Invoicing

Two ways to invoice, chosen by the garage in Settings › Garage, Invoicing section:

Built-in invoicing (Issue invoices in Garage+ box ticked): Garage+ issues the invoice, numbers it and produces its PDF. See Invoice in Garage+.
External software (box unticked, the default): you issue the invoice in your invoicing software (Qonto, Pennylane, a spreadsheet…) and Garage+ keeps the link between the work order and its invoice: its number and its date. This is the rest of this page, from “Mark a work order as “Invoiced”” onwards.

With built-in invoicing, Garage+ also tracks the payments of each invoice: amount due, taking payment, cancelling and moving a payment. See Take a payment. With external software, payments stay in that software. This tracking needs the Payments and cash register feature (Settings › Features): without it, the invoice carries a simple Paid checkbox.

Invoice in Garage+

Issue the invoice

Complete the work order.
In the Invoice card of the page’s Documents section, open the invoice preview (PDF marked “Draft”) and check it.
Click Invoice, check the Payment terms (the client’s, otherwise the garage default; the due date shows below), then Issue the invoice.

The invoice gets a number of its own within the garage, F-YYYY-NNNNN (for example F-2026-00001): the series restarts at 1 every year and never skips a number. The work order moves to Invoiced and is locked. PDF (original) appears in the Invoice card (Documents section), then PDF (duplicate) once the original has been delivered. The invoice’s original PDF is produced only once, when it is issued, and stored in Documents › Stored copies (category Invoice) with its fingerprint: it can be neither changed nor deleted, even when the client is anonymised (the same goes for credit notes). It is delivered only once: see Original and duplicates. Send invoice F-… (and Send credit note A-… for each credit note) opens the shared send dialog: the billing contact of the invoice’s client comes first, with up to two contacts in copy (see Messages and notifications).

The invoice follows the usual layout of a garage invoice: garage and client details, customer number, served by (the technician in charge of the job, otherwise the person issuing it), date, vehicle (make, model, chassis number, first registration, registration number, mileage, repair order number), original quote, lines, totals excluding VAT, VAT per rate and amount due, due date, legal notices.

Line prices: shown including VAT for a private client, excluding VAT for a business. The totals excluding VAT, VAT and including VAT are always printed and prevail; a line’s price including VAT is rounded to the cent, so the sum of the lines may differ from the total by one cent.

An issued invoice never changes, even if the client, the vehicle or the garage change afterwards, and even if the client is anonymised: an invoice is kept for ten years.

Invoice and collect

When the customer comes to collect their vehicle, Invoice and collect (main button of the action bar of a Completed work order) does the invoice and the payment in a single dialog, in four taps:

Invoice and collect: step ① Issue sums up the draft (lines, Total excl. VAT, VAT, Total incl. VAT), the payment terms and, if any are missing, the fields of the client record.
Issue and continue: the invoice is issued exactly as with Issue the invoice (number, fiscal journal, original stored).
Step ② Collect is the payment dialog: the customer’s usual method is already selected and the amount prefilled; Confirm €X.
Return the vehicle → opens the vehicle return form.

These are two separate operations: if the payment is refused (cash ceiling, for example) or if you close the dialog after issuing, the invoice stays issued, unpaid; the Payments section then shows Amount due €X and the Take payment button. From a work order in progress, Finish, invoice and collect (Invoice section) opens the same wizard, moving the work order to Completed first (see Finish and invoice). Issue only (⋯ menu of the action bar) issues the invoice without taking a payment. In the Workshop list, the To invoice tab offers Invoice and collect on each row, and the Invoices tab shows the Amount due column (Paid, amount or Overpaid) and Take payment for a work order still due.

You need to be allowed to issue an invoice and take payments (Administrator and Reception roles); otherwise the action bar offers Invoice as before. Without the Payments and cash register feature, it only offers Invoice, and the Workshop list has no Amount due column.

Deducted deposits

If the customer paid one or more deposits on the work order, the invoice deducts them by itself when it is issued: it shows the full total of the work (excl. VAT, VAT per rate, incl. VAT), then Deposits already invoiced (number, date, excl. VAT, VAT and incl. VAT of each deposit invoice) and Amount due. Step ① Issue of Invoice and collect already shows this deduction. The full credit note of the invoice copies its deposits and releases them: the next invoice of the work order deducts them again. Without the Payments and cash register feature, a deposit already collected stays deducted, but its deposit credit note requires turning the feature back on. A partial credit note never credits more than the net payable.

