The Payment form records money leaving your business through bank accounts or cash accounts. Use this form to document all outgoing transactions for accurate financial tracking and reporting.
Common payment types include purchases from suppliers, employee wages, tax payments to government agencies, rent, utilities, and other business expenses. The form provides specialized features for different payment scenarios.
To record a payment, start by selecting the bank or cash account from which the money will be paid. Enter the date when the payment was made or will be made. Then specify who received the payment by selecting the payee type and the specific recipient.
For supplier payments, the system automatically displays any outstanding purchase invoices. You can select which invoices to pay and specify the amount for each. The form shows the invoice balance to help ensure accurate payment allocation.
For other payments, allocate the payment amount to appropriate expense accounts. You can split a single payment across multiple accounts if needed. For example, a utility payment might be split between electricity and water expense accounts.
Mark payments as pending if they haven't cleared your bank account yet. This status helps with bank reconciliation by distinguishing between payments that have been recorded but not yet processed by the bank. Once the payment clears, you can update its status.
The form supports tax tracking by allowing you to specify tax amounts on payment lines. You can also attach supporting documentation such as receipts or invoices to maintain a complete audit trail. Custom fields can be added to capture additional information specific to your business needs.
The payment form contains the following fields:
Enter the date when you made this payment.
This date determines when the payment is recorded in your books and which accounting period it belongs to.
For checks, use the date written on the check. For electronic payments, use the transaction date.
Enter a reference number to uniquely identify this payment.
Common references include check numbers, wire transfer confirmations, or electronic payment IDs.
References help you match payments to bank statements and locate specific transactions later.
Select the Bank account or CashAccount used to make this payment.
The selected account's balance will decrease by the payment amount.
If you haven't created the payment account yet, set it up under Bank and Cash Accounts first.
Select the clearing status for bank payments.
Choose Cleared if the payment has already been deducted from your bank account.
Choose Pending if the payment is issued but not yet showing on your bank statement.
This status is crucial for accurate bank reconciliation and cash flow reporting.
Enter the Exchange rate for converting foreign currency payments to your Base Currency.
This rate applies when making payment from a foreign currency bank account.
The exchange rate determines the base currency value for financial reporting.
You can configure automatic exchange rates under Settings → Exchange Rates.
Select the type of payee receiving this payment.
Choose Customer for refunds, overpayment returns, or other payments to customers.
Choose Supplier for vendor payments, purchase invoices, or supplier prepayments.
Choose Other for payments to non-customer/supplier parties like employees, tax authorities, or loan payments.
Enter an optional description to provide context about this payment.
Descriptions help identify the payment purpose when reviewing transactions.
Include details like invoice numbers, purchase order references, or the reason for payment.
Add line items to allocate this payment to appropriate accounts.
Each line can post to different ExpenseAccounts, apply to Purchase Invoices, or record PurchaseItems.
Use multiple lines to split a single payment across different expense categories or invoices.
Lines without accounts will be automatically allocated to the oldest unpaid invoices for the selected supplier.
Select an Inventory Item or Non-inventory Item to purchase.
When an item is selected, the appropriate expense account is automatically filled based on the item's settings.
Leave blank if you want to manually specify the account instead.
Select the account to categorize this payment line.
If you selected an Item, the account is automatically filled from the item's purchase account setting.
For direct expense payments, choose the appropriate expense account from your Chart of Accounts.
Common expense accounts include utilities, rent, supplies, or professional fees.
For payments to suppliers against invoices, select Accounts payable and then choose the Supplier.
When paying suppliers, you can select a specific Purchase Invoice or leave it automatic.
Automatic allocation applies payments to the oldest unpaid invoices first (FIFO method).
For fixed asset purchases, select Fixed assets, at cost and then the specific Fixed Asset.
For billable expenses that customers will reimburse, select Billable Expenses and the Customer.
For employee payments after payroll, select Employee clearing account and the Employee.
The account selection determines how this payment appears in financial reports and affects account balances.
Enter a description for this payment line.
Descriptions provide details about what this specific line item is paying for.
This field only appears when the Description column is enabled on the payment form.
Enter the quantity of items being purchased.
For inventory items, this updates your stock levels at the specified location.
For services, enter hours, units, or other measurable quantities.
This field only appears when the Qty column is enabled.
Enter the price per unit for this line item.
The unit price multiplied by quantity gives the line total before discounts and tax.
For services, this might be an hourly rate or price per unit of service.
Select the Inventory Location when purchasing inventory items.
This determines which warehouse or location will receive the purchased inventory.
Only appears when you have enabled inventory locations and are purchasing inventory items.
Enable line numbers to display sequential numbering for each payment line.
Line numbers help when discussing or referencing specific lines in complex payments.
Useful for matching payment details to supporting documentation or purchase orders.
Enable the Description column to add detailed explanations for each payment line.
Line descriptions document what each portion of a split payment is for.
Essential for expense payments that need detailed documentation for approval or reimbursement.
Enable Qty and Unit price columns for quantity-based purchases.
Essential for inventory purchases where you need to record quantities and unit costs.
Also useful for services billed by hours, units, or other measurable quantities.
The system calculates line totals by multiplying quantity by unit price.
Enable the Discount column to apply discounts to payment lines.
Choose between percentage discounts or fixed amount discounts.
Discounts are calculated per line and reduce the amount before tax calculations.
Useful for early payment discounts, volume discounts, or negotiated price reductions.
Specify whether line amounts include or exclude tax.
Check this box if amounts are tax-exclusive - tax will be calculated and added to line amounts.
Leave unchecked if amounts already include tax - tax will be calculated but included in the line amount.
This setting affects the final payment total and how tax amounts are displayed.
Enable fixed total to force this payment to match a specific amount.
Useful when you need to match exact bank transaction amounts or handle rounding differences.
Any difference between line items and the fixed total will be automatically posted to SuspenseAccount.
The suspense account entry helps you investigate and correct discrepancies later.
Enable custom title to replace the default 'Payment' heading on forms.
Useful for creating specialized payment types like 'Expense Reimbursement' or 'Vendor Payment'.
The custom title appears on printed and emailed payment forms.
Enable the tax amount column to display calculated tax for each line.
Shows how tax is calculated line by line, with rounding applied to each line separately.
Helps verify tax calculations and ensures compliance with tax rounding rules.
The total tax is the sum of individually rounded line taxes, not a calculation on the total.
Enable custom footers to add additional information at the bottom of payment forms.
Footers can include payment terms, remittance instructions, or authorization signatures.
Create reusable footers under Settings → Footers and select them here.