Void and skipped invoices: the easily overlooked part

Most people only care about the invoices they issued, while the void ones and the ones they skipped get bundled up and put somewhere. By the time they are needed, nobody can find them or remembers where they went.

Why keep them: once an invoice has carried a number, that number is used, whether or not the sheet is thrown away. If you issue invoice 12 and destroy it, whoever receives invoice 13 still assumes number 12 exists somewhere. Keeping the void one is how you answer that question.

Write the reason for voiding on the sheet itself. A few words is enough: added up wrong, wrong customer name, customer changed their mind. A crossed-out invoice with no reason leaves the next reader guessing.

Do not tear it up and write the same number again on a new sheet. That creates two sheets with different contents sharing one number, and that is the hardest situation of all to explain during a reconciliation.

For your records, a void invoice usually does not count as revenue. But its number still sits in the sequence you have used. So when you add up revenue you need to separate the void ones from the real ones, or the figure will come out higher than it was.

For e-invoices with a tax authority code the process is different and stricter: voiding has to follow the proper procedure and be notified. This article is about ordinary sales invoices - for e-invoices, follow the guidance of the tax authority or your service provider.

To put it briefly: a void invoice that is kept with the reason written on it is a useful piece of paper. Tear it up and you lose both the information and the grounds to explain it.