Issuing a credit note: when, what goes on it and how to settle it

Why you do not change a posted invoice

A posted invoice has a number in a continuous series. It is in your accounts, and often already in the customer’s. Changing the PDF or making a number disappear makes that series unreliable, while the customer still has the original version.

So first make one distinction:

• A draft, not yet posted and not sent, can be changed or cancelled. There is nothing to correct at the customer’s end.
• A posted or sent invoice stays as it is. You issue a credit note that refers to it and, where necessary, a new, correct invoice afterwards.

When should you issue a credit note?

The most common cases in a service company:

Unsure whether to go for full or partial? A full credit note with a new invoice is clearest for the customer: they end up with one correct invoice.

What must a credit note state?

In Belgium, these rules apply:

• The credit note refers to the original invoice, with its number and date.
• It states the identification details of the parties, just like an invoice.
• If your customer is a company liable for VAT, the credit note carries the statement that the VAT must be repaid to the State to the extent that it was originally deducted (“btw terug te storten aan de Staat in de mate waarin ze oorspronkelijk in aftrek werd gebracht” / “TVA à reverser à l’État dans la mesure où elle a été initialement déduite”).
• Since 1 January 2026, Belgian companies liable for VAT have exchanged invoices and credit notes with each other as structured electronic documents, via the Peppol network.

Have your accountant check the statements on your credit notes once.

For the customer, it also helps if the credit note shows the credited lines, with the amounts excluding VAT, the VAT and the total, and the reason in one sentence, for example “invoiced twice”. That way their accounts department can process it without calling you.

After the credit note: refund or credit

What happens next depends on what the customer has already paid.

1. The invoice has not been paid yet. The credit note reduces the amount outstanding. After a full credit note the customer pays nothing more; after a partial one, only the difference. Do not send any more payment reminders for that invoice.
2. The invoice has already been paid. The customer has a credit balance. You refund it by bank transfer, or you agree to offset it against a next invoice. Confirm that agreement in writing.
3. A new invoice follows. Send it together with the credit note and a short explanation, so the customer can link the two documents.

An example: the same repair invoiced twice

A heating installer sends the property manager (syndic) of an apartment building the invoice for a boiler repair. A week later, the same repair goes out again on a second invoice: two colleagues each thought it still had to be invoiced.

The property manager pays the first invoice and calls about the second. The office issues a full credit note on the second invoice, with its number and date and the reason “invoiced twice”, and sends it through the same channel as the invoice. Because the second invoice was still outstanding, there is nothing to refund. Had the property manager paid both invoices, they would have had a credit balance, to be refunded or offset against a next invoice.

How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite

In the invoices screen, invoices and credit notes are listed together, with a separate tab for credit notes.

• The draft: a draft invoice can be corrected line by line. Cancelling a draft does not post it, and the intervention goes back to the list of interventions to invoice.
• Posting is final: a posted invoice can no longer be changed. Going back to draft is only offered when accounting allows it; the number is then kept, and registered payments and credit notes are unlinked. For an invoice the customer already has, the credit note remains the right route.
• The credit note: on a posted invoice, you enter the reason and the date of the credit note (not in the future). You choose either a draft credit note, which you check and post yourself, or a full credit, posted immediately and reconciled with what is still outstanding on the invoice.
• Customer credit: on an invoice that has already been paid, the amount remains open as a credit in the customer’s favour, visible on a card showing open customer credit. On the credit note, you record the refund; you make the bank transfer yourself.
• Net figures: anyone allowed to see amounts gets, in the financial overview and on the dashboard, the net amount invoiced for the month, excluding VAT and after deducting the credit notes.
• Customer portal: a customer with access finds their invoices and credit notes there, with a filter for credit notes and a PDF per document.
• Cancelling a sales order also cancels the draft invoices of that order, but not the posted invoices.

Good to know: in Service Suite, a credit note always covers the full amount of the invoice. If only part has to go, you credit the invoice in full and then create a new invoice. Matching a credit note against another invoice is not possible in Service Suite. By default, the administrator and accounting can issue credit notes. Your company’s Peppol registration is done at the start, together with Digitalnatie.

Also read how an invoice comes out of the intervention without typing anything in again in from work order to invoice, which figures to follow after credit notes in the KPIs of a technical department, and what the invoicing and purchasing module covers.

Frequently asked questions

What is a credit note?

A credit note corrects an invoice in whole or in part and reduces what the customer owes you. The original invoice continues to exist: the credit note refers to it, with its number and date.

Creditnota or kredietnota: which is the right word?

Both Dutch words are used in Belgium and mean the same thing: a credit note. Choose one and use it consistently on your documents.

Can I cancel or delete an invoice instead of issuing a credit note?

A draft that has not yet been posted or sent can be changed or cancelled. A posted or sent invoice, including one that went out via Peppol, stays as it is and is corrected with a credit note. That way your numbering stays correct and the customer sees which invoice no longer applies.

Does a credit note have to go via Peppol?

Since 1 January 2026, Belgian companies liable for VAT have exchanged invoices and credit notes with each other as structured electronic documents, via the Peppol network. Check with your accountant what that means for your customers.

Can I issue a partial credit note in Service Suite?

In Service Suite, a credit note always covers the full amount of the invoice. To correct part of it, you credit the invoice in full and then create a new, correct invoice.