What is a recurring invoice?

A set of lines and a schedule for one customer. easySales raises a draft invoice from it for every period, and a person checks and issues each one.

Can one month's invoice be different from the others?

Yes. Each period's draft is an ordinary draft: change it before you issue it. To change every later period, edit the recurring invoice's lines; drafts already raised keep theirs.

Why is a recurring draft dated later than its period?

It was raised after the period's day, by a person or by the daily retry. A late draft is dated the day it is raised; the description still names the period it bills.

Can I bill a customer in another currency on a schedule?

Yes. A recurring invoice has one currency, set when you save it. Each draft takes the automatic exchange rate current when it is raised. See Currency and rates.

What happens to a recurring invoice when its owner leaves?

No draft is raised while the owner is not an active user, and the list shows it under Needs attention. Someone with Invoice Edit set to All records can choose a new owner, or move it with Transfer records.

What is the difference between a recurring invoice and a billing plan?

A billing plan splits one quotation's agreed sum into stages until it is fully invoiced. A recurring invoice repeats the same lines every period, with no total. See Plan billing stages.

Who can create and manage recurring invoices?

They use the Invoice permissions: List and View to see them, Add to create them, and Edit to change, pause, resume or end them. Generate now needs Add and Edit. With Own records only, you see the ones you own, plus any that sharing or an account team gives you, as with invoices.

Recurring invoices

Copy for AI

Some customers pay the same amount on a schedule: a monthly maintenance fee, a quarterly retainer, a yearly subscription. A recurring invoice remembers what to bill and how often, so you do not type the same invoice again each period. easySales prepares a draft invoice for each period; a person still checks it and issues it. To create one, see Set up a recurring invoice.

How it fits together

A recurring invoice belongs to one customer’s contact and account, like an invoice. It holds:

The lines repeated every period — products, descriptions, quantities, prices and tax, in one currency. A description can carry placeholders — [Month], [Year], [PeriodStart], [PeriodEnd] and [Period n/N] — which are filled in on each draft.
The schedule — how often a period comes round (every so many weeks, months, quarters or years), when the first period starts, when it ends (never, on a date, or after a number of periods), and whether each invoice is raised on the first day of its period, the last day, or a day of the month.
The periods — one row for each billing period, each with its own state and, once it has one, its own invoice.

Each period’s invoice is an ordinary invoice. It links back to its recurring invoice, and the recurring invoice lists the invoices it raised. The account’s page has a tab with its recurring invoices.

How it works

With Raise each period’s draft automatically on, easySales checks once an hour for periods whose day has come and raises a draft invoice for each, from the recurring invoice’s lines, in the name of its owner. Nothing is ever issued or sent automatically: someone opens the draft, checks it and issues it like any other invoice. With the switch off, a person raises each period’s draft with Generate now.

Period state	Meaning
Pending	Its day has not come.
Due - raised automatically	Its day has come, and the schedule will raise its draft.
Due - for you	Its day has come, and a person must raise its draft or skip it.
Not raised	The schedule tried and was refused. It tries again once a day.
Draft to issue	A draft invoice is waiting to be issued.
Part invoiced	Issued invoices bill part of the period.
Invoiced	Its invoice is issued.
Skipped	Someone skipped it; it raises no invoice. Undo skip brings it back.

When a draft is not raised, the recurring invoice’s owner (or a recipient set through a connected AI app) gets a notice in their message centre saying why, such as a contact that no longer exists or a currency with no exchange rate. The period’s row says the same. Fix the cause, then select Generate now, or wait for the next daily try, or skip the period.

The Needs attention view of the recurring invoice list gathers what waits for a person: periods not raised, periods due for you, drafts to issue, periods part invoiced, and recurring invoices whose owner is no longer an active user.

