Online payment lets clients pay an invoice in a couple of clicks. You can also record payments taken by cheque, transfer, or any other method.
How clients pay online
When your firm has a payment gateway connected, the invoice email and the Client portal both carry a Pay button. The client opens the invoice, sees the amount due, and pays by card or the other methods you have enabled. The invoice updates to paid, or partially paid, the moment the payment clears, and both you and the client get a receipt.
Paying from a trust balance
If the client is holding funds in trust, that balance can appear as a payment option at checkout while they are signed in. Choosing it applies the trust money to the invoice and records the payment against the file, so the ledger and the invoice stay in step. A partial payment applies exactly what was chosen.
Pre-authorized and saved cards
For clients you bill regularly, a saved card avoids re-entering details every time. Once a client has saved a card, your firm can enable automatic charging so invoices are paid as they come due, and overdue invoices can be settled from a trust balance automatically where funds are available. This is what keeps retainer and recurring billing running without manual steps each cycle.
- Automatic charging only runs when the client has agreed to it and saved a payment method.
- It respects the invoice due date, so nothing is charged early.
- If a charge cannot go through, the invoice stays unpaid and can be chased the usual way.
Automatic and pre-authorized payments depend on the client's consent and on your gateway settings. Confirm both are in place before relying on invoices paying themselves.
Recording a payment you took another way
Not every payment comes through the portal. When a client pays by cheque, e-transfer, or over the phone, open the invoice and record the payment by hand.
- Open the invoice and add a payment. Enter the amount received.
- Choose the payment mode. Cheque, bank transfer, cash, or whatever fits.
- Set the date and a note. Record when it arrived and any reference number.
- Save. The invoice recalculates, and the balance owing drops by what you entered.
Record payments the day they arrive. It keeps your outstanding total honest and stops a paid invoice from triggering a reminder the client should never receive.