You can just record a payment for an invoice that doesn't cover the full amount of the invoice. Wave won't stop you. Do the same thing you usually do to record a payment, just put in the partial amount.
What's the best way to accept a partial payment as a deposit on a project? As you might guess from my username we're in the handyman business, and sometimes we require a deposit up front. I have a client right now requesting an invoice for this deposit, but since the work hasn't been done we don't know what the exact total would be so I hesitate to issue an invoice. Can payments be applied toward estimates? I guess I could issue two separate invoices, one for the deposit and one for the actual work less the amount paid up front, but I'd rather not have two separate transactions for one job.
@HandymanHeadlee said:
What's the best way to accept a partial payment as a deposit on a project? As you might guess from my username we're in the handyman business, and sometimes we require a deposit up front. I have a client right now requesting an invoice for this deposit, but since the work hasn't been done we don't know what the exact total would be so I hesitate to issue an invoice. Can payments be applied toward estimates? I guess I could issue two separate invoices, one for the deposit and one for the actual work less the amount paid up front, but I'd rather not have two separate transactions for one job.
You could always give them a receipt for the deposit and explain that you only issue invoices when the work is carried out? You can buy receipt books from most stationers.
Are your deposits non refundable? If so you could issue an invoice BUT why not call it a booking fee rather than a deposit, then you'd be invoicing for the booking not the work, with a separate bill later for the work done with a negative line entry for the value of the booking fee. The beauty of booking fees is that by their nature they are non refundable, deposits can be somewhat contentious if somebody cancels on you.
Hey @Dixitex. Thanks for your feedback on a potential feature here! Although we still don't have any immediate plans on implement something such as this, I would be happy to know how this would be vital and improve your workflow when using Wave so we can pass the information along to our product team for a potential add in the future.
Here's an example of how this would help our workflow. On May 1 a customer accepts an estimate of $5000 for a home improvement project, with work beginning June 1 and completed June 15. This would be paid in three installments; a deposit of $1500 by May 15 to purchase materials, an installment of $1500 on June 8 (halfway through the project) to pay contractors, and a final payment of the actual balance due at the completion of the project on June 15. Until the work is completed on June 15, there is no invoice these payments can be applied toward, and additionally we don't have a final invoice amount until the project is finished. It seems the simplest way to handle this would be to apply the first two payments to an estimate, then create an invoice from the estimate reflecting the first two payments and showing the actual final balance due.
This is also a good example of why small businesses prefer cash accounting vs. accrual. In this particular example, with accrual accounting all these payments are reflected in June, giving an artificial bump to reported vs actual June cash in hand. It also will likely result in May expenses exceeding May income, as the materials for the June project will be purchased in May with the deposit which was also received in May. I know you guys are working on adding more cash accounting features but I will keep beating this drum until I see them Wave is an awesome tool, but the lack of true cash accounting is beginning to be a deal breaker for us. Thanks as always for listening!
We also have this issue. We have people pay on account for the following year and we just have to leave it sitting there, and remember sometimes up for 10 months later that they made a payment against the invoice we just raised. If we forget they pay again which may seem like a good thing but it creates more work for everyone.
Hey @CedarHeights! Thanks for providing your feedback here! Wave is accrual based so if you do use cash based there can be areas of friction. Have you viewed some of the posts in the thread above that @MerlinAccounts_UK has referred to? He offers some great points you could use in the mean time!
I'm a designer and artist. For big design jobs I usually receive a deposit that is non-refundable. Wave has been much easier for me to manage than quickbooks ever was—as I am not very good with book-keeping. I like the idea you have about issuing an invoice for a "booking fee" as a work-around and then not issuing the invoice until the job is done since sometimes the estimate changes as more projects are added.
I will implement this idea but in the meantime— I have an invoice where I issued the entire thing so that I could record the deposit payment which shows as partial payment. But since then, the job was canceled and I won't be receiving a final payment. How do I close out that invoice? Do I just edit the amount on the invoice and make note of the reason? (I assume the estimate would stay the same as the original amount issued?)
homeprotec
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You can just record a payment for an invoice that doesn't cover the full amount of the invoice. Wave won't stop you. Do the same thing you usually do to record a payment, just put in the partial amount.
