Taking a Payment
How to record cash, a bank transfer or any other payment taken by hand with Record payment: where it opens, what each field does, how it pays invoices, paying for all of a customer's jobs at once, and sending a receipt.
Record payment is where you record money a customer has paid you by hand, such as cash, a bank transfer or a cheque. It pays their open invoices, oldest first, keeps anything more on the job as credit, and then offers to send them a receipt. A customer who owes on more than one job can pay for them all at once, too.
Where to Find It
- Accounts > Home: Record payment, at the top of Accounts Home. Choose the customer first, and the rest of the form appears once their jobs have loaded.
- A customer's page: Record payment at the top of the side bar on the Details tab of the Customer Detail View, or on its Details and Transactions tabs on a phone, already set to that customer.
- Who owes you and Debts: Pay on a job, on Accounts > Who owes you or the Debts list. When there is no other way to take the payment, Record payment opens straight away for that job. Otherwise you choose how first, as below.
- An invoice: Record payment in the side bar of the Invoice Detail View opens it for the job on the invoice, ready to pay that invoice what it still owes. Like Pay, it asks how first when the payment could be taken another way.
- All of a customer's jobs: Pay for all jobs, under the customer's own ⋮ button, under Actions on Accounts > Who owes you, for a customer who owes on more than one job. It opens Record payment set to All jobs, oldest debt first, or, when you can send card payment links for their business, asks first whether to record a payment or send a Card payment link for all their jobs.
Choosing How to Take It
When the customer has a Direct Debit you can collect from, or the job can be paid by card, Pay opens Select Payment Method first, with a choice for each way you can take the payment.
- Record payment: For money you have already been given, such as cash, a bank transfer or a cheque. It opens Record payment for the job.
- GoCardless Payment: Appears when the customer already has an active Direct Debit mandate. This starts a collection rather than logging a payment you already received, and the wider setup is covered in GoCardless Billing Request Flow. Once GoCardless pays the money out, it pays the job's open invoices, oldest first.
- Set up Direct Debit or DD Pending: Use this when the customer needs a mandate setup link instead of an immediate collection. The customer-side version is covered in Billing Request and Direct Debit Setup Flow.
- Take card payment: Only in the Work Planner app on your phone, when the job's business takes card payments in person. Takes the customer's card there and then, with Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, or your card reader. On an iPhone that takes the business's Stripe payments with Tap to Pay on iPhone, it is called Tap to Pay on iPhone and comes first. The full path is covered in Taking a Card Payment on Your Phone.
- Charge saved card: Appears when the customer has saved a card with you, and names it, such as Visa •••• 4242. The card is charged straight away, without the customer having to do anything. See Saved Cards.
- Card payment link: Sends the customer a link to pay by card online, for when they are not with you or would rather pay later. See Sending a Card Payment Link.
- Set up card payments: Appears when the customer has no saved card yet. Sends them a link to save a card, so future payments can be taken from it with Charge saved card. See Saved Cards.
- Instant Bank Pay: Sends a one-off Open Banking payment link without setting up an ongoing mandate. The full path is covered in Instant Bank Pay Flow.
- Straight to Record payment: When the customer has no Direct Debit to collect from and the job can't be paid by card, Pay skips these choices and opens Record payment. With GoCardless connected, Set up Direct Debit and Instant Bank Pay are under Invite to GoCardless instead.
The card options only appear when card payments are part of your plan (Pro and Team include them, or add the Card Payments bolt-on), the job's business has a card provider connected on the Payment Providers screen, and your role has Take Card Payments.
Filling In Record Payment
Under its title, Record payment says who the payment is from. At the top, a note says how the payment will be shared out: it goes on the job you choose and pays its invoices, oldest first, and anything more is credit on the job. When the customer owes on more than one job, it also says that All jobs pays what they've owed longest first, across their jobs. Work down the form in order.
- Customer: Who paid. From Accounts Home, click the field to search for them. When Record payment opens from a customer, a debt or an invoice, the customer is filled in and can't be changed.
- Job: Which of their jobs the payment is for. With several, choose from the list: the job owed most comes first, and each says what it owes, such as Window cleaning, 12 High Street (owes £30.00). With only one, the form just names it, such as For Window cleaning, 12 High Street, which owes £30.00. Cancelled jobs are only listed while they still owe something, and a customer with no jobs needs one adding before a payment can be recorded. When they owe on more than one job, the last choice is All jobs, oldest debt first, with what they owe altogether, such as All jobs, oldest debt first (owes £80.00). It's never chosen for you unless you came from Pay for all jobs. See Paying for All Their Jobs, below.
- Amount: How much they paid. It starts as what the job owes. From Debts or Who owes you, a payment already on its way, such as a Direct Debit being collected, is taken off first, and from an invoice it starts as what that invoice owes. Change it for a part payment, or for more than they owe. The button at the bottom says how much will be recorded, such as Record £30.00.
- Date paid: The day the money came in. It starts as today, so change it when you are catching up on an earlier payment.
- How they paid: One of your own payment methods, such as Cash or Bank transfer, from the Payment Methods List. It starts as the way the job is usually paid when that's one of these, or else as your only payment method when there's just one. The methods Work Planner keeps for a connected provider, such as Card (Stripe) or Direct Debit (GoCardless), aren't offered, because those payments are recorded by themselves when the provider takes them.
- Use … for this job from now on: Appears when you choose a different way from the job's usual one, such as Use Bank transfer for this job from now on, instead of Cash. Tick it when the customer has changed how they pay, and the job is saved with the new way, ready for next time. Leave it unticked for a one-off and the job keeps its usual way: recording a payment doesn't change it otherwise. When the job has no usual way saved yet, the box starts ticked.
- Fee: When the payment method has a fee, the form says how much, such as Card machine takes a £0.50 fee, recorded as an expense. Fees are set on the payment method itself.
- Invoices: When the job has open invoices, they are listed with what each still owes, all chosen to start with, or only the one you opened it from. The payment pays them oldest first, and anything more is kept on the job as credit. Click the bin beside one to leave it unpaid, or Attach Invoice(s) to add another of the customer's open invoices with the Invoice Selector Popup. With none chosen, the whole payment goes against the job.
- Reference (optional): A bank reference, cheque number or anything else you might search for when matching the payment later.
- Tip (optional): Anything they paid on top as a tip. It is recorded as a separate tip entry, linked to the payment, so it doesn't count towards what they owe.
There is no description to fill in. The payment is recorded as Payment, and its date, method and reference say the rest.
Paying for All Their Jobs
Choose All jobs, oldest debt first under Job when one payment is for everything the customer owes, such as a bank transfer for the lot. It's an extra choice: paying one job at a time is the usual way. It's offered wherever Record payment shows the Job choice, for a customer who owes on more than one job.
- Amount: Starts as what they owe across all their jobs. Change it for a part payment, or for more than they owe.
- Oldest debt first: The payment pays their jobs in the order Who owes you lists them, the job whose oldest unpaid charge has waited longest first. Each job gets up to what it owes before the next gets anything, and each job's share pays that job's open invoices, oldest first.
- The split: As you type the amount, the popup lists how it will be split, under It pays the debt owed longest first, with a line for each job and what it gets, such as Gutters, 4 Elm Road: £30.00.
- More than they owe: Anything more goes on the job they were charged for most recently, as credit, and a job still going comes before one that's stopped. The popup says which, such as The other £5.00 is credit on Window cleaning, 4 Elm Road.
- How they paid: Starts as the way the job owed longest is usually paid, when that's one of these. No job's usual way is changed, so Use … for this job from now on isn't asked.
- Fee: A fee on the payment method is worked out on the whole payment, and recorded once.
- Not offered: There's no Tip, and no choosing invoices: each job's share pays its own open invoices, oldest first.
