How proposal invoicing works

When a client accepts a proposal, Tidyflow turns it into invoices for you. The Invoicing section on the proposal, shown under the pricing line items, controls when billing starts and whether invoices go out automatically or wait for your review.

What is invoiced at acceptance

Accepting a proposal creates one acceptance invoice containing every one-time fee billed on acceptance, plus the first recurring cycle when recurring billing starts on acceptance. For one-time lines billed On completion or When requested, only an optional deposit is invoiced at acceptance. The rest is invoiced later. If the proposal offers packages, only the package your client selected is invoiced. Recurring services also get a recurring invoice schedule that generates the following cycles automatically.

If nothing is due at acceptance, for example when the only line is at no charge or recurring billing starts on a later date, no acceptance invoice is created and no invoice is emailed. Your client still receives the acceptance confirmation email.

Choose when recurring billing starts

The Billing starts setting on the proposal controls the first recurring invoice:

• On acceptance: the first cycle is billed on the acceptance invoice the moment your client accepts. This is the default.
• On a specific date: pick a Start date, and the first recurring invoice is generated on that date instead. Nothing recurring is billed at acceptance.

Either way, later cycles follow the Frequency you set, and the schedule appears under Billing in Recurring after acceptance.

Collect a deposit on a one-time fee

Keep the full agreed price on the Service line. Do not add a second Service for the deposit.

1. Open the proposal editor and click the billing summary below the one-time fee, such as On acceptance · No Job. This opens Billing setup.
2. Under Billing schedule, choose On completion or When requested.
3. Turn on Deposit on acceptance.
4. Choose Percentage or Fixed amount, then enter the deposit. The percentage starts at 50%; fixed amounts exclude tax. Invoice preview shows the fee, tax and total due at acceptance and later.
5. Under Job setup, choose what Tidyflow should do with the Job, then click Save changes and send the proposal as usual.

The description for a proposal Service is optional and does not affect billing. Use the linked Service menu beside the line if you want to add or change client-facing scope details.

Deposits require connected online payments. Your client pays the deposit with any other fees due at acceptance through the existing payment flow. Deposits are available for one-time fees, including custom lines and add-ons. A proposal can also include recurring fees, which keep their existing schedule.

The amount due at acceptance is fixed by the proposal. Your client cannot change the deposit amount or choose to pay more during checkout.

The client’s Pricing step shows the full agreed Service price. At Sign & pay, the payment schedule separates what is due today from balances that will be invoiced later. Displayed payment amounts include applicable tax.

Request the remaining balance before delivery

Choose When requested to control when the remaining fee is invoiced. This works with or without a Job and lets you request payment before delivering the work.

After acceptance, open the proposal and click Invoice remaining balance. Tidyflow creates a draft for the outstanding manually billed amounts, or opens the existing draft. Review it and use the usual invoice sending and payment options. Creating or saving this draft does not charge your client.

Remaining to invoice subtracts amounts already invoiced, including unpaid invoices. Use the linked invoice to follow up or retry payment. Clicking the balance button again does not create another bill for the same fee.

Bill the remaining fee on Job completion

Choose On completion to invoice the remaining fee when the linked Job is marked completed. This setting requires a Job. An optional deposit is collected at acceptance; the completion invoice contains only the rest of the agreed fee.

With Auto-send and charge, the completion invoice can charge the client’s saved payment method where consent is on file. If charging fails, the invoice is sent with a payment link. With Save as draft, it waits for review without sending or charging.

Job completion, successful payment and delivery are separate steps. Marking a Job completed triggers the invoice; it does not guarantee the payment has cleared. If payment is required before delivery, confirm the invoice is paid before releasing the work.

Choose the Job for a one-time Service

The Job for this Service setting keeps delivery work separate from billing:

• Create from Service template creates one Job when the proposal is accepted. This choice appears when the Service has a template.
• Link existing Job uses an accessible, open, unbilled Job belonging to the same client and Service. Its work, dates, files and assignments are kept.
• No Job agrees the fee without creating delivery work. Use When requested to bill that fee later.

The deposit and balance invoices share the same Service and Job. They do not create two Jobs. If a selected Job becomes unavailable while the client is paying, acceptance is retained and the proposal shows Resolve Job setup for your team to finish linking the work.

Auto-send or save as draft

The Invoices setting controls acceptance and automatically generated recurring and completion invoices. When requested balances always open as drafts for your review:

• Auto-send and charge: each invoice is emailed to your client’s billing contacts as soon as it is raised, and charged to their saved payment method where one is on file. New proposals default to this, so accepting a proposal bills your client end to end without any manual step.
• Save as draft: invoices are created but held as drafts for you to review and send from Billing under Invoices. Nothing reaches your client and nothing is charged until you send it.

An invoice your client has already paid always emails its receipt, whichever option is selected.

What happens when online payments are enabled

With online payments connected, the Payment details setting in the Invoicing section controls whether acceptance collects a payment method. New proposals default to Request at acceptance, and the setting locks there while recurring or future-billed lines exist, because those bill after acceptance. Choose Don’t request if no payment method is needed for future invoices, for example a signed engagement with no billing. This does not waive or defer an amount due at acceptance.

The accept button reflects what acceptance does: Accept & pay when an amount is due today, or Accept & save payment method when only payment details are collected. Your client sees exactly what is charged now and what their saved method may be charged later before they accept.

• If your client pays at acceptance, the invoice is marked paid and they receive a receipt. This happens even when Invoices is set to Save as draft, because your client actively paid on Stripe’s checkout.
• If your client saves a payment method without paying today, the unpaid acceptance invoice follows the Invoices setting: emailed with a payment link on Auto-send and charge, or held as a draft on Save as draft.
• With a saved payment method and Auto-send and charge, each recurring cycle and each completion-billed line is charged automatically and your client receives a receipt. If a charge fails, the invoice is emailed with a payment link instead and your firm is notified.
• If your firm passes on card fees, automatic charges to a saved credit card include the fee, and the proposal states this before your client accepts; see Accept online payments.
• With Save as draft, nothing is charged automatically. Each invoice waits as a draft until you send it.

Include work at no charge

A one-time line with a $0 total, for example ad-hoc work quoted at an hourly rate with a quantity of 0, is treated as scope rather than a charge. Your client sees the line on the proposal, and it appears at $0.00 on the acceptance invoice when there are other billable lines, but a $0 line never produces an invoice on its own. Bill ad-hoc hourly work later through time tracking when the work actually happens.

Where the invoices live

The acceptance and balance invoices appear under Billing in Invoices. The accepted proposal shows the full fee, deposit status, remaining uninvoiced amount and links to its invoices. The recurring schedule appears under Billing in Recurring. If you record an acceptance on your client’s behalf with Mark accepted, the invoice is always created as a draft and nothing is emailed, so you stay in control of what the client receives. This staff-side action does not grant client consent for automatic charges, so its recurring schedule is not set to auto-charge.

Cancel an unpaid proposal invoice

Proposal invoice amounts follow the accepted agreement and cannot be changed or duplicated through ordinary invoice editing. You can edit descriptions and dates in draft review.

Void an unpaid proposal invoice to cancel that amount while keeping its billing history. Voiding does not put the amount back into Remaining to invoice, and Tidyflow does not automatically bill it again. Invoices with settled or processing payments cannot be voided.