You can then enter further partial payments against the same invoice later, and Wave will log them all until the invoice is paid in full.
What's the best way to accept a partial payment as a deposit on a project? As you might guess from my username we're in the handyman business, and sometimes we require a deposit up front. I have a client right now requesting an invoice for this deposit, but since the work hasn't been done we don't know what the exact total would be so I hesitate to issue an invoice. Can payments be applied toward estimates? I guess I could issue two separate invoices, one for the deposit and one for the actual work less the amount paid up front, but I'd rather not have two separate transactions for one job.
You could always give them a receipt for the deposit and explain that you only issue invoices when the work is carried out? You can buy receipt books from most stationers.
That's my current thinking, @MerlinAccounts_UK. Just seems like there should be a less awkward way to do this!
Are your deposits non refundable? If so you could issue an invoice BUT why not call it a booking fee rather than a deposit, then you'd be invoicing for the booking not the work, with a separate bill later for the work done with a negative line entry for the value of the booking fee. The beauty of booking fees is that by their nature they are non refundable, deposits can be somewhat contentious if somebody cancels on you.
@MerlinAccounts_UK, I like that Idea! Thank you!
I would also like to be able to allocate payments to estimates as I also receive up front deposits and the progress payments.
Hey @Dixitex. Thanks for your feedback on a potential feature here! Although we still don't have any immediate plans on implement something such as this, I would be happy to know how this would be vital and improve your workflow when using Wave so we can pass the information along to our product team for a potential add in the future.
Here's an example of how this would help our workflow. On May 1 a customer accepts an estimate of $5000 for a home improvement project, with work beginning June 1 and completed June 15. This would be paid in three installments; a deposit of $1500 by May 15 to purchase materials, an installment of $1500 on June 8 (halfway through the project) to pay contractors, and a final payment of the actual balance due at the completion of the project on June 15. Until the work is completed on June 15, there is no invoice these payments can be applied toward, and additionally we don't have a final invoice amount until the project is finished. It seems the simplest way to handle this would be to apply the first two payments to an estimate, then create an invoice from the estimate reflecting the first two payments and showing the actual final balance due.
This is also a good example of why small businesses prefer cash accounting vs. accrual. In this particular example, with accrual accounting all these payments are reflected in June, giving an artificial bump to reported vs actual June cash in hand. It also will likely result in May expenses exceeding May income, as the materials for the June project will be purchased in May with the deposit which was also received in May. I know you guys are working on adding more cash accounting features but I will keep beating this drum until I see them
Wave is an awesome tool, but the lack of true cash accounting is beginning to be a deal breaker for us. Thanks as always for listening!
I agree that partial payment invoicing would be great, like icing on the cake!
Thank you for the consideration!
We also have this issue. We have people pay on account for the following year and we just have to leave it sitting there, and remember sometimes up for 10 months later that they made a payment against the invoice we just raised. If we forget they pay again which may seem like a good thing but it creates more work for everyone.
Hey @CedarHeights! Thanks for providing your feedback here! Wave is accrual based so if you do use cash based there can be areas of friction. Have you viewed some of the posts in the thread above that @MerlinAccounts_UK has referred to? He offers some great points you could use in the mean time!
I'm a designer and artist. For big design jobs I usually receive a deposit that is non-refundable. Wave has been much easier for me to manage than quickbooks ever was—as I am not very good with book-keeping. I like the idea you have about issuing an invoice for a "booking fee" as a work-around and then not issuing the invoice until the job is done since sometimes the estimate changes as more projects are added.
I will implement this idea but in the meantime— I have an invoice where I issued the entire thing so that I could record the deposit payment which shows as partial payment. But since then, the job was canceled and I won't be receiving a final payment. How do I close out that invoice? Do I just edit the amount on the invoice and make note of the reason? (I assume the estimate would stay the same as the original amount issued?)
@JamieD and @EmmaP,
could we get a "Partially Paid" status indicator added to the Invoices list?