Already paid by a third party

An invoice can carry an amount already paid by a third party (eco bonus, insurance, manufacturer warranty, finance company), recorded with the invoice using a payment method of the “Third-party payer” kind: tick Paid by a third party in the issue dialog (or Finish and invoice, or step ① Issue of Invoice and collect), choose the third-party payer and the amount, at most the net payable (see Third-party payer). The PDF prints “Already paid: (method)” under the total, then Amount due. This line is frozen when the invoice is issued; Garage+ checks that it matches exactly the third-party payments recorded with the invoice. Without the Payments and cash register feature, the issue dialog does not offer this box.

Payment terms and due date

The issue dialog (and Finish and invoice) offers the garage’s active payment terms: the one on the client record is preselected, otherwise the default; you can choose another one for this invoice. The due date is computed by Garage+ when the invoice is issued (days, end of month, day of the following month) and the invoice keeps a copy of the term: the PDF prints “Payment terms: 30 days end of month on the 15th — due on 15 May 2026”. A term changed or archived later does not change an issued invoice. A credit note has no due date.

The “Paid” checkbox

When the Payments and cash register feature is turned off (Features), Garage+ records no payment. An issued invoice then carries a Paid checkbox, in the Invoice card of the work order. It comes with the note “A simple reminder for you: Garage+ records no payment.”

Tick it when the customer has paid: it carries no amount, no method, no payment date. Underneath, Garage+ writes “Marked as paid on … by …” (the date and the person).
It can be unticked.
A Paid badge appears on the invoice in the Workshop list and, in the simple version, in the Documents section of the work order.
A credit note and a deposit invoice do not have this box.
An invoice that already carries payments recorded in the cash register shows the note “Payments recorded in the cash register” instead, without a box. The same goes for a final invoice that deducts a deposit, or one issued “already paid”: it has no box either.
When deposits exceed the invoice total, you must turn on Payments and cash register (Settings › Features) to issue the deposit credit note, then the invoice.
Turning the feature on makes the box disappear. Its history is kept, but only recorded payments count.

The box does not belong to the issued invoice: the invoice, its PDF and the fiscal journal do not change when you tick it. It changes no total, export or closing.

Complete client record

An invoice is issued only for a client whose record holds what the invoice must print:

for every client: the street address, the postcode, the city and the country;
for a business established in France: a valid SIRET;
for a business established in another European Union country: its intra-EU VAT number, from that country.

Nothing is required when the record is created: reception is never slowed down. It is when invoicing that the Issue the invoice dialog (like Finish and invoice) shows, if anything is missing, the Incomplete client record block with only the missing fields. The address is entered as in the client record: type it in Search an address and pick a suggestion (street, postcode, city and country fill in, and the address is then verified) rather than typing it by hand. Enter the rest and click Complete the record: the client record is updated (nothing else changes in it), then Issue the invoice becomes possible. Without the permission to edit clients, the dialog says so and offers to open the record: ask an authorised member to complete it. Garage+ checks again when issuing, and refuses the invoice of an incomplete client (“Incomplete client record”). A credit note is never blocked: it takes the invoice as it was issued.

Original and duplicates

Every invoice and credit note issued is recorded in the Garage+ fiscal journal at the very moment it is issued (NF525 foundation); the PDF shows at the bottom a short signature (eight characters taken from the document’s signature), the software version (“Garage+ 1.0”) and a compliance notice. The PDF of a demo garage shows “Demo garage — document has no value” at the top and at the foot of every page, the watermark “DEMO — no value”, and no compliance notice.