Once it's recorded, the popup says how many jobs it paid, such as £80.00 from Ann Smith is recorded across 2 jobs, and paid towards 2 invoices. Send a receipt works just as it does for one job. It's still one payment as the customer counts it: their statement shows it on one line, and its receipt covers all of it, naming each job it paid.
What Recording It Does
- The payment: Recorded against the job, as one entry for each invoice it pays and one for anything more. Invoices paid in full are marked paid, and the rest show what they still owe, in the Invoice Detail View and the invoices list.
- For all their jobs: Recorded against each job it pays, in the same way, and kept together as one payment.
- The fee: A fee on the payment method is recorded as a Payment Fee expense on the same day.
- The tip: Saved as its own tip entry instead of being added to the payment.
- The job's usual payment method: Only changed if you ticked Use … for this job from now on.
- Everywhere else: The page you came from updates, so the customer's balance, Debts, Who owes you and Accounts Home all show the payment.
Sending a Receipt
Once it's recorded, the popup says what was recorded, such as £30.00 from Jane Smith is recorded, and paid towards their invoice.
- Send a receipt: Opens the Message Customers Popup for the customer, set to email, on your Payment thank-you email, filled in with how much they paid (with any tip), the date and how they paid. Change the wording for this one send if you like; the template stays as it is. The receipt goes with the email as a PDF, showing what they paid, when, how and what for, and in place of Attach a document the popup says The receipt is attached as a PDF. A text goes without it. The button is there if your role can email or text customers.
- Thank a customer for a payment: If your business has this automation switched on, it sends the customer a receipt by itself. The popup says so and leaves out Send a receipt, so they aren't thanked twice. The automation's email doesn't have the receipt PDF attached. See Creating an Automation.
- Done: Closes the popup.
You can send or print the receipt later too, from Send receipt and Print receipt on the payment in Transactions. See Payment Receipts.
When Recording Is Blocked
Record payment needs a job, an amount above 0, the date they paid and how they paid, and says which is missing, such as Choose how they paid. A tip can't be less than 0. It only pays the customer's own open invoices: an invoice that belongs to someone else, or has been paid, voided or written off since, stops the payment being recorded.
Use a Different Route Instead
Record payment is for money you already have. Choose GoCardless Payment when you want Work Planner to collect by Direct Debit from an active mandate. Choose Set up Direct Debit when the customer still needs to authorise that mandate. Choose Instant Bank Pay when you want a single bank-payment link without setting up ongoing collections.
For card payments, choose Take card payment when the customer is with you, Charge saved card when they have saved a card with you, and Card payment link when they would rather pay online. These record the payment themselves once the provider confirms it, so there is no need to record it again with Record payment. For all of a customer's jobs at once, Pay for all jobs on Who owes you can send a card payment link too.
Who Can Use It
Recording a payment needs Create, under Payments on the Roles screen, and Send a receipt needs permission to email or text customers. On a customer's page, Record payment is also left out when your role can't see prices and balances, and for a customer who has been transferred to another business.
Related articles
- Debts List: The jobs that still owe money, each with its Pay button.
- Who Owes You: The same debts by customer, oldest first, with Pay for all jobs for a customer who owes on more than one.
- Customer Statements: How a payment shows on the customer's statement of account.
- Invoice Selector Popup: Choosing which invoices the payment pays.
- Invoice Detail View: Recording a payment from an invoice, and what it still owes afterwards.
- Message Customers Popup: Sending the receipt.
- Payment Receipts: What's on the receipt, and sending or printing one later.
- Payment Methods List: The ways customers pay you, and their fees.
- Instant Bank Pay Flow: Useful when the customer needs a one-off payment link instead of a recorded payment.
- Payment Reference and Status Handling: Helpful if you need to understand how the saved payment appears later in transactions.
- Refunding a Payment Taken by Hand: Giving back some or all of a payment recorded here.
- Taking a Card Payment on Your Phone: Covers Tap to Pay on iPhone or Android, card readers, and what is recorded while the provider confirms the payment.
- Sending a Card Payment Link: Useful when the customer would rather pay by card online.
- Saved Cards: Explains saving a customer's card and charging it later.