How proposal invoicing works

When a client accepts a proposal, Tidyflow turns it into invoices for you. The Invoicing section on the proposal, shown under the pricing line items, controls when billing starts and whether invoices go out automatically or wait for your review.

What is invoiced at acceptance

Accepting a proposal creates one acceptance invoice containing every one-time fee billed on acceptance, plus the first recurring cycle when recurring billing starts on acceptance. A one-time line billed On completion is agreed at acceptance but invoiced later, when its job is completed. If the proposal offers packages, only the package your client selected is invoiced. Recurring services also get a recurring invoice schedule that generates the following cycles automatically.

If nothing is due at acceptance, for example when the only line is at no charge or recurring billing starts on a later date, no acceptance invoice is created and no invoice is emailed. Your client still receives the acceptance confirmation email.

Choose when recurring billing starts

The Billing starts setting on the proposal controls the first recurring invoice:

• On acceptance: the first cycle is billed on the acceptance invoice the moment your client accepts. This is the default.
• On a specific date: pick a Start date, and the first recurring invoice is generated on that date instead. Nothing recurring is billed at acceptance.

Either way, later cycles follow the Frequency you set, and the schedule appears under Billing in Recurring after acceptance.

Bill a line when the job is completed

Each one-time line carries a billing chip under its description, Billed on acceptance by default. Click the chip and choose Billed when job completed to agree the price now and bill when the work is done, for example a tax return quoted up front.

Your client sees the line marked Billed on completion on the proposal and pays nothing for it at acceptance. Because the work bills later, the proposal always requests payment details at acceptance. When the job created from that line is marked completed, Tidyflow raises the invoice from the agreed price and charges the client’s saved payment method automatically, sending them a receipt. If the charge cannot go ahead, the invoice follows the Invoices setting instead: emailed with a payment link on Auto-send and charge, or held as a draft on Save as draft.

Auto-send or save as draft

The Invoices setting controls every invoice the proposal produces: the acceptance invoice, each generated recurring cycle, and lines billed on completion:

• Auto-send and charge: each invoice is emailed to your client’s billing contacts as soon as it is raised, and charged to their saved payment method where one is on file. New proposals default to this, so accepting a proposal bills your client end to end without any manual step.
• Save as draft: invoices are created but held as drafts for you to review and send from Billing under Invoices. Nothing reaches your client and nothing is charged until you send it.

An invoice your client has already paid always emails its receipt, whichever option is selected.

What happens when online payments are enabled

With online payments connected, the Payment details setting in the Invoicing section controls whether acceptance collects a payment method. New proposals default to Request at acceptance, and the setting locks there while recurring or completion-billed lines exist, because those bill after acceptance. Choose Don’t request for a proposal that should collect nothing, for example a signed engagement with no billing.

The accept button reflects what acceptance does: Accept & pay when an amount is due today, or Accept & save payment method when only payment details are collected. Your client sees exactly what is charged now and what their saved method may be charged later before they accept.

• If your client pays at acceptance, the invoice is marked paid and they receive a receipt. This happens even when Invoices is set to Save as draft, because your client actively paid on Stripe’s checkout.
• If your client saves a payment method without paying today, the unpaid acceptance invoice follows the Invoices setting: emailed with a payment link on Auto-send and charge, or held as a draft on Save as draft.
• With a saved payment method and Auto-send and charge, each recurring cycle and each completion-billed line is charged automatically and your client receives a receipt. If a charge fails, the invoice is emailed with a payment link instead and your firm is notified.
• If your firm passes on card fees, automatic charges to a saved credit card include the fee, and the proposal states this before your client accepts; see Accept online payments.
• With Save as draft, nothing is charged automatically. Each invoice waits as a draft until you send it.

Include work at no charge

A one-time line with a $0 total, for example ad-hoc work quoted at an hourly rate with a quantity of 0, is treated as scope rather than a charge. Your client sees the line on the proposal, and it appears at $0.00 on the acceptance invoice when there are other billable lines, but a $0 line never produces an invoice on its own. Bill ad-hoc hourly work later through time tracking when the work actually happens.

Where the invoices live

The acceptance invoice appears under Billing in Invoices, and the recurring schedule under Billing in Recurring, both linked from the accepted proposal. If you record an acceptance on your client’s behalf with Mark accepted, the invoice is always created as a draft and nothing is emailed, so you stay in control of what the client receives.