We invoice for a deposit on all jobs in BC. We want the final invoice on job completion to show the deposit reducing the final amount due.

Problem:

We use jobs in Business Central and require a percentage of the total job as a deposit paid prior to start. At the end of the job, we send an invoice for the balance with itemized detail at the end of the job. We want the details from the billable job planning lines to be printed on the final invoice with a line representing the deposit paid and reducing the total amount due. How do I do this?

Answer:

Often with jobs, you want cash up front to purchase materials and the easiest way to do that is require a deposit from the customer. To make this work in BC, we need to make sure that you're setting up your job task and planning lines properly.

For planning lines to be billed, they must be set up as either Budget and Billable, or Billable. To invoice for a deposit without affecting any of the planning lines with items to be included in the final invoice, add a unique job task with planning lines solely for the purpose of invoicing the deposit. This task will need to be in addition to all the other tasks and planning lines that you would normally create for your job.

In the above example, I created Job Task No. 9999 with the description of 'Job Deposit'. This will always be the last Job Task, and a task that is strictly for billing then accounting for the deposit on final invoicing.

Create job planning lines under this task selecting Line Type of Billable, an item with the type of service and a description of ‘Job Deposit’. On the first line, set the Unit Price to the amount of the deposit and Qty to Transfer to Invoice to 1. On the second line, select the same Line Type and item, but set the Unit Price with the amount of the deposit as a negative. DO NOT set the Qty to Transfer to Invoice on this second line. The second line will be used later in the final invoice process. Select the first planning line for the job deposit and using the Create Sales Invoice action, invoice the customer for the deposit.

When it is time to issue the final invoice for the job with all the job planning line detail and the deposit credit reducing the net amount due, go to Job Task No. 9999. Using the second job planning line (with the deposit amount as a negative), set the Qty to Transfer to Invoice = 1. You will select this line with all the other job planning lines to invoice when you select the Create Sales Invoice action for the final invoice.

End result, your final invoice will include all the desired billable detail including a line showing a credit for the Job Deposit. The net amount due will be represented at the bottom of the invoice as the total due. And posting the invoice will clear the amount for the customer deposit account in the GL.

Of course, you will need to make certain that all the accounts are defined properly in the job posting group you associate with the Job Task No. 9999. You should find that even when posting WIP, this process will work. It did for us!

What do you think?

Let me know if you find this to be The Righter Way^TM for you. If you need more help with your situation, reach out.  I am happy to help.