How to issue a pre-receipt

What is it for?

The pre-receipt is a document you give the customer before the payment is confirmed: it lists the invoices they are going to pay and how much they pay on each one. It is common when a collector goes to fetch the payment, or when the customer pays by cheque and the cheque has not yet cleared.

The pre-receipt is not a receipt: it has no tax series, ATCUD or signature, creates no journal entries and does not pay the invoice. The number is internal (PREC/00001, PREC/00002…). When the money comes in, you convert it into the real receipt.

When to use it?

• When the customer wants proof of what they are going to pay, before the payment is made or confirmed.
• When a collector takes a list of a customer's invoices to collect.

If the customer has already paid, you do not need a pre-receipt: issue the receipt straight away, as in How to record a payment received and issue the receipt.

Where to find it?

On the customer's record: Billing › Customers and items › Customers, open the customer, click the gear icon (Actions), next to the name, and choose Pre-receipts. The list of that customer's pre-receipts opens.

The list of all pre-receipts is in Accounting › Record › Sales and collections › Pre-receipts. It opens with the Issued filter: remove it to also see the converted and cancelled ones.

Before you start

• Your profile is Accountant, Certified accountant or Administrator. The steps were done from start to finish with the Accountant. The Billing profile has no access to pre-receipts.
• If you work with several companies, first choose the company of the invoices, in the top right corner. With another company active, the pre-receipt's invoice list is empty (“No records”).
• The customer has invoices that are issued and unpaid.

How to use it

1. Open the customer's record, click the gear icon and choose Pre-receipts, or open the Accounting › Record › Sales and collections › Pre-receipts menu. Click New. Through the gear icon, the Customer is already filled in; through the menu, choose it. The Date is today's.
2. In Collector, you can choose the person who will fetch the payment (it is optional).
3. In the Invoices tab, click Add a line and choose the invoice. The list only shows this customer's issued and unpaid invoices. The Amount due appears by itself; the Amount comes at €0.00: type how much the customer will pay on that invoice.
4. Repeat for each invoice and save. The pre-receipt is Issued, with the number PREC/… and the notice “NOT A RECEIPT: internal document without fiscal value. It creates no accounting entry.”.
5. Click Print. The browser downloads the PDF “Pré-recibo PREC_00001.pdf”, to give to the customer.
6. When the payment comes in, open the pre-receipt and click Convert into receipt. In the window, choose the receipt's Journal (in the demo, Recibos (RG), the one of the receipt series), check the Receipt date and click Issue the receipt. The screen opens the receipt, already with the series number (in the example, RG D26/17); the breadcrumb at the top goes back to the pre-receipt.

One pre-receipt, one receipt. A receipt pays each invoice in full, or a single invoice in part. If the pre-receipt has several invoices and one of them is only paid in part, the conversion is refused (see “Common problems”): in that case, issue one pre-receipt per invoice.

Expected result

• On the issued pre-receipt: in the example, PREC/00001 for Maria João Ferreira (ENI), dated 02/11/2026, had FT D26/27 (€135.88 due, €135.88 to pay) and FT D26/29 (€1,461.72 due, €500.00 to pay), with a total of €635.88.
• On the PDF: the company, “NOT A RECEIPT”, “Internal document without fiscal value”, the number, the customer with address and tax number (NIF), the date, the state Issued, the invoices with the Amount due and the Amount, the total and the sentence “This document does not acknowledge any payment and is not valid as a receipt. The receipt is only issued when the payment is registered.”.
• After converting: in the example, PREC/00002 (only FT D26/29, €500.00) produced receipt RG D26/17, for €500.00, dated 02/11/2026. The pre-receipt becomes Converted, with the Receipt field (RG D26/17) and the date in Converted on, and keeps only the Print button. FT D26/29 was partially paid, with €961.72 due. The receipt is the same as a receipt issued on the invoice: see what it posts in How to record a payment received and issue the receipt.
• Cancelled: a cancelled pre-receipt is Cancelled, with the reason, and only has the Print button.

Important notes

• An issued pre-receipt cannot be changed. If it is wrong, cancel it and issue another: click Cancel, type the Reason and click Cancel pre-receipt. A converted or cancelled pre-receipt can no longer change.
• It is converted once. Each pre-receipt gives a single receipt.
• The invoice does not change with the pre-receipt. Only the receipt (in step 6) pays the invoice.

Common problems

“The amount of FT D26/30 (€99,999.00) is greater than the amount due (€4,847.43). Lower the amount.” appears

• Symptom: when you save, the pre-receipt is refused with this message.
• Cause: the Amount of a line is greater than what is still to be paid on that invoice.
• What to do: click Close, type in Amount a value equal to or lower than the Amount due and save.

When converting, “PREC/00001 has several invoices and some are paid only in part…” appears

• Symptom: in Convert into receipt › Issue the receipt, the Invalid Operation window opens with “PREC/00001 has several invoices and some are paid only in part (FT D26/29). A receipt pays each invoice in full, or a single invoice in part: cancel the pre-receipt and issue one per invoice.”. Nothing is issued.
• Cause: the pre-receipt groups several invoices and at least one is not paid in full.
• What to do: cancel the pre-receipt, with the reason, and issue one pre-receipt per invoice. In the example, PREC/00001 was cancelled and PREC/00002, with only FT D26/29, was converted.

The window asks for the Journal or the Reason

• Symptom: “Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”
• Cause: in Convert into receipt the Journal is missing; in Cancel the Reason is missing.
• What to do: fill in the field in red and click the button again.