGrid's supported send flow for Belgian suppliers. Your company's OrdoGrid subscription bill is separate from money a customer owes you; use the customer invoice's settlement panel for this work.
Check the invoice before contacting the customer
Open Factures, find the saved invoice and check its client, number, currency, total and due date. Open the invoice details or choose Edit to see Settlement. Read Outstanding and Movement history, including any credit note, earlier payment or refund.
Check your own payment evidence against that invoice. A customer's “payment scheduled” message is useful information, but it does not establish that you received the money. If the receipt reference is unclear, ask which invoice it covers before recording it.
For a Belgian Peppol send, open Peppol → Outbox and use Actualiser or the row's Vérifier action to check delivery. Network delivery and the buyer's processing response are different stages, as OpenPeppol explains. Neither replaces your evidence of receipt. If transmission is uncertain, resolve that with support rather than creating a second bill.
Record the amount that arrived
When a saved invoice has an outstanding balance and you have permission to record movements:
- Choose Record payment in Settlement.
- Enter the amount received in the invoice's currency. The suggested outstanding amount is not proof that the customer paid it all.
- Choose the actual method, such as bank transfer or cash.
- Enter the receipt time in Occurrence time (UTC). This field uses UTC; convert a local time when needed rather than assuming it displays your local zone.
- Add a useful reference, such as the customer's payment reference.
- Confirm that the money has already been received, then choose Record payment.
This records a receipt; it does not initiate a bank transfer or charge the customer. Check the updated balance and history after confirmation. If the action is unavailable, ask the person who manages your company access to check your permissions.
A partial-payment example
Suppose invoice INV-2026-041 totals €1,200, with an agreed due date of 31 October. You receive €400 on 20 October. With no credits or refunds, record €400, leaving €800 outstanding.
Before 31 October, that €800 is a remaining balance, not an overdue amount. If it has not arrived after the due date, follow up for €800 using INV-2026-041. Do not create a new €800 invoice: it is part of the original debt.
If the customer later pays €800, record that second receipt separately. The history then explains both receipts. Payments already include prepayments in the summary; do not add the prepayment figure to the payment figure again.
Write a useful reminder
Contact the client's billing contact through your usual agreed channel. State the invoice number, date, original total, money received, remaining balance and due date. Ask whether a purchase reference, approval or other information is holding payment up.
For example: “Could you check INV-2026-041, due 31 October? We received €400 on 20 October against the €1,200 total. The remaining balance is €800. Please let me know if you need a reference or expect a particular payment date.”
Send a copy only when it helps identify the original invoice, and make clear it is the same bill. Keep a short note of the response and your next follow-up date. This is a manual routine; recording a payment does not itself send a reminder.
Handle mistakes without rewriting history
If you recorded the wrong receipt, use Reverse payment on that movement when your permissions allow it. Confirm that it was recorded in error, then record the correct movement. Reversal preserves a linked history; it does not undo a real bank transfer.
If a credit changes what the customer owes, or an overpayment needs refunding, check the linked documents and discuss the treatment with your accountant. Record a refund only after it actually happened. Do not change an issued invoice's original amounts or VAT to make the balance look right.
Download Current statement for today's settlement picture and keep Original document for the original invoice. For a clean month-end handover, follow prepare files for your accountant.