# Create a Credit Note

Start from the invoice, not from a blank form.

Opening the credit from the invoice copies its lines, its prices and its tax rates, which removes the most common source of error in this whole module.

![The Create Credit Note form. Credit Note Details holds Credit Note number, Credit Note Date, Subject, Reference Number and Salesperson. Item Details below carries a rate list, a warehouse picker and a line table with columns for Item, Manufacturer, Variant, Lead Time, Qty, Rate, Tax and Amount. Save as Draft and Save and Convert to Open sit in the bar at the foot.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/credit-notes/new-credit-note-form.png)

*Starting from the invoice fills all of this in. This is what the empty form looks like.*

## Raise it

- **Open the invoice and choose Credit Note**

  Its lines, quantities, prices and tax rates copy across, which is far safer than retyping them.
- **Trim to what is actually being credited**

  Remove lines or reduce quantities so the credit covers only the disputed part.
- **Check the tax**

  Tax is credited in proportion. If you credit half the value, half the tax comes back too.
- **Check the date**

  The credit posts in the period it is dated, not the period of the original invoice.
- **Issue it**

  The credit becomes available to apply or refund.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Say why on the credit note**
>
> A one-line note explaining the credit saves an argument later, and it is what the customer's accounts payable team will look for when they try to match it.

## Standalone credits

A credit note can be raised without an invoice behind it, for a goodwill gesture or a settlement. It is allowed, and it should be rare. A standalone credit has nothing to reference, so nobody reading your books later can tell what it corrected.

- Always fill in the reason and reference. Without them the entry is unexplainable in six months.
- A standalone credit still needs an account and a tax treatment, and neither is inherited.
- It cannot exceed anything, because there is no invoice to cap it. That is a reason to be careful, not a feature.

## Partial credits

| You are crediting | How to build it |
| --- | --- |
| One line of several | Delete the other lines from the copied credit. |
| Some units of a line | Reduce the quantity on that line. |
| A price difference | Keep the quantity, reduce the rate to the difference. |
| A percentage off everything | Apply a document discount, or credit each line proportionally. |
| Tax only | Rare, and usually a sign the invoice tax treatment was wrong. Fix the treatment first. |