How Can I Transfer a Payment Between Invoices and Clients?

The payment is for the correct client, but you’ve recorded it against the wrong invoice

In this case, it is just a matter of un-allocating the payment from the incorrect invoice and re-allocating it to the correct one.

This works for every payment method, including Stripe, Tyro, and Tyro HealthPoint payments.

1. Go to the client’s profile > Billing > Payments, and make sure the payment is within the date range shown.
2. Click the payment date, or click the gear icon and select Edit Payment.
3. Under Select invoices to pay, untick the invoice the payment was applied to by mistake.
4. Tick the correct invoice.
5. Click Save.

If the payment isn’t listed on the client’s Payments page, the invoice is billed to a payee through the Payable By field, and the payment sits on that payee’s profile. For more detail, see Adding and Managing Payments.

The payment is for the incorrect invoice and client, but the clients are related

If your clients are related (e.g. husband and wife, or siblings, or parent and child), then follow these steps:

1. You can link client profiles as contacts for each other.
2. Once that is done, unallocate the payment from the incorrect invoice.
3. Go to the correct invoice, and select the Contact in the “Payable By” field.
4. Save the invoice.
5. You now will be able to click on Add Payment and select the Existing Payment
6. Save the invoice again.

Credit Transfer: the payment is for the incorrect invoice and the incorrect client

Use this method when the payment needs to reach an invoice for a client who is not related to the payer, whatever the payment method, including Stripe, Tyro, and Tyro HealthPoint.

When the clients aren’t related, you can make use of an unrelated payment to transfer the credit between the two invoices. You might choose to use the “Cash” payment method, or you might prefer to create a new Payment Method just for this purpose. You will create a positive payment and a negative payment for the same amount, so they effectively cancel each other out.

Add both payments from the invoice itself, using Add Payment on the invoice as described below. The Sales > New Payment form takes a different route and requires an amount greater than zero, so a negative amount entered there will not save. See Invoices and Payments Reports.

1. Create a new payment method:

• Go to User Menu > Account Settings > Payments > Payment Methods
• Click on Add Payment Method
• Give your new payment method a name, eg “Credit Transfer”,
• and Save.

2. Now on the first invoice(with the incorrect payment) add a new payment:

• Click on Add Payment > select “Credit Transfe r”
• Add a Payment Note or an internal Invoice Note to make a record of how you’ve transferred the payment to the other invoice. Eg you might say “Payment incorrectly recorded here, and transferred to invoice 123 for client A”
• Set the Payment Amount to the negative of the amount to be transferred (usually the full amount of the payment already on the invoice)
• Set the Payment Amount to the negative of the amount to be transferred.

3. On the second invoice, add a new payment:

• Click on Add Payment > select “Credit Transfer”
• Add a Payment Note or an internal Invoice Note to make a record of how you are transferring payment from the other invoice
• Set the Payment Amount to the positive amount to be transferred.
• Save the changes.

After the transfer: what the first invoice shows

Once both Credit Transfer payments are saved, the original payment and the negative Credit Transfer on the first invoice cancel each other out. That invoice no longer has any payment counting towards it, so it shows its full invoice total as owing again. This is expected: the client on that invoice hasn’t paid it.

What to do next depends on whether that client really owes the charge:

• The client does owe for the session or item: leave the invoice as it is and collect payment from them in the usual way.
• The charge shouldn’t be there (for example, the session or item wasn’t provided to that client): bring the invoice to $0 by updating the item price to $0, or by adding a new item line with a negative amount. See How To Bring the Invoice Owing Balance to $0 in Refunding An Invoice. This clears the invoice without a refund and without leaving a credit on the client’s account.

The first invoice shows a credit (a negative balance)

A negative balance means more has been paid against the invoice than it charges. Usually an extra Credit Transfer payment was added, or one was entered with the wrong sign. Credit Transfer is a manual payment method, so you can correct it directly, even though the original Stripe or Tyro payment can’t be changed:

1. Open the first invoice and scroll to Invoice Payments.
2. Check the payments listed. After a transfer there should be only the original payment and one negative Credit Transfer payment for the same amount.
3. Delete any extra Credit Transfer payment, or correct the amount of one entered with the wrong sign.
4. Click Save Invoice.

The invoice then shows only its own charge again. Clear that charge using the steps above if the client doesn’t owe it.

A contact booked an appointment and paid it online under their own name

It may happen that a contact booked an appointment and paid it via your client portal using their own details. In this case, the system would create an appointment under the contact’s name and record the invoice and payment for this appointment in the contact profile. The appointment and payment need to be transferred to the client’s profile. Here is how this can be done:

1. Link the Parent as a Contact under the Child’s Profile:

   • Navigate to the Child’s Profile.
   • Go to Contacts and link the parent’s profile as a contact if not already done.

2. Unlink the Payment from the Parent’s Invoice:

   • Go to the Parent’s Profile.
   • Navigate to Billing > Payments.
   • Find the payment in question and click Edit.
   • Uncheck the invoice that is currently linked to the parent’s appointment.
   • Save the changes.

3. Delete the Appointment Under the Parent’s Name:

   • Go back to the Parent’s Profile.
   • Delete the appointment that was incorrectly booked under the parent’s name.

4. Rebook the Appointment Under the Child’s Name:

   • Navigate to the main calendar screen.
   • Book the appointment correctly under the child’s name.

5. Set the Parent as the Payee in the Child’s Billing Setup:

   • In the Child’s Profile, go to Billing > Billing Setup.
   • Under Bill To, select the Parent as the payee.
   • Save the changes.

6. Reassign the Payment to the Child’s Invoice:

   • On the child’s appointment panel, add the service you will provide to the child.
   • Click on Add Payment. You should see the existing payment that was previously associated with the parent.
   • Select this payment to link it to the child’s new invoice.

If you don’t see the payment:

• Go back to the Parent’s Profile.
• Navigate to Billing > Payments.
• Edit the payment in question and select the new invoice linked to the child.
• Save the changes.