# Create a manual invoice

> Bill for anything that is not a flight: headsets, checkride fees, fuel on a dry rate, a rental you are correcting by hand.

Source: https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/create-a-manual-invoice
Section: Billing and payments. For: Admins, Owners, Dispatchers, Instructors.

`Billing → New invoice` (web console). Pick the member, add line items, click
Create invoice. It is raised in Stripe and the member is emailed a link to pay it. A manual
invoice is never charged to a saved card, even when the member has autopay switched on.

**Who can do this:** Owners, Admins, Dispatchers (if enabled), Instructors (if enabled)

Use this for anything that is not a flight: a headset rental, a checkride fee, ground
school books, a fuel charge on a dry rate, or a correction you are making by hand.

Your school needs Stripe connected before any invoice can be raised. See
[Turn on invoicing and card payments](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/turn-on-invoicing-and-card-payments).

## Create one in the web console

1. **Open Billing and click New invoice**

   `Billing` (web console) is in the left rail, and is visible to owners and admins
   only.

2. **Pick who is billed**

   Search the member list, or turn on **Guest recipient** and enter a name and an
   email address for someone who is not a member.

3. **Add line items**

   Each line has a Description, a whole-number Qty and a unit price, and says what it is:
   Labor, Parts and goods, Shop supplies, Outside service, Freight and shipping, Fees, Aircraft
   rental, Instruction, or Other. What you pick also decides where the line lands in QuickBooks.
   Add as many lines as you need with the running total shown underneath.

   If your school charges a service fee, it is shown as its own line under the subtotal. If it
   charges sales tax, each line has a **Taxable** tick that starts from your school's rule, and
   the tax is shown under the subtotal. The **Total** includes both, and it is what the customer
   is billed. See [Charge sales tax on an invoice](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/charge-sales-tax).

   ![New invoice dialog](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/create-invoice-dialog.png)

4. **Add a memo and a due date if you want them**

   Both are optional. A due date matters more than it looks: it is what the automatic reminder
   sweep chases against. See [Chase an unpaid invoice](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/chase-unpaid-invoices).

5. **Click Create invoice**

   The invoice appears on Billing and on the member's own Invoices page, and they are emailed
   and pushed a link to pay it.

## Create one in the iOS app

Open Billing, then Generate Invoice.

1. **Choose the recipient**

   Either search for a member, or enter a guest recipient with a name and an email address.

2. **Add invoice items**

   Tap Add + for each line: a name, a quantity and a price. Invoices raised in the app (iPhone or
   Android) carry no sales tax, because the app does not yet ask what each line is. Raise taxed
   invoices in the web console.

3. **Add a memo and a due date**

   Optional, same as the web console.

4. **Tap Send Invoice**

## Invoicing a guest

Turn on **Guest recipient** in the New invoice dialog (or use the same fields on
the iOS Generate Invoice screen). Type a name and an email address. Stripe creates a guest
customer and emails them a pay link. You cannot pick both a member and a guest on one invoice.

## Invoicing an aircraft owner

If you run a maintenance shop, the owners of the aeroplanes you work on are in the
**Customer** list too, with the address you recorded for them. The invoice is emailed to them
by Stripe with a link to pay. It is always an invoice, even at a school that uses account
balances, and it is never chased by automatic reminders. See
[Work on a customer's aircraft](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/maintenance/work-on-a-customers-aircraft#bill-the-owner).

## Limits on line items and memos

| Field          | Limit                           |
| -------------- | ------------------------------- |
| Line item name | 200 characters                  |
| Quantity       | A whole number between 1 and 99 |
| Memo           | 100 characters                  |
| Invoice total  | More than 50 cents              |

The 50 cent floor is Stripe's, not ours. Stripe will not accept an invoice below it.

## Manual invoices are never autopaid

> **Important:** A manual invoice is always sent to the member to pay, even if they have a default card
> saved and autopay switched on. This is deliberate: autopay exists so routine flight
> invoices settle themselves, and a hand-typed invoice with an extra zero in it should not
> charge somebody's card before anyone has looked at it.

## What a manual invoice does not do

- **It is not linked to a reservation.** A flight that was never invoiced still shows in
  the Unbilled reservations list on Billing after you type up a manual invoice for it.
- **It carries no rate breakdown.** There are no resource hours or instruction figures on
  it, so it does not appear as revenue against a particular aircraft.
- **It cannot be edited once created.** The only things you can do to an invoice afterwards
  are mark it paid and void it. See
  [Mark an invoice paid, void it, or refund it](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/mark-an-invoice-paid-void-or-refund-it).

> **Careful:** The Bill button on a row in the Unbilled reservations list opens this same New invoice
> dialog, prefilled with the member and the reservation title as the memo. It is a manual
> invoice, not the flight's invoice, so the booking stays in the unbilled list afterwards. To
> bill the flight itself, finish its close-out:
> [Why a flight was not invoiced](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/why-a-flight-was-not-invoiced).

## Letting dispatchers or instructors create invoices

By default only admins can create a manual invoice. Two settings widen that, in the
**Manual invoices** card on `Settings → Billing` (web console):

- Dispatchers can manually generate invoices
- Instructors can manually generate invoices

They are also on the app's Billing Settings screen. Either way, only the organization owner
can save them.

> **Note:** The Billing page itself stays owner and admin only, because it lists every invoice in the
> school. A dispatcher or instructor with the grant raises a manual invoice from the iOS app's
> Generate Invoice screen; admins also use New invoice in the console, including for guests.

## Related

- [Chase an unpaid invoice](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/chase-unpaid-invoices): Reminders, due dates, and grounding for non-payment.
- [Who can do what in billing](https://www.aerscheduler.com/docs/billing/who-can-do-what-in-billing): Every billing action by role.