Supplier bills
Recording a supplier's invoice with its due date and attachment, the GST evidence badge, paying it, and exporting bills for Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks.
A supplier bill is the invoice your supplier sends you. Recording it here — under Inventory → Purchasing → Bills — gives you a due date, a check against what actually arrived, a reminder of what you owe, and a file you can load into your accounting software.
Recording a bill
Use Record bill on the purchase order it belongs to, or from the Bills list for a bill with no order (freight, for example). A bill with no order belongs to no store, so only someone who can see every store can record or open one. Enter the supplier's invoice number, its date, the amounts, and whether it is a tax invoice. A bill links to one order at most.
- The due date is worked out from the supplier's payment terms — for example 30 days, 30 days after the end of the month, or due on the bill date for cash on delivery and prepaid. You can change it.
- The subtotal, GST and total must add up. When the bill's prices include GST, the subtotal is the full amount and equals the total.
- A bill is approved as soon as it is recorded. Choose Save as draft if you want to finish it later; a draft can be edited, an approved bill cannot.
A second bill with the same invoice number from the same supplier is refused, ignoring capitals and spacing — so INV-123 and inv-123 are the same bill. Voiding a bill frees its number.
Checking it against the delivery
A bill linked to an order shows the value of what was received on that order next to the bill total, with the damaged part listed on its own. The comparison is there to catch a supplier charging for more than arrived; it never stops you saving.
Attaching the supplier's invoice
Attach the invoice as a PDF, JPEG or PNG, up to 10MB. It is stored privately with the bill and can be opened only by people who can see that bill. Uploading again replaces the earlier file. A void bill cannot take a new attachment.
The GST evidence badge
Each bill carries a badge saying whether it holds what you need to claim its GST. It is a reminder, not a block — nothing stops you recording or paying a bill.
| Where | When it applies | What it looks for |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Bills over $82.50 including GST | Marked as a tax invoice, the supplier's ABN on their supplier record (a valid one), and a GST amount |
| New Zealand | Bills over $200 | The supplier's GST number on their supplier record, and a GST amount. Over $1,000 the bill must also show your details as the buyer — you are reminded to check |
| Import bills (Australia and New Zealand) | Any amount | An attached customs import declaration, instead of a supplier tax invoice |
Below those amounts, and in other countries, the badge shows that no evidence is needed. When something is missing the badge names it — not a tax invoice, no valid supplier tax number, no GST amount, or no customs document — so you can ask the supplier for a proper tax invoice before you lodge your activity statement.
Paying and voiding
Mark an approved bill paid with the date and how you paid it; this records the whole amount as paid. A bill marked paid by mistake can be set back to unpaid. Bills are never deleted: one entered in error is voided by an admin, which keeps it on record but takes it out of what you owe, the reports and the export.
Supplier invoices are tax records — in Australia generally kept for five years and in New Zealand for seven. That is why bills can only be voided, never removed. Check your own obligations with your accountant.
Exporting bills for Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks
Export on the Bills list downloads a CSV of the bills in a date range, one row per bill, in the column order of Xero's bill import. Void bills are left out.
| Column | What is in it |
|---|---|
| ContactName | The supplier's name |
| InvoiceNumber | The supplier's invoice number |
| InvoiceDate, DueDate | Day/month/year |
| Description | The invoice number and, when linked, the purchase order number |
| Quantity | Always 1 |
| UnitAmount | The bill amount excluding GST |
| AccountCode | Left blank for you to fill in |
| TaxType | GST on Expenses, GST on Imports, or GST Free Expenses (AU) / No GST (NZ) when the bill had no GST. Blank in other countries |
| Currency | Your company currency |
- Xero: fill in AccountCode with your purchases or cost of goods account, then import the file as bills and choose the option that says amounts are tax exclusive.
- MYOB and QuickBooks: use their bill or purchase import and map these same columns — supplier, number, dates, amount excluding tax and tax code.
Bills are not sent to your accounting software automatically — the export is how they get there today. The Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks connections do not send supplier bills.