The first delivery of the document — first download or first email — is the original stored when it was issued. Every later delivery is a duplicate: a PDF identical in every respect, with “DUPLICATE No. N — original issued on …” at the top and the delivery’s rank; its name ends with -duplicate-N.pdf. Every delivery (original or duplicate, download or email) is counted and recorded in the fiscal journal; the Invoice card shows “Original delivered on … · N duplicates”, and its button announces the next delivery: PDF (original) or PDF (duplicate). Opening the PDF (in a new tab) is a delivery just like a download: it counts, and gives a duplicate after the original. In Documents › Stored copies, an invoice’s original and its emailed duplicates also open with Download (handover counted), never as an ordinary document. A download interrupted before it completes counts nothing; an email is counted when it is scheduled (a refused send counts nothing), even if its delivery fails afterwards.

Cancel the invoice with a credit note

An issued invoice cannot be corrected. If there is a mistake, choose Completed under Reopen in the Status menu, then Issue the credit note: Garage+ issues a credit note for the full amount of the invoice, numbered A-YYYY-NNNNN, and the work order goes back to Completed (stock does not move). You can then reopen the work order, correct it and invoice it again: the new invoice takes the next number in the series. The invoice and the credit note can still be downloaded from the history of the Invoice section.

If the invoice had been paid (and the Payments and cash register feature is turned on), the credit note dialog offers Refund now: the negative payment is recorded with the credit note, with the chosen method; otherwise the customer keeps an overpayment, to be refunded later from the Payments section (see Refund).

Partial credit note

To refund only part of the invoice (a returned part, one hour of labour too many), click Issue a partial credit note in the Invoice card: tick the lines to refund and adjust the quantity (never more than what is left to credit). The credit note, numbered A-YYYY-NNNNN like a full credit note, applies the invoice’s overall discount. The invoice remains current and the work order Invoiced; issued credit notes can be downloaded next to the invoice. If your credit notes end up refunding every line, the last one settles the invoice and the work order goes back to Completed. As with a full credit note, the dialog offers to Refund now the overpayment the credit note creates, and only that.

A credit note is no longer possible for an anonymised client.

The document timeline, at the top of the page, shows the invoice and each credit note; a click opens their panel (PDF, send, credit note, the document’s sends).

Finish and invoice

From a planned, in progress or waiting work order (or a quote, if your garage allows moving straight to “Completed”), the Finish and invoice button in the Invoice card does both steps at once: the work order moves to Completed, then the invoice is issued and the work order moves to Invoiced. The dialog recalls the target status, offers the invoiced status if your garage has several, and links to the invoice preview; Issue the invoice confirms.

Everything happens in one go: if issuing is refused (incomplete legal notices, accepted quote required but missing, “Completed” transition not allowed in your statuses, work order without lines), nothing changes and the work order stays where it was. As when a work order is completed the usual way, parts leave stock and timers still running are stopped.

The proforma invoice

A proforma is a preview of the invoice given to the client before the invoice (for approval, financing or an advance payment). It is not an invoice: it has no number, uses no number of the series, carries the fixed title “PROFORMA – NOT AN INVOICE” and the notice “Document with no accounting value”; it is neither kept nor chained as an accounting record. It shows the work order’s current lines, totals, legal footer and IBAN, and the terms of sale if the “Proforma” kind attaches them.

In the Invoice card, the ⋯ menu offers:

Download the proforma: the PDF, rebuilt on every request;
Send the proforma: the shared send dialog; the proforma is rendered and stored in Documents › Stored copies (category Proforma) on every send.

The proforma requires built-in invoicing; it is no longer offered once the work order is invoiced or cancelled.

Invoicing settings

In Settings › Garage, Invoicing section:

Issue invoices in Garage+: refused while the garage’s required legal notices are missing (company name, legal form, share capital, register, SIRET, VAT number, address); the Incomplete legal notices banner lists them. If a required notice is cleared later, invoicing stays on but no invoice can be issued until it is completed (the banner also shows in the work order’s Invoice section).
Payment term (days): replaced by payment terms (see Payment terms and due date). A garage that had set a delay finds it again as its default term.
Invoice footer terms: an additional free text, shared by the invoice, the credit note and the proforma, edited in Settings › Documents; the same page hides the Reference column of the invoice or credit note (choice copied when issued; the “Invoice” or “Credit note” title is fixed). The legal footer (company name and form, share capital, register, SIRET, VAT number, NAF code, website) is built by Garage+ from the garage’s legal notices.
Notices added automatically: late payment penalties (three times the statutory interest rate) and, for a business client, the fixed €40 recovery fee and the absence of early payment discount; “VAT not applicable, article 293 B of the French General Tax Code” for a VAT-exempt garage (no line with VAT is then accepted); “Option for payment of VAT on debits” if the option is ticked; “Payment by bank transfer: IBAN … · BIC …” with the default bank account (on the invoice, not on the credit note).

