Sales invoice form defaults not picked up when invoicing billable time

#1

Hi
My main workflow is to log billable time, then to create invoices from the customer screen.
I have to remember ever time to go and edit the invoice and set GST on each line item.
Can I make this the detault some how? I can’t see an option… sorry if I’ve missed something obvious.

Thanks

Jon

#2

read this guide on how to set defaults for forms https://guides.manager.io/14059

#3

I just tested this and even if GST is set as the default tax for a line item in the Sales Invoice, it still doesn’t take effect when generating an invoice from the Billable Time records.

I would say that this is likely to be a bug. Even if a default is set, generating an invoice from billable time ignores it.

#4

i do not use the billable time feature personally. but like @ShaneAU discovered, invoicing the billable time ignores the form defaults set for sales invoices.

also i personally do not like the workflow and the form itself for two reasons.

  1. it directly creates the invoice rather than giving the user the ability to add anything else to the invoice. i understand the user can edit the invoice and add details but that is additional step.

  2. why doesn’t the billable time tab offer to add a tax rate? i believe in most countries any form of service is taxable.

#5

This is not universally true. But I can’t see any reason not to offer the option.

I am moving this topic to the Bugs category (with a change of title).

#6

you separated a single question to two parts.
the form defaults set for sales invoices not being picked up when invoicing billable time is a bug.

the above should be considered as an idea maybe? or is there a reason its not made available?

#7

you can ignore my above post @Tut

request to add tax codes for billable time is already under the ideas category. i just checked.

#8

As I have thought more about this, I think there actually may be a reason. When billable time is entered, an asset is debited (to the Billable time account). This asset is real, because time has been expended that can generate future revenue. To balance the asset, income is credited to Billable time - movement. But tax is not applied or due until invoicing. When it is, the liability in Tax payable is balanced in Accounts receivable. So if you applied tax at the moment of entering billable time, not only would you be recording a liability that does not technically exist yet, you would also have nowhere to post it without unbalancing the accounts.

Billable time entries are not just stored information. They are financial transactions. And only the value of the time has been accrued when the entry is made. The tax transaction comes later, when the invoice is raised. So implementing tax at the moment of billable time entry would require a departure from the way the program now operates. Whether that is feasible, I don’t know.

#9

while your explanation makes sense, i just feel the need to discuss a bit more on this.

why not provide the user an option to set the tax rate for billable time and effect the transaction only when invoiced? until invoiced the tax is not applied to the accounts.

also, i see two problems already.

  1. if a sales invoice has a tax set as form default, invoicing the billable time should change the tax code accordingly just like it happens now when an inventory saved with a different tax code is selected in a sales invoice.
  2. if there is no tax code set for the billable time, when invoicing, Manager should remove the tax code set as form default for sales invoice.

this should be taken care of to avoid mistakes because Manager does not provide any additional steps when invoicing billable time and just creates the invoice directly without any additional user entry.

#10

Thanks for discussion guys. I think I agree with both of you:

  1. The tax doesn’t belong on the billable time itself in the current model

  2. There should be an option to default it on when it gets added to an invoice. Sooner or later I am going to forget to go in and set it and send out an invoice without GST, and that will cause me problems

#11

But alternatively, the Billable Time itself could be flagged / tagged on being entered so that when it’s added to an invoice the tax becomes triggered. Using a default locks you in to being either all in or all out.

#12

I seem to remember a similar discussion about having tax triggered when making an invoice from billable expenses.

#13

The issues would be identical for both billable time and billable expenses.

#14

@lubos any chance of a feature request to be able to default to apply tax to an invoice created from billlable time?
Congratulations on the product by the way, it’s an awesome bit of software!

#15

your request had been discussed earlier and is in the ideas category.

#16

Default tax code for billable time can be configured under Chart of Accounts. Simply set default tax code on account Billable time - invoiced.

This will make your invoices automatically have relevant tax code on each line item.

As for making amounts on invoices automatically tax inclusive, that I’m able to set in Form Defaults and Manager does respect it.

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Linking Sales Tax with Billable Time
#17

Thankyou @lubos , that did the trick perfectly.
(It wasn’t obvious in the doco or the UI though)

Thanks

Jon

#18

Yeah, honestly I didn’t realize it was already possible myself.