Paying a recurring invoice

If the firm performs the same services for you on a regular basis (e.g. payroll or bookkeeping), they can use recurring invoices for automating the invoicing. They can offer you a "subscription" — in the sense that money is withdrawn automatically from your bank account at regular intervals.

So, unlike the one-time invoices that you pay every month, recurring ones are automatically paid after the first payment authorization, with no further action needed from you.

Covered here:

• How to sign recurring invoices
• Where to find your recurring invoices
  • Recurring invoices that require your action
• What happens if an automatic payment fails?
• How to change your payment method for a recurring invoice

How to sign recurring invoices

To review and sign a recurring invoice, follow these steps:

1. Click the Review and sign notification for a new recurrent invoice on your Home or Billing pages.

2. Review the recurring invoice summary and details, then click Next.

3. Select a saved payment method or add a new one by entering your bank account or card details, then click Save. See the detailed instructions on different ways to pay.

4. Review the summary, sign the recurring invoice, check the agreement box, and click Accept recurring invoice.

Your card/account will be charged automatically in accordance with the schedule outlined in the recurring invoice.

Where to find your recurring invoices

Once you have a recurring invoice that needs to be accepted and signed, you'll see a Review and sign notification on your Home and Billing screens.

When you go to the Recurring Invoices subtab of the Billing page from the left menu bar, you’ll find all your recurring invoices.

You’ll also see this information:

• NAME: This is what the recurrent invoice is for.
• STATUS: The status tags help you manage and organize your recurring invoices. The status can be the one of following:
  • Active: No action required. Your subscription is active, invoices will be sent to you according to the agreed-upon schedule.
  • Pending: Your action is needed. The recurring invoice is not signed; you need to review and accept it.
  • Overdue: Your action is needed. One or more invoices are not paid on time. You need to update your payment details to proceed.
• NEXT PAYMENT: This is the date or time when the next invoice will be issued according to the agreed-upon schedule.
• EXPIRES: This is the date of the last scheduled invoice according to the agreed-upon schedule.

If you want to sort your recurring invoice list to find specific ones, click on the up-down arrows next to the NAME, NEXT PAYMENT, or EXPIRES column header.

Recurring invoices that require your action

Some recurring invoices require your actions, and some don’t. You can always find out if there are any issues by looking at the column to the right of the EXPIRES column.

For example, if the recurring invoice requires your action (e.g., an unaccepted recurring invoice or your bank requires you to pass 3D Secure verification for payment to go through), the attention icon with a description will be shown.

• Accept and sign - you are expected to enter your payment details and sign the invoice
• Update payment details - the payment details entered are not valid. For that reason, the invoices sent according to the agreed schedule could not be paid. Please review and update your payment method and information.

If there is no action required, the icon does not appear.

Feel free to read more about managing overdue invoices.

What happens if an automatic payment fails?

If there are any issues with payment processing such as insufficient balance in your bank account or other processing errors that prevent the payment from going through, the system will automatically attempt to retry the payment up to four additional times:

• 4 hours after the first unsuccessful payment
• 24 hours after the last attempt
• 48 hours after the last attempt
• 72 hours after the last attempt

If all four attempts are unsuccessful, you will have to update your payment details. Once you have done so, future payments will be charged automatically.

How to change your payment method for a recurring invoice

Sometimes you may want to change the payment method for your recurring invoices. For example, you may want to add a new card, or select another previously added card.

To change the payment method, follow these steps:

1. Navigate the  Recurring invoices subtab of the Billing page. 

2. Click on the name of the recurring invoice to open the payment window.

3. Click Edit in the Payment method section.

4. Now you can select one of the previously added cards or add a new card.

The process of adding a new card is described above.