Invoices and taxation

On the Invoices and taxation panel, you can define which invoice template to use and how to enumerate the invoices, how to tax the customer for provided services, and whether to send statistics and invoices by email.

Here you can also create invoices on demand for the customer.

Use invoices on demand to charge the customer immediately for the service usage, equipment purchase, etc., without waiting for the current billing period to close. This way you save the customer's time and provoke early payments.

You can generate these invoices on demand:

• Initial invoice, which includes charges for the first billing period. You can generate this invoice for the customer during their first billing period only. From then on, use Midterm invoices.
• Midterm invoice, which covers the charges from the beginning of a current billing period up to the time of the invoice generation.
• Out-of-turn invoice, which includes manual credit/charge transactions.

The invoice wizard guides you through the configuration steps to generate invoices on demand. It includes these steps:

• Invoice type, where you select which invoice to generate;
• Fees, where you review applicable fees and add new ones manually;
• Invoice review, which shows the invoice summary and where you define the payment terms and due date.
• Payment, which provides the payment options.

In the Invoicing configuration section you can define which invoice template to use, how to enumerate the invoices, and whether to send statistics and invoices by email.

To configure invoicing, expand the section.

Define which statistics to deliver to the customer by email after the billing period ends.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
• Select Full statistics to send a .csv file with a complete list of xDRs.
• Select Summary only to send only a brief summary of charges.
• Select Do not send to not deliver any statistical data to the customer.

This option is available only for Branch (Site) customers.

Turn on the toggle to include the charges produced for this customer onto the consolidated bill issued to the main office. To avoid discrepancies during tax calculation, disable the tax calculation for this customer and make sure their billing period is the same as that for the main office.

If you disable this option, PortaBilling generates an individual invoice for this customer.

Define whether to generate an invoice PDF file for this customer.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use settings defined for the customer class.
• Select At the end of the billing period to generate a .pdf file at the end of the billing period.
• Select Postponed, based on resource availability to generate a .pdf file when PortaBilling completes calculations related to the previous billing period for all customers.
• Select On demand to generate a .pdf upon request.

Choose a template for generating regular invoices for this customer.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use the regular invoice template defined for the customer class.
• Select Do not create invoice to prevent regular invoice generation for this customer.
• Choose a predefined regular invoice template from the list.

Define whether to deliver regular invoices to the customer by email.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
• Select Yes to send regular invoices by email.
• Select No to not send regular invoices by email.

This is a read-only field that shows the configuration of the Separate invoice for the recurring fees option for the customer class level. If it's enabled, it means that PortaBilling will produce separate (out-of-turn) invoices that contain only subscription fees and taxes and automatically deduct this amount from the customer's credit card.

Choose an out-of-turn invoice template for this customer.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use the out-of-turn invoice template defined for the customer class.
• Select Do not create invoice to prevent out-of-turn invoice generation for this customer.
• Choose a predefined out-of-turn invoice template from the list.

Define whether to deliver out-of-turn invoices to the customer by email.

• Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
• Select Yes to send out-of-turn invoices by email.
• Select No to not send out-of-turn invoices by email.

Define how to number invoices for this customer.

• Select Default to keep the default invoice numbering sequence for the whole environment.
• Select Individual for environment to use the global sequential numbering (throughout the environment).
• Select Individual for customer to use the individual sequential numbering for this customer's invoices.

In the Taxation section you can define how to tax the customer for the services provided. To configure applying taxes to the customer, turn on the Assess taxes toggle switch.

Choose a taxation plug-in for calculating taxes.

Define the parameters for the Avalara plug-in.

Choose the type of customers to whom you provide the services.

• Select Industrial for manufacturing companies.
• Select Business for business entities that use the services for business purposes.
• Select Residential for customers who use the services for personal purposes.

Define the customer location:

• Select Inside for customers located inside an incorporated city area.
• Select Outside for customers located outside of an incorporated city area.

Define which additional taxes to calculate for the customer:

• Select Non-switched trunk services to calculate axes on the quantity of DID numbers the customer uses.
• Select Switched trunk services to calculate taxes for the number of customer sites, extensions and PBX customer's simultaneous outgoing calls.

Select whether the customer is entitled to a lifeline assistance program.

Choose which taxes the customer is exempt from.

Define parameters for the SureTax plug-in.

Turn on the toggle to assess taxes based on each account’s location.

Prior to enabling this option, make sure that the correct ZIP codes are set on accounts (Account > Personal info > General info > Address info > Postal code). When this option is disabled, the customer’s ZIP code is used to calculate taxes for all their accounts.