Closing a job without invoicing it

Sometimes a job is finished but you never intend to invoice it - a goodwill delivery, a re-run at no charge, or a job you have agreed to write off. Cancelling it would not be right, because the work really happened. Instead, you can close the job so it stops waiting to be invoiced, without creating an invoice and without anything being sent to your customer or your accounts package.

The trick is to add the job to a selfbill for £0.00, then complete the selfbill with the Close only (no invoice) option switched on. This marks the job as invoiced, so it disappears from your list of jobs waiting to be invoiced.

Before you start

The job must be marked as complete. Only completed jobs can be added to a selfbill.
You will need access to the Accounts area of TMS Online.

Step 1 - Create a selfbill for £0.00

Where to find it

Go to Accounts, then Selfbills, in the left-hand menu.

Step-by-step

Click Add Selfbill in the top right.
Search for and choose the Customer the job belongs to.
Enter a Selfbill Reference you will recognise later, for example Close job 12345 - no invoice.
Leave the Selfbill Date as today, or change it if you prefer.
In Selfbill Value (NET), enter 0.00.
Click Create Selfbill, then OK. You are taken straight to the new selfbill.

Step 2 - Add the job at £0.00

Scroll down to Available Orders and find the job. You can use the search box at the top of the section.
Check the Rate column for the job. If it shows anything other than 0.00, click the amount to open the Consignment Rate window, change the rate to 0.00 and save.
Back on the selfbill, make sure the amount in the Payment box at the end of the job's row is 0.00.
Click the green tick next to the Payment box. The job moves up into Assigned Lines.

Why set the rate to 0.00 first? If you add a job at £0.00 while it still has a rate, the difference is recorded as a query, and it will keep appearing under Outstanding Queries the next time you create a selfbill for that customer. Zeroing the rate first keeps things tidy. It also means the job shows as zero revenue in your reports, which is usually what you want for a job you are not charging for.

Step 3 - Close the job

The Selfbill Value and Current Assigned now both read 0.00, so the green Produce Invoice button appears in the top right. Click it.
The Create Invoice from Selfbill window opens. Because the total is £0.00, Close only (no invoice) is already switched on - leave it on.
Click Create.

What happens next

You will see the message Selfbill has been marked completed.
The job is marked as invoiced, so its status changes to Invoiced and it no longer appears in the list of jobs waiting to be invoiced.
No invoice is created, nothing is sent to your accounts package, and your customer receives nothing.
The selfbill moves to the Invoiced tab of the Selfbill Listing, so there is always a record of why the job was closed.

Common questions

I can't see the job under Available Orders. Check that the job is marked as complete, that it belongs to the customer on the selfbill, and that it is not already sitting on another selfbill.

I see "This customer has no account code". Selfbills can only be completed for customers with an account code. Open the customer's record, add their account code, and try again.

I changed my mind before clicking Produce Invoice. No problem - open the selfbill, click the three-dot menu in the top right and choose Delete. The job is released and goes back to waiting for an invoice as before.

Can I close several jobs at once? Yes - add each job to the same selfbill at 0.00, keep the Selfbill Value at 0.00 and complete the selfbill in one go.

Creating a self-bill - the standard selfbill process when your customer is paying you.
Invoicing Process - how normal customer invoicing works.