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Record a supplier payment

Version 2026.11 Reading time: 5 min Permission required: Pay suppliers

A payment records the money paid to a supplier and allocates it to its invoices. It can settle several invoices at once, pay only part of one, or make up an advance.

Before you start

  • You need the Pay suppliers permission. Without it, the payment buttons are grayed out.
  • The invoices to pay must have been entered. See Enter a supplier invoice.

You open the Record a payment window from the Purchasing page (Purchasing button on the Suppliers page), from Supplier payments with New payment, or from the window of a saved invoice. In the last case, the supplier and the invoice are already chosen.

Record the payment

  1. Supplier: choose the supplier to pay, then click Continue.

  2. Invoices: select the invoices to pay and adjust the amount of each. Settle the invoice takes its whole remaining balance. For a grouped payment, enter the Total amount to distribute and click Distribute (oldest first). Any Unallocated remainder can be kept with Keep as advance.

  3. To pay without an invoice, enter an Advance to supplier (unallocated amount). It can be allocated to invoices later.

  4. Payment method: choose Transfer, Cheque, Bill of exchange, Cash, Card, Direct debit or Offset. CAPPS suggests the method planned on the invoices or the supplier's preferred method.

  5. Fill in the Payment date and the fields of the method: Cheque no. for a check; Bill of exchange reference and Bill due date for a bill of exchange; Transfer reference and Bank for a transfer. If needed, add a Label, Internal notes and an Attachment (optional) (PDF, PNG or JPEG, 10 MB).

  6. Summary: check, for each invoice, the balance before, the part paid, the VAT withholding, the discount and the balance after. The Total paid out is the amount that actually leaves your account.

  7. Click Save the payment. The “Payment saved” message shows its number and amount.

If the supplier is subject to VAT withholding tax, CAPPS calculates it and deducts it from the amount paid out. A discount set in its purchase terms is offered with the Discount checkbox, only if the payment settles the invoice within the set discount period (If paid within (days)).

CAPPS refuses the payment in these cases:

  • no invoice selected and no advance: “Choose at least one invoice to pay or enter an advance.”;
  • zero amount, or amount greater than the invoice's balance due;
  • “The invoice … is not yet approved for payment.”: it must first be approved;
  • archived invoice (unarchive it first) or invoice in another currency;
  • check without a number, bill of exchange without a reference or due date, bill due date before the payment date;
  • future date for a method other than check or bill of exchange, the only methods that can be post-dated;
  • offset for a supplier who is not also a customer.

Cancel or unallocate a payment

Open Purchasing › Supplier payments (or the Payments tab of the supplier record), then click the payment to show its details.

  • Cancel the payment: a reason is required. The allocated invoices become payable again and the withholdings are canceled. The operation is logged and the payment changes to the Cancelled status.
  • Unallocate an invoice: the paid part becomes an available advance again and the invoice becomes payable again.
  • Allocate the advance: distributes an available advance over open invoices.
  • For a bill of exchange, the Bill status list changes from In portfolio to Paid.

A payment whose VAT withholding tax has already been declared can no longer be canceled or unallocated.