In Severa, you can reimburse an invoice in full using the reimburse function found inside the invoice, or you can manually create a partial reimbursement. This article explains how the reimburse function works, how to create a partial reimbursement, and which settings must be defined for creating credit notes.

⚠️ A credit note cannot be deleted in Severa after it has been created.

Create a credit note

When the reimburse function is available

Reimburse is shown in the invoice More actions menu when all of the following conditions are met:

  • The invoice status is Sent, but the invoice has not been marked as Paid. Typically, the status has the settings Not editable, Invoice number and Sent selected.
  • The invoice has not already been reimbursed. You can reimburse the same invoice only once.
  • The invoice is not itself a credit note. A credit note cannot be reimbursed.
  • You have access to an invoice status in which reimbursing is allowed.

How to reimburse an invoice

  1. Open the invoice you want to reimburse. You can open the invoice, for example, from the Billing > Invoices view, or search for the invoice by invoice number using the search bar in the upper right corner of Severa.
  2. In the lower left corner, select More actions > Reimburse. If you do not see the function, check that the above conditions for reimbursing an invoice are met.
  3. Next you must choose whether to create only a credit note, or both a credit note and a new invoice at the same time:
    1. Create only reimbursement: Select this option when the customer is not supposed to be invoiced again after the reimbursement. Severa automatically creates a credit note. The initial invoice rows, such as work hours and costs, are marked as non-billable. 
    2. Create reimbursement and new invoice: Select this option when you want to reimburse the invoice and send a corrected invoice to the customer. Severa automatically creates two invoices: a credit note and a new invoice. The new invoice has the same rows as the initial one, and the initial work hours and costs are linked to it. You can edit the rows as needed before sending.

What is copied to the credit note

The credit note is created based on the initial invoice. The following are copied to it:

  • customer and billing customer
  • recipient and sender information
  • references, order number and additional information
  • bank accounts, currency and payment terms
  • invoice rows with negative quantities.


Severa automatically adds a reference to the initial invoice number in the additional information of the credit note. The credit note shows which invoice it reimburses, and the initial invoice shows that a credit note has been created for it.

Create a partial reimbursement

Severa does not have a separate partial reimbursement function, but you can create a partial reimbursement manually. A manually created partial reimbursement is a plain invoice with negative rows. It is not linked to the initial invoice and it is not shown as a credit note in Severa. Create a partial reimbursement as follows:

  1. Open a new or existing invoice.
  2. Add a fee to the invoice.
  3. Allocate the row to a product in the product registry or add a row that is not allocated to a product.
  4. Enter the Quantity as a negative number, for example -1.
  5. Enter the Unit price as a positive number, for example 250.
  6. Enter the invoice number to be reimbursed in the additional information of the invoice so that the customer knows which invoice the reimbursement is related to.
  7. Select Save.
When a financial integration is enabled, always enter the Quantity as a negative number and the Unit price as a positive number. 

Invoice statuses for credit notes

A credit note automatically receives the status defined in Severa invoice status settings as the Default status for credit note. If a default status has not been defined, the credit note receives the same status as the initial invoice. You can define the default status in Severa settings behind the cogwheel icon: Settings > Billing > Invoice statuses > Default status for credit note.

When the default status has been defined, you can change the default status by selecting another status if needed, but you cannot remove the definition completely. The default status for credit note cannot be removed or set to passive.

If your company is using a financial integration, we recommend that you use as the Default status for credit note the same invoice status that is defined as the transfer status in the integration. This way credit notes go directly to the correct status and are transferred correctly forward in the integration.

Keywords: reimbursement, credit note, reimbursing an invoice, cancelling an invoice, partial reimbursement of an invoice, partial reimbursement, deleting a credit note





Did you find it helpful? Yes No

Send feedback
Sorry we couldn't be helpful. Help us improve this article with your feedback.