# Payment schedules

> Split one sale into a deposit, progress payments and a final payment — each issued as its own invoice, automatically or when the work is done, with one schedule your customer can follow.

Source: https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/payment-schedules/

A **payment schedule** splits one sale into several payments — for example a deposit, progress payments and a final payment. Each payment is issued as its own normal [invoice](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/invoices/), and your customer gets one **Payment Schedule** document that ties them together. The schedule itself never posts to your books; only the invoices it issues do.

Find it under **Sales → Payment Schedules**. Schedule numbers look like `PS-0001`.

## Create a payment schedule

1. Go to **Sales → Payment Schedules** and click **New Payment Schedule** (or, from a [project](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/projects/), **Add to Project → New Payment Schedule**).

2. Fill in the **Invoice Details** — customer, reference, **Issue Date**, currency and tax mode — and the **Line Items** for the whole sale, just like an invoice.

3. In the **Payments** card, split the total:

   * **Quick start:** **50 / 50**, **30 / 30 / 40** or **Deposit + 3 Monthly**.
   * **Split by** **%** or **Amount**.
   * Give each payment a name (e.g. *Deposit*) and a **Due Date**. Use **Add Payment** for more rows. The line under the table tells you when the split is **fully allocated**.

4. Choose **When to issue each invoice**:

   | Option                                        | What happens                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
   | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
   | **Issue each one \[7] days before it’s due**  | Payments due soon are invoiced now; the rest are issued automatically, the chosen number of days (0–365) before each is due. Each counts as sales when it’s issued — suits deposits and work done in stages. |
   | **Issue them all now**                        | Every invoice is issued today, each with its own due date. The full amount counts as sales now — suits a sale that’s complete but paid over time.                                                            |
   | **I’ll issue each one when the work is done** | Nothing is invoiced automatically. Press **Issue Now** on a payment when that stage is finished — the due dates are your plan.                                                                               |

   With the first option, **Email each invoice to the customer when it’s issued** (on by default) emails each automatically issued invoice.

5. Click **Create Payment Schedule**. Any payment that’s already due is invoiced straight away.

**Rules:**

* **2 to 60** payments.
* Percentages must add up to **100%**; amounts must add up to the total exactly. The payments always add up to the total to the cent — rounding goes to the last payment.
* Due dates can’t be before the schedule’s issue date and must be in order.
* Tracked inventory items can’t be on a schedule — invoice them directly.

## How the invoices are issued

Each payment becomes an invoice that is **created and approved automatically** — it posts to your books the moment it’s issued. Its lines read like *“Website build — Deposit (30%)”* and its reference is the schedule number (plus your reference).

* **Automatically** (the “days before due” option): AccountFUN issues each invoice shortly after midnight (your organization’s time zone) on its issue date.
* **By hand**: **Issue Now** on a payment (on the schedule page or the project’s **Payment Schedules** card) invoices it immediately.
* **Never re-issued automatically**: if you void a payment’s invoice, its row shows **Issue Again**; if you delete it, **Issue Now** comes back. Either way you decide when to issue it again.

The invoices together add up exactly to the schedule’s subtotal, tax and total. With **Tax Exclusive** pricing a single invoice can differ from its planned amount by a cent; the final invoice evens it out.

Not every invoice is emailed for you

Only invoices that are issued **later, automatically** are emailed (when the email switch is on). Invoices issued straight away — the deposit when you create the schedule, **Issue them all now**, **Issue Now** / **Issue Again**, and the “when the work is done” option — are not. Send those from the invoice as usual.

## Statuses

| Schedule      | Meaning                                            |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Active**    | Running normally                                   |
| **Overdue**   | At least one issued invoice is past due and unpaid |
| **Paid**      | Every payment has been invoiced and paid in full   |
| **Cancelled** | No more invoices will be issued                    |

| Payment       | Meaning                                                                            |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Scheduled** | Not invoiced yet (shows **Not invoiced yet** on “when the work is done” schedules) |
| **Due**       | Invoiced, unpaid, not yet past due                                                 |
| **Overdue**   | Invoiced, unpaid, past its due date                                                |
| **Paid**      | Its invoice is fully paid                                                          |
| **Cancelled** | Never invoiced, and the schedule was cancelled                                     |

The schedule page shows **Total**, **Paid**, **Invoiced, Unpaid** and **Still to Come**, the **Payments** table, and **What’s Being Invoiced**.

## Send it to your customer

Use **Send** on the schedule page:

* **Print / PDF** — the schedule with each payment’s share, due date, invoice, status, amount and what’s been paid.
* **Email Payment Schedule** — emails the PDF with a **View payment schedule** button. Edit the wording under **Settings → Email Templates → Payment Schedule**.
* **Public Link** — a page your customer can open without logging in. It lists **Invoices ready to pay**, each with a **View & pay** link to that invoice.

Each payment’s invoice is a normal invoice: reminders, online payments (**Pay Now**) and aging all work on it. On the invoice, the details show the **Payment Schedule** it belongs to (e.g. *Deposit · payment 1 of 3*), and the PDF adds a short block under **Balance Due** with the **Schedule Total**, **Paid So Far** and **Remaining After This Invoice**.

Settlement currency

If the customer [settles in another currency](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/settlement-currency/), each issued invoice — including that schedule block — is shown in the settlement currency. The schedule document itself stays in the schedule’s currency.

## Edit or cancel

**Edit** lets you change the payments that haven’t been invoiced yet — rename, re-amount, re-date, remove or add them (**Split Evenly** spreads what’s left). Invoiced payments are locked. The editable payments must add up to what’s left to schedule. You can also change the **Reference** (used on invoices issued from now on) and, for automatic schedules, the days-before and email settings.

Line items, customer, currency and the schedule date can’t change once it’s created — for a change of scope, create a separate invoice or a new schedule.

**Cancel Schedule** stops any further invoices. Invoices already issued stay as they are (void them separately if needed); payments never invoiced show **Cancelled**. Cancelling can’t be undone.

Fixing an issued invoice

An invoice issued from a schedule can’t be reverted to draft. To correct it, **void** it and use **Issue Again** on the schedule.

Tax rates used on a schedule count as “in use”, so they can’t be edited or deleted while the schedule exists.

## Projects

Add a schedule to a [project](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/projects/) and every invoice it issues joins the project automatically. To move a schedule, use **… → Link to Project / Change Project** on the schedule — its invoices move with it. The project shows payments not yet invoiced as **Scheduled**.

## Who can use payment schedules

You need the **Payment Schedules** permission to see them. Creating, editing and **Issue Now** also need **Create Drafts** and **Approve Documents** (because due payments are invoiced and approved straight away); cancelling needs **Void Documents**. See [Roles & permissions](https://www.accountfun.com/docs/guides/roles/).

## Worked example: deposit, progress, final

Northwind sells Blue Harbor a website for **$10,000** (excl. tax).

1. **New Payment Schedule** for Blue Harbor, issued Oct 1, with one line *Website build $10,000*.
2. Pick **30 / 30 / 40** and name the payments *Deposit* (due Oct 1), *Design sign-off* (due Nov 1) and *Launch* (due Dec 1).
3. Keep **Issue each one 7 days before it’s due** with emails on.
4. **Create Payment Schedule.** The deposit invoice (**$3,000**) is issued straight away — send it from the invoice.
5. On Oct 25 AccountFUN issues and emails the *Design sign-off* invoice (**$3,000**); on Nov 24, the *Launch* invoice (**$4,000**).
6. **Send → Email Payment Schedule** so Blue Harbor can follow every payment from one link.