When you press Print Invoice or Save PDF on a saved invoice, tick Invoice under When this is saved, or Email an invoice from the invoice itself, SeroBooks builds the same A4 page every time. This article walks through that page from top to bottom so you know where each figure comes from and what your customer sees. The page is laid out like the online invoice your customer can open from the link you send, so the paper copy and the web page read the same.
Which layout prints
The invoice layout set for your business decides the design, and every computer in the company follows it. On a saved invoice the line Layout · under the action buttons names it:
- Tax Invoice — the layout described in this article. It is used for most layouts, including the Modern, Detailed and Columnize-taxes designs.
- Classic Trade — a traditional trade-invoice grid (serial number, description of goods, item code, quantity, unit, price), with a tax-rate table, payment details, terms and conditions, bank transfer details and receiver's signature lines. It is used when your business's invoice design is Classic or Elegant. The gear beside Layout · opens Invoice template settings, where you type the Notice line, Terms & conditions — one per line and Bank transfer details — one per line that this layout prints.
The Tax Invoice layout, block by block
1. Header
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Company name | Your business location's name, in large type at the top left. |
| Address | The location's street, city, province or state, postal code and country, on one line. |
| Contact line | The location's phone, labelled Mobile:, and its email address, separated by a bar. |
| INVOICE | The document title at the top right. On a print pack (customer's copy and store's copy) a stamp beneath it says which copy it is. |
These come from your business location's details. To change them, edit the location in Business and location settings or Company Information.
2. The number, date and status bar
| Box | What it shows |
|---|---|
| INVOICE NO. | The invoice number. |
| DATE | The invoice date and time, as day/month/year hours:minutes. |
| STATUS | Whether the invoice is settled, and how it was paid. |
STATUS reads one of: Paid, Partially paid, Payment due, Overdue, or Unpaid (no payments at all). When payments were taken, the ways they were paid follow, the same way the online invoice says it: for example Paid - Cash, Debit for an invoice settled partly in cash and partly by debit card, or Partially paid - Cheque. Refunds are not listed as payment methods.
If the invoice came from an Amazon order, a second bar, AMAZON ORDER, shows the Amazon order number so you can match the invoice to Seller Central and to the settlement.
3. Customer and ship-to
Two boxes side by side.
CUSTOMER (the bill-to box) shows:
- The customer's name in bold. A company is addressed by its company name, a person by their own name. A sale with no customer reads Walk-In Customer.
- The company name, when it differs from the name above.
- The billing address: street lines, then city, province or state and postal code, then country. If the customer's record on this computer has no street address, the customer's ship-to address is printed here instead, so the box never shows a name alone.
- The customer's phone number.
- Tax No: and the customer's tax number, when their record has one.
SHIP TO shows, in order of preference: the delivery address typed on this invoice; otherwise the customer's standing ship-to address; otherwise Same as billing address.
To change what prints here, edit the customer (see Add or edit a customer) or the ship-to on the invoice.
4. The lines
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| # | The line number. |
| PRODUCT | The item name (with its variation, when it has one). Under the name: the batch or lot and its expiry date, serial numbers, and warranty cover with the date it runs out, when the line has them. |
| QUANTITY | The quantity sold. |
| UNIT PRICE | The price per unit before tax and before any invoice discount. |
| SUBTOTAL | Quantity × unit price. |
Because prices here are before tax and discount, the SUBTOTAL column adds up exactly to Subtotal (excl. tax) in the totals. The components of a bundle (a group or "combo" item) are listed under it, marked +, with their quantities but no prices: the bundle's own line carries the money. A short invoice is padded with blank ruled rows so the grid keeps its shape; a long one continues on as many pages as it needs, with the column headings repeated at the top of each page.
5. Payments received, notes and signatures (left)
PAYMENTS RECEIVED lists each payment on the invoice on its own line: the payment method, then its reference with a # (a cheque number, a card approval code from a standalone terminal, an e-transfer reference), then the date it was paid, and on the right the amount. A refund is marked (refund) and shown as a negative amount. With no payments the box says No payments recorded.
Each leg of a split payment prints as its own line with its own reference. See Taking a split payment.
NOTES & TERMS prints the invoice's notes.
Two signature lines follow: Authorized Signatory (yours) and Customer Signature (goods received), which is what makes an invoice on credit collectable. Both print on every invoice.
6. Totals and tax summary (right)
| Line | What it means |
|---|---|
| Subtotal (excl. tax) | The sum of the lines before tax and discount. |
| Discount (−) | The invoice discount, when there is one. |
| Tax lines (+) | One line per tax rate, each showing the rate name and percentage and the amount it was charged on, for example GST 5% on $1,200.00. A tax group such as HST or GST + PST is split into its parts. |
| 0% tax on $X (tax exempt) | The amount of the invoice that carried no tax (zero-rated or exempt lines), so the customer can see that it was not simply forgotten. |
| Tax (+) | A single tax figure, printed instead of the per-rate lines when the per-rate figures do not add up exactly to the invoice's tax. |
| Shipping charges (+) | Shipping or freight on the invoice. |
| Surcharge (+) | A surcharge on the invoice. |
| Adjustment (+ or −) | Any difference between the parts above and the invoice total (for example rounding), shown openly so the block adds up. |
| TOTAL | The invoice total, the amount the customer was charged. |
| TOTAL currency | For an invoice billed in a foreign currency: the amount in the customer's currency and the exchange rate used. |
| Total paid | Payments received so far. |
| Refunded (−) | Money given back, when any was. |
| Balance due | What the customer still owes. Not printed when nothing is owed. |
The page ends with "Thank you for your business." Every page has a footer with "Powered by SeroBooks · serobooks.app" on the left, the invoice number in the middle, and "Page n of m" on the right.
Getting the invoice out
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Print it now | Open the invoice and press Print Invoice. It prints on the document printer chosen in Printer Setup, or the computer's default printer. |
| Print it every time you save a sale | Tick Invoice under When this is saved on the invoice, and turn on Print automatically when a sale is saved in Printer Setup. |
| Save it as a file | Press Save PDF on the saved invoice. |
| Email it | Press Email on the saved invoice; the PDF is attached (see Emailing invoices, statements and reports). |
| Print or email many | Use Print Forms or Send Forms. |
Common problems
The customer box shows the wrong name. A company is addressed by its company name. Check the customer's record: whether it is marked as a company, and its company name.
The address is missing. The customer's record has neither a billing street nor a ship-to address. Add one to the customer and print again.
The tax shows as one "Tax" line instead of GST and PST. The per-rate amounts did not add up exactly to the invoice's tax, so SeroBooks prints the total alone rather than a breakdown that does not reconcile. Check the tax codes on the lines (see Tax on invoices, bills and expenses).
The status says Paid but no methods are listed. The invoice is paid but none of its payments has a method name that can be shown. The amounts still list under PAYMENTS RECEIVED.