Create an invoice

Bill Alps adds a Swiss QR-bill to the PDF of your invoices in CHF or EUR. Here are the steps to create and send your first invoice.

1. New invoice

1. Open the Bills menu from the sidebar.
2. Click New invoice in the top right.
3. Bill Alps immediately creates a numbered draft and opens the form. In Client, choose the right client: the first one in the list is preselected.

2. Add the line items

For each line, enter:

• Description: label of the service or product.
• Qty: hours, days, units…
• Rate: the unit price, excluding VAT.
• VAT %: the rate of the line. Each new line starts at 0%: remember to choose the right rate.

Bill Alps automatically calculates the Subtotal, the VAT and the Total. You can add as many lines as needed with Add line item. The Adjustments section adds Shipping costs or a Discount, as an amount and not as a percentage, and VAT takes them into account.

On the PDF and in the preview, the rate prints next to the VAT amount. If the invoice mixes several rates, the totals show one row per rate, with its base, and the line items gain a VAT column. A company without a VAT number whose invoice carries no VAT prints no mention of VAT.

3. Configure due date and reference

• Issue date: today by default.
• Due date: 30 days by default, adjustable.
• Terms: free text printed on the invoice, taken from the template if it has any. It does not recalculate the due date.
• Invoice language: language of the PDF and the email.
• Template: the default template is preselected, and it sets the starting Currency and language. See the templates guide.
• Invoice number: assigned automatically and not editable here. The Invoice prefix and the Next invoice number are set in My accountPreferences. The number of a deleted invoice is not reused.

The payment reference is not a field to fill in: Bill Alps calculates it from the invoice number when it generates the PDF. With a QR-IBAN, it is a 27-digit QR reference. With a classic IBAN, it is a creditor reference that starts with RF. The QR-bill is added to the PDF if the total is positive and the currency is CHF or EUR. To remove it from an invoice, clear Show QR-Bill in Notes & remarks.

4. Preview and send

Click Save: the invoice page is displayed with its preview, in Draft status. Check it, then click Finalize: it moves to Ready status. You then have three ways to handle sending:

• Download PDF to send it manually. Downloading does not change the status: mark the invoice as sent afterwards.
• Send by email so that Bill Alps sends the invoice to the client with the PDF attached. A window first shows the sender, the recipient, the subject and the text: confirm with Send email. The invoice moves to Sent status. The client must have an address in the Email field of their record, otherwise sending is refused.
• Mark as sent if you have already shared the invoice through another channel. No email is sent.

When Bill Alps sends an invoice email, the message is sent from noreply@bill-alps.ch and the invoice PDF is attached. Your client's replies go to the Email address of My company, if it is filled in. Example: