Functions in Retainer Invoices

Enable Retainer Invoices

To get started with retainer invoices, you’ll have to enable it first. Here’s how you can do it:

Go to Settings by clicking the Gear icon in the top right corner.
Select Configure Modules under Setup & Configurations in the Organization Settings.
Mark Retainer Invoices under Sales.
Click Save.

Create Retainer Invoice

After you have enabled the retainer invoices module, you can create a new one. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Click + New in the top right corner.
Enter the following details.

Fields	Description
Customer Name	Select the customer you want to create the retainer invoice for.
Retainer Invoice Number	The retainer invoice number will be auto-generated. However, you can also enter a unique number by clicking the Gear icon.
Retainer Invoice Date	Select the date on which the retainer invoice is created.
Reference	Enter a reference number for the retainer invoice if you wish.

Click Save.

Record Payment

After you have created a retainer invoice, you can record payment for it when you receive the amount from your customers.

Offline Payments

If you have received the advance payment from your customer in person, or you can record it offline. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the retainer invoice for which you wish to record the payment.
Click Record Payment.
Enter the required details.
Click Record Payment.

Charge Customer

If you wish to collect the advance amount from your customers online, you can charge their card details. You can charge either charge a card associated with the customer, or charge another valid card. To charge your customer:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the invoice generated from the retainer invoice for which you wish to charge your customer.
Click the Record Payment drop down and select Charge Customer.
If you wish to use the card that has already been associated with the invoice, choose the Use the card ending in xxxx to charge this invoice option and click Proceed.
If you wish to make payment using a different card that is not associated with the contact or the retainer invoice, then click the Charge using another card option, fill in the required card details and click on Proceed.

Record Partial Payment

You can also record partial payment for your retainer invoices. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the retainer invoice to record a partial payment.
Click the Record Payment dropdown, and select Record Payment.
On the Payment page, enter the required amount.
Fill in the other details and click Record Payment.

The payment will be recorded for the retainer invoice, and the status will be changed to Partially Paid.

Note: If you collect payments through the customer portal, ensure that you check the Allow customers to make partial payments for this invoice option when you create the retainer invoice. This allows your customers make partial payments for their retainer invoices.

Insight: You can also filter the retainer invoices based on the partial payments.

View Payments Received

You can generate a report showing a quick summary of the retainer payments received from your customers. This report will include details such as the unused amount and the payment method.

Go to the Reports module on the left sidebar.
Select Payments Received under Payments Received.
Go to Customize Report and select the Transaction Type as Retainer Payments.
Click Run Report.

Import Retainer Invoices

If you already have a list of retainer invoices, you can import them into Zoho ERP in the CSV, TSV or XLS format.

To import retainer invoices:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Click the More icon in the top right corner.
Select Import Retainer Invoices.
Click the Choose File button next to Upload file. You can download the sample CSV file for your reference by clicking sample file.

Insight: The file size cannot be more than 25 MB.

Choose the Character Encoding and File Delimiter for your file.

Insight:

Character Encoding is used to pair numbers with characters. By default, the Unicode Transformation Format (UTF-8) encoding is used which supports a wide range of characters that go beyond 8 bits.
The Field Delimiter is used to separate two values in a row. While importing vendor credits, the default file delimiter is comma (,).

Click Next.
Ensure that all the fields are mapped correctly in the Map Fields page.
Mark the box Save these selections for use during future imports if you want to use a similar import format next time.
Click Next.
In the Preview page, click Import.

Insight: Zoho ERP will auto-match the file headers of the imported file to the closest matching field in Zoho ERP. You can manually edit each field to match the headers, and save these preferences. On proceeding, Zoho ERP shows you any unmapped field you may have left out or could not match. You can map these by adding new fields with matching headers.

Apply Retainers to Invoices

If you have created retainer invoices for your customer, and recorded payment for them, you can apply these retainers to the particular customer’s outstanding invoices.

To apply retainers to invoices:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select a retainer invoice that you have created for your customers.
Click the Apply to Invoice button, and Zoho ERP will display the list of pending invoices for the customer.
You can apply the retainer partially or fully on the invoices displayed.

Fields	Description
Balance	The amount collected from your customer as retainer.
Invoice Amount	The total invoice amount raised for the customer.
Invoice Balance	The final amount to be paid after deducting advance payments.
Amount	The amount to be applied from the Balance available.
Retainer Amount Available	Available retainer after the Balance is applied to an invoices.

Click Save.

To view the retainers applied on the invoices, click the Invoices Applied tab on top of the page. You can Delete the retainers applied by clicking the icons next to them.

Apply Multiple Retainers to an Invoice

If you have created multiple retainer invoices for a particular customer, you can apply all the retainer amounts against any outstanding invoice of the customer. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select an invoice whose payment is due, or create a new invoice and save it as draft.
If the customer has unused retainers, a notification will be displayed in the invoice page as Retainers Available with the retainer amount that was collected from the customer. Click Apply Now below it.
You can split the retainer amount among the different pending invoices of the customer.
Click Apply Retainers.

