Unwanted credit notes

[lyje18]

Hi,

Since the update with Invoice immutability was introduced it has caused us major issues with automatically generated credit notes. Example, customer domain renewal expires, they paid it a week later, the system automatically generates the credit note (even though I didn't want it) There's no way to delete the credit note. Then when the next invoice is generated the credit note deducts the amount off their invoice even though the customer has fully paid the first invoice. Is there a way to stop the automatic credit note generation as this doesn't work with our workflow?

Thanks in advance.

[AmyHost]

Duplicated invoices!!!! 
Credit and debit notes not allocating properly and making a COMPLETE MESS on the invoices 
Not being able to remove the credit off the invoices the system has allocated to.
Invoices showing unpaid where its actually paid
invoices showing paid where there is nothing allocated to it

Please this whmcs version 9 has so many technical issues do not see how its better I am forever having to fix the messups the system is making and stuffing up our clients accounts

[Waqas Ahmed Waseer]

What you're seeing is the "Domain Expiry Status Update" behaviour in v9. When a domain expires with its renewal invoice still unpaid, the cron cancels that invoice (or just the domain line if the invoice has other items on it) and issues a credit note for it. So by the time the client paid a week later, WHMCS had already written the renewal off, and you end up with a credit note plus a payment for the same thing.

You can't delete a credit note, but you can clean it up:

1. Open the credit note (Billing > Credit and Debit Notes, or the Reference column in the invoice Ledger). If it still has a remaining balance, close it. Per the docs, closing a credit note with a balance creates an offsetting debit note, so it stops being picked up by the next invoice.

2. If it's already been applied to the next invoice, remove the applied credit from that invoice. That generates a debit note for the amount and puts the balance back where it should be.

3. Check that the domain itself actually renewed and the expiry date moved. When the payment lands after the cancellation, I wouldn't assume the renewal went through on its own.

If you'd rather WHMCS stopped creating billing notes altogether, the switch is Configuration > System Settings > General Settings > Invoices > Invoice Immutability. The option "Immutability and billing note generation disabled" goes back to the old behaviour: no credit/debit notes, cancellations and overpayments go straight to the client's credit balance. Before you change it, check with your accountant whether you need credit notes for tax reasons (EU/UK VAT usually does). It also won't change notes that already exist.

Also worth updating to 9.1 if you're on 9.0.x. The 9.1 release notes list several fixes in this area, such as cancelling an invoice now returning partial payments and applied credit to the client's balance, and removing credit no longer flipping a paid invoice to Refunded.

Docs I went by: Credit and Debit Notes and Configure Invoice Immutability, both under docs.whmcs.com/9-1/billing-and-invoicing/.