What is this page about: How to send an invoice as an e-invoice, what has to be in place first, how to track it through the network, and what to do if it fails.
On this page
- Before the E-invoice switch appears
- Sending an invoice as an e-invoice
- Tracking its status
- When an e-invoice fails
- FAQ and troubleshooting
- Related articles
Once an entity is registered for e-invoicing and a customer's identifiers are on file, sending them an e-invoice works like sending any other invoice, with one extra switch and a status to check afterwards.
Before the E-invoice switch appears
The E-invoice switch shows in the send dialog once the entity's e-invoicing registration is complete. Until then, the send dialog offers email only. See E-invoicing in Light to register an entity.
The switch can also show greyed out and off when required e-invoice fields are missing. One of these messages appears in grey next to it:
- "Customer is missing e-invoice fields"
- "Company entity is missing e-invoice fields"
- "Customer and company entity are missing e-invoice fields"
Fill in the missing fields on the customer, your entity or both, and the switch becomes available.
Sending an invoice as an e-invoice
- Go to Revenue & Invoicing > Sales invoices and open a complete draft invoice for the customer.
- Click Post, then choose Post & send invoice.
- In the send dialog, switch on E-invoice near the top.
- Leave Email on if you also want to send a PDF copy, then click Post and send.
- On the Sales invoices list, check the E-invoicing column for the invoice. It can take a few minutes to update, so refresh if you don't see a status straight away.
Each time the send dialog opens, E-invoice starts off and Email starts on. Switch E-invoice on for every invoice you want to send this way.
Tracking its status
The E-invoicing column on the Sales invoices list shows where each invoice stands:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| No badge | Not sent as an e-invoice. |
| Sent | Submitted to the network and still being processed. |
| Delivered | The network accepted and delivered the document. This confirms delivery, not that the buyer has opened or processed it. |
| Failed | The network didn't accept it. |
The invoice itself shows a banner while the e-invoice is processing, with the text Processing E-invoice. If it fails, the banner shows an error with the reason. A delivered e-invoice has no banner.
When an e-invoice fails
A failed e-invoice shows Failed in the list and an error banner on the invoice with the reason, usually a missing or invalid field for the buyer's country.
- Open the invoice and read the reason in the banner.
- Fix the field it points to.
- Click Post, choose Post & send invoice again, and switch E-invoice on.
If the switch is greyed out with a "missing e-invoice fields" message, the customer or entity record still has required fields to fill in. Fill those in first, then send again.
To retry, correct the invoice and send it again. In countries where a submitted invoice can't be edited, use Reverse and reissue on the invoice instead. Reverse and reissue works while the invoice is Open. On a Partially paid or Paid invoice it's greyed out with the tooltip "A paid or partially paid invoice cannot be reversed. Settle or reverse the payment first." In that case, correct the invoice another way, for example with a customer credit.
FAQ and troubleshooting
Why does an invoice show Failed?
Read the banner on the invoice for the reason. A missing or invalid field for the buyer's country is the usual cause. Fix it and send again.
Why is there no E-invoice switch in the send dialog?
The entity's e-invoicing registration isn't complete yet. The switch appears once it is.
Why is the E-invoice switch greyed out?
The customer, your entity or both are missing fields e-invoicing needs. The grey text next to the switch says which. Fill those in and the switch becomes usable.
Why does the invoice say "E-invoice submitted, email not sent"?
The e-invoice went through and only the email copy failed. Check the customer's email address and send the email again with Send email, which works on Open, Partially paid and Paid invoices. The e-invoice doesn't need resending.
Why doesn't sending again seem to do anything?
Check that E-invoice is switched on in the send dialog. It starts off every time the dialog opens. If it's greyed out rather than off, see the question above.