Write-Off Flow
How to write off a debt, up to what the job owes, what the fields do, and how invoice allocation behaves when you write off part or all of a balance.
Use Write Off from the debt row when you have decided that some or all of the balance will not be collected. This is the right path for bad debt, goodwill gestures, or legacy cleanup. It is not the right path for money you actually received. For money you've given back as a goodwill gesture, choose No, it's a goodwill refund when you refund it instead: the refund clears what it puts back on what they owe, without a bad debt.
Open the Write-Off Popup
On the debt row, open the action menu and choose Write Off, or choose Write off under a job's ⋮ button on Who owes you. Work Planner preloads the job and fills the popup with what it owes so you are not starting from scratch.
Fields in the Popup
- Date: Defaults to today. Change it if the write-off should appear against an earlier accounting date.
- Amount: Starts with what the job owes. Reduce it when you are only writing off part of the debt. It can't be more than the job owes, as that would leave the customer in credit: the popup says You can write off up to £45.00, what’s owed on this job. If the job no longer owes anything, such as when a payment has come in since the list loaded, it says Nothing is owed on this job to write off.
- Write Off Invoice (optional): Lets you point the write-off at an open or sent invoice for the same customer. If that invoice is fully covered by payments and write-offs together, Work Planner settles it accordingly. The write-off can't be more than that invoice still owes either.
- Reason for Write Off: Required. This becomes part of the saved ledger description, so write something that still makes sense later, such as goodwill, disputed balance, or historical cleanup.
What the Save Creates
- Write-off ledger entry: Work Planner records a write-off entry against the job and, when selected, against the invoice as well.
- Stored description: The ledger entry is saved as Write Off: ... followed by the reason you typed.
- Invoice recalculation: Any linked invoice is recalculated immediately after the write-off is saved.
When Not to Use It
Do not use write-off for cash, bank transfer, card payments, or any other money that actually arrived. Those belong in the payment flow, because only a payment records the method, reference, fees, and optional tip correctly. Nor is it for money you've given back to a customer: record that as a refund on the payment it came from, which puts what they owe back up. See Refunding a Payment Taken by Hand.
What Changes After Save
Once saved, the debt balance reduces or disappears from the list, the invoice balance is refreshed if you allocated it, and the write-off becomes part of the job's financial history.
Related articles
- Taking a Payment: Use this instead when money was received and needs recording properly.
- Invoice Selector Popup: Shows how the invoice picker works when you want the write-off tied to a specific invoice.
- Invoice Detail View: Helpful when you want to confirm how the write-off affected the invoice afterwards.
- Who Owes You: The same debts by customer, each job with its own Write off.
- Refunding a Payment Taken by Hand: Recording money you've given back, rather than writing it off.