Once the retainers are applied against the invoice, the adjustments are then updated in the invoice.

Another way to apply unused credits or retainers against an outstanding invoice is by selecting the invoice and clicking More > Use Retainers.

Collect Retainers from Quote

As a business owner, you would tend to send a quote to your customers for the products or services that you will be providing to them. When your customers are satisfied with the quote, the quote will be accepted and you start working on the project. Most of the businesses tend to collect a retainer or advance payment after the quote is accepted.

In Zoho ERP, you can choose to collect retainer from your customers when they accept the quote that you send to them. Let’s see how to do this.

Firstly, make sure you enabled the retainer invoices module.

While creating a quote, select the Create a retainer invoice for this quote automatically option in the New Quote page. When you do this, you can enter the percentage of the quote amount you wish to collect as an advance from the customer.

If you have configured a payment gateway for your customer, they can pay you online directly from the quote link that is sent through email.

Collect Retainer from Customer Portal

Your customers also have the option to pay advance payments for quotes through the Customer Portal. When your customer enters the customer portal to check the quote that you have sent, they will be able to accept the quote and make payment for it, provided you have enabled the option to collect retainers from quotes.

Once your customer accepts the quote from the Transactions page in the Customer Portal, they would be notified about the retainer amount to be paid.
The retainer amount can be paid by the customer at the time of accepting the quote or later.

Note: As soon as the quote is accepted, a retainer invoice for the customer is automatically created in Zoho ERP.

Retainer Invoice in Projects

In Zoho ERP, you can manage your projects from the Projects module under the Time Tracking module. In the Projects module, you can raise a retainer invoice to your customer.

If you manage Projects for your customers, you can collect advance payment for those projects by raising retainer invoices.

Create Retainer Invoices for Projects

You can create a new retainer invoice in projects. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select a project for which you wish to raise a retainer invoice.
Click New Transaction in the top right corner.
Select Create Retainer Invoice.

Enter the details of the retainer invoice and save it. After this, you can record payment for this retainer invoice.

Once the Retainers are in the paid status, you can choose to apply them to your invoice. Here’s how:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you have created a retainer invoice and recorded payment.
Click the New Transaction dropdown and select Create Invoice.
In the Project Invoice details page, mark Would you like to apply the retainers collected to the invoice.
Click Add and you will be taken to the invoice creation page
Enter the necessary invoice details and click Save and Send.

The retainer amount will be deducted from the invoice. You can then view this in the total section.

To view all the retainers associated to any project:

Go to Time Tracking on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Projects tab at the top.
Select the project for which you want to view the associated retainer invoices.
Click the Sales tab on top of the page.
Select Retainer Invoice.

Refunds

Let’s say you collect an advance payment from a customer for a project, but due to various reasons, the project gets cancelled. In such a case, you will have to refund the retainer amount back to the customer.

If you have recorded a payment for a retainer invoice, you can refund that amount in Zoho ERP. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the retainer invoice for which the refund needs to be made.
Click the More icon and select Refund.
Enter the required details.

Fields	Description
Refunded On	The date on which the refund was made.
Payment Mode	Choose from different options to record the mode of payment either by cash, bank transfer or through online payments.
Reference	Quick reference to the refund made.
Amount	The amount to be refunded to your customer.
From Account	Select the account from where the refund was made, either from cash accounts or bank accounts in the banking module.

Click Save.

To view the refund:

Click the Refund History tab on top of the page.

You can always Edit or Delete the transaction from the icons present next to the entry.

Once the refund is recorded, the adjustments will be made in the retainer invoice.

Add Comments

You can add comments to a retainer invoice in Zoho ERP. The comments you enter cannot be viewed by your customers. To add a comment:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the retainer invoice for which you wish to add a comment.
Click the Comments icon at the top.
Enter your comment and click Add Comment.

Customize Template

You can customize the format of your retainer invoice’s PDF. Here’s how:

Go to Sales on the left sidebar.
Navigate to the Invoices tab at the top and select Retainer Invoices.
Select the retainer invoice for which you wish to customize the template.
Hover over the retainer invoice and click Customize.
Make the required changes.

Learn more about PDF Templates.

Reports

In Zoho ERP, you can generate reports for all your retainer transactions and refunds.

Retainer Invoice Details

Generate a report showing a quick summary of the retainer invoices you created, unused retainers and the invoices to which they were applied for a selected date range. The report can be sorted by the status of the retainer invoice.

Go to Reports on the left sidebar.
Select Retainer Invoice Details under Receivables to generate this report.

Refund History

Generate a report showing a quick summary of the refunds given from the retainer payments made by the customer for a selected date range.

Go to Reports on the left sidebar.
Select Refund Histroy under Payments Received to generate this report.