These elements are copied when the invoice is issued: an invoice keeps its legal footer and IBAN even if your notices or account change afterwards; its credit note reuses those of the invoice. Invoices issued before these notices existed keep their original layout.

When built-in invoicing is turned on, entering an external invoice number is no longer offered. Work orders already linked to an external invoice keep their number and are cancelled as before, with a credit note entered by hand.

Mark a work order as “Invoiced”

Complete the work order.
Issue the invoice in your invoicing software.
On the work order page, click Invoice (or choose Invoiced in the Status menu), enter the invoice number as it appears on the invoice and its date (today by default, never in the future), then Save.

The work order is then locked: neither the lines, the mileage, the request and work, nor the client can change. Comments and documents remain possible. The Invoice card of the page’s Documents section shows the number, the date, the person who entered it and the day it was entered. The Invoice section also shows the reference accepted quote (the most recent accepted version, see Quotes).

The number accepts letters, digits, spaces and . / _ + # - (40 characters at most), and starts and ends with a letter or a digit. Capitals, spaces and separators do not tell two numbers apart: F-2026-00042 and f 2026 00042 are the same.

One number, one client

An invoice number belongs to one client of your garage. You can enter it on several work orders of the same client (a summary invoice for a fleet, for example); Garage+ refuses it for another client.

Attach the invoice

Upload the invoice PDF in the work order’s Photos and documents, category Invoice. It is a convenience copy: the original and its retention (10 years) remain in your invoicing software.

Correct a typing error

If you made a mistake copying the invoice number or date, click Correct the number in the Invoice card: the work order stays Invoiced, the new reference replaces the old one, and the old one remains visible in the invoice history (“Number … corrected on …”). The old number can be used again, including for another client.

This correction is only for a typing error. If the invoice was cancelled in your invoicing software, do not correct it: record a credit note.

Cancel the invoice with a credit note

An invoiced work order is not cancelled. If the invoice must be cancelled, issue a credit note in your invoicing software, then choose Completed under Reopen in the Status menu and enter the credit note number. The work order goes back to “Completed”, the invoice stays in the history (“cancelled by credit note …”) and its number can no longer be used. You can then reopen the work order, edit it and invoice it again with a new number.

The credit note number follows the same format as an invoice number. It cannot be the number of an invoice of your garage. The only exception is a number entered by mistake and then corrected, which is no longer the number of an invoice. A credit note serves one invoice only: only the work orders of the same summary invoice share the same credit note number.

Summary invoice (one number entered on several work orders of the same client): the credit note cancels the invoice for all its work orders, but Garage+ does not carry it over by itself. Enter the credit note on each work order of the invoice, with the same credit note number. Until then, the other work orders stay “Invoiced” with that number, which can no longer be entered again, even to correct the date: record the credit note on them.

Find an invoice

The work order search finds a work order by its invoice number, even partial, even old (corrected or cancelled by a credit note). The list shows the number of the current invoice of each invoiced work order.

Work orders invoiced before this version

If a work order was invoiced before numbers were recorded, the Invoice card says “Invoice number missing”: click Enter the number. As long as the number is missing, the status of the work order does not change.

Statuses and transitions

In the Settings menu, under Work order statuses (see Statuses and resources), forbidden transitions are greyed out: from an invoiced status, a work order only goes to a completed status (through a credit note) or to another invoiced status.

Who can do what

Action	Permission
See the invoice of a work order	View work orders
Mark as “Invoiced”, correct the number	Link work orders to their invoices and Create and track work orders
Cancel the invoice with a credit note	both of the above and Reopen a completed, invoiced or cancelled work order
Finish and invoice	Link work orders to their invoices and Create and track work orders
Download the proforma	View work orders and View clients
Send the proforma	Create and track work orders, View clients, Add photos and documents and Notify clients

The Reception role has these permissions; the Technician role does not invoice.