Before you begin

Decide if you want invoice changes to affect a prior accounting period in General Ledger. Invoice changes post to the invoice accounting date. If you already closed that period, entries post to the original accounting date.

If you don’t want entries posted to the original date, change the invoice accounting date to the current period. After you accept changes in Change Invoices, select the accounting date for reversing entries. Choose the Revised accounting date.

Options to resolve

Choose an option below based on your scenario.

• You decide not to pay a vendor the open retainage amount of a previously paid Accounts Payable invoice
• You want to remove retainage held from an invoice and keep the invoice amount unchanged
• You have retainage for multiple invoices from the same vendor that you don’t wish to pay

Remove retainage from a paid invoice

Reduce the open retainage and balance of a previously paid Accounts Payable invoice.

Create negative distribution lines to reverse open retainage when reducing a partially paid invoice. Don’t reduce existing retainage amounts directly because it doesn't remove the retainage correctly.

1. In Accounts Payable, go to Tasks, Change Invoices.
2. Enter the Vendor and Invoice to change.
3. Reduce the invoice Amount to reflect the new invoice amount (new amount equals original amount less retainage).
4. Press the Tab key until the cursor moves to the distribution grid.
5. Create a new distribution line.
   1. Enter the commitment and/or job information.
   2. Enter a negative amount in the Amount column. This equals the amount you reduced the invoice by (the retainage amount).
   3. Enter the same negative amount in the Retainage column.
6. If the invoice has distribution lines for several jobs with open retainage amounts to remove, repeat step 5.
7. Accept distributions and invoice changes.
   
   NOTE:

   If you track tax amounts on each distribution, error messages can appear. Change the tax tracking setting in File, Company Settings, AP Settings, Invoice Settings, Tax Settings. Correct the invoice and then return the AP Settings to their original state.

8. Click Finish and Start to print your journal.
9. Pay the invoice.
   • Pay the invoice so the invoice and all distribution lines to have a Status of Fully Paid.
   • If you pay the invoice by itself, the check amount is zero.
   • When using Select invoices to pay (SITP), select the Retainage invoices only box. This ensures it pays the retainage instead of holding it.
   • If you pay with Record Manual Checks, type 0.00 in Retainage Held for each retainage only distribution. If you don't zero the Retainage Held amounts, you'll receive an error.

Remove retainage from an unpaid invoice

Remove retainage held from an invoice and keep the invoice as Open and unpaid.

1. In Accounts Payable, go to Tasks, Change Invoices.
2. Enter the Vendor and Invoice to change.
3. Press the Tab key until the cursor moves to the distribution grid.
4. Create a new line of distribution to remove the retainage amount.
   1. Enter the commitment and/or job information.
   2. For the Amount, enter a negative amount equal to the amount of unpaid retainage.
   3. Enter the same negative amount in the Retainage column. This reduces the retainage portion of the invoice.
5. Create a new line of distribution to add back the retainage you removed. This will recreate the non-retainage portion of the invoice.
   1. Enter the commitment and/or job information.
   2. For the Amount, enter a positive amount.
   3. Don’t enter an amount in the Retainage column.
6. If the invoice has multiple jobs with open retainage amounts to remove, repeat steps 4 and 5.
7. Accept distributions and invoice changes.
   
   NOTE:

   If you track tax amounts on each distribution, error messages can appear. Change the tax tracking setting in File, Company Settings, AP Settings, Invoice Settings, Tax Settings. Correct the invoice and then return the AP Settings to their original state.

8. Click Finish then Start to print your journal.
9. Pay the invoice.
   • Pay the invoice so it shows the correct amount of retainage.
   • If you pay the invoice by itself, the check amount is zero.
   • When using Select invoices to pay (SITP), select the Retainage invoices only box. This ensures it pays the retainage instead of holding it.
   • If you pay with Record Manual Checks, type 0.00 in Retainage Held for each retainage only distribution.

Remove retainage from multiple invoices

You have retainage left to pay for multiple invoices for the same vendor that you don’t want to pay.

1. In Accounts Payable, go to Tasks, Enter Invoices to enter a credit invoice.
2. Select the Vendor and enter an Invoice number.
3. Enter a negative Amount (the total of all the invoice amounts that you need to reduce or remove).
4. Add a line of distribution with the commitment and/or job information and negative amounts in Amount and Retainage.
5. If there are multiple accounts, commitments, or jobs affected, add a negative line of distribution for each. Confirm the distributions total to the same invoice negative amount.
6. Accept your distributions and Accept your invoice.
7. Click Finish and Start to print your journal.
8. Pay the invoice.
   • Pay the invoice so the invoice and all distribution lines to have a Status of Fully Paid.
   • If you pay the credit invoice and the outstanding invoices together, the check amount is zero.
   • When using Select invoices to pay (SITP), select the Retainage invoices only box. This ensures it pays the retainage instead of holding it.
   • If you receive the message "There is more than just retainage to be paid on this item. Pay retainage along with remaining amount?" then click Yes.
   • If you pay with Record Manual Checks, type 0.00 in Retainage Held for each retainage only distribution.

How do I change an Accounts Payable invoice without affecting a prior period?