Good to know

easySales does not catch up on its own. The schedule raises a period on its own day. A period whose day passed without it, for example while the recurring invoice was paused or before the switch was turned on, is Due - for you.
A draft raised after its period’s day, by a person or by the daily retry, is dated the day it is raised. Its due date counts from that date by the payment term: the recurring invoice’s own, else the customer’s, else the company default, read when the draft is raised. Its taxes are the ones in force on it. The period it bills stays in the description through the placeholders.
A draft in a foreign currency takes the automatic exchange rate current when it is raised; you can change it on the draft. See Invoice exchange rate.
Deleting a period’s draft makes the period Due - for you. The schedule does not raise it again.
Skipping a period that has a draft deletes the draft.
Pause stops the schedule; Generate now still works. After Resume, periods that fell due while it was paused are Due - for you, and the schedule carries on with the next period.
End is final: no further period is raised, by the schedule or by hand, and issued invoices stay. It is refused while a draft bills a period; issue or delete the draft first.
A change to the lines affects drafts raised afterwards only. The currency, start, frequency and the day each invoice is raised cannot be changed after saving; copy the recurring invoice to a new one instead.
No draft is raised while the owner is not an active user. Someone with Invoice Edit set to All records can choose a new Owner under Edit.
The recurring invoice’s history records each change and each draft raised, such as “Draft invoice raised for Period 3 by the schedule”. It never shows the invoice number.
A bulk transfer of a user’s invoices under Transfer records moves their recurring invoices with them.

Terms

Recurring invoice — what to bill a customer, and how often.
Period — one billing interval, numbered Period 1, Period 2 and so on.
Generate now — raise a period’s draft invoice straight away, once its day has come.
Skip — mark a period as not to be billed.

Common misunderstandings

“The customer gets the invoice automatically.” No. easySales raises a draft; a person issues it and sends it.
“A missed month is billed the next time the schedule runs.” No. It waits as Due - for you for a person to generate or skip it.
“Making an invoice recurring bills that invoice again.” No. The recurring invoice starts one period after that invoice’s date, because the invoice already billed its own period.
“A recurring invoice and a quotation’s billing plan are the same thing.” A quotation’s billing plan splits one agreed contract sum into stages. A recurring invoice bills the same lines each period, with no total to reach.

Where to find it

Recurring invoices in the sidebar, after Invoices, lists every recurring invoice you may see. An account’s page has a Recurring invoices tab. See Recurring invoices.

Why it works this way

A person issues every invoice. An issued invoice is numbered and locked, and your customer books it. A draft gives you the chance to check this period’s quantities, extras and tax first. A mistake caught on the draft costs an edit; one caught after issue costs a credit note.

Missed periods wait for you instead of piling up. If the schedule billed every missed period at once after a pause, the customer could receive a stack of invoices for months you did not supply. Each missed period waits as Due - for you, so you decide one by one whether to bill it or skip it.

A late draft is not back-dated. The invoice date decides the tax period and starts the payment term. A draft dated weeks ago would land in a tax period you may already have reported, with a due date already behind it. Dating it the day it is raised avoids both, and the description still says which period it bills.

The schedule’s shape is fixed once saved. The periods are laid out on the currency, start and frequency, and invoices already bill some of them. Changing those would leave issued invoices that no longer match a period, so a new schedule is a new recurring invoice.

Work faster

Work from your To do. The message centre’s To do shows a recurring invoice’s recipient, or its owner when no recipient is set, each period due, each draft to issue and each period part invoiced, so you do not need to open the list to find them. See Message centre.
Start from an invoice you already sent. Make recurring in an issued invoice’s ··· menu copies its customer, currency and lines. See Set up a recurring invoice.
Check one view, not every recurring invoice. Needs attention on the Recurring invoices list gathers every period and owner that waits for a person. See Recurring invoices.
Answer a customer from their account. The account’s Recurring invoices tab shows what you bill them on a schedule, beside their invoices and receipts. See Account details.
Copy rather than rebuild. To change the frequency or the day each invoice is raised, select Copy to a new recurring invoice, set the new schedule, and End the old one once its last draft is issued. See Recurring invoices.

Examples

A monthly maintenance fee. Lim & Co looks after Harbour Café’s coffee machines for SGD 300.00 a month plus 9% GST, SGD 327.00 in all. Mei Tan creates a recurring invoice for Harbour Café with one line, “Machine maintenance [Month] [Year]”, SGD 300.00, repeated every month from 1 January 2027 and raised on the first day of each period. Early on 1 January, a draft for SGD 327.00 appears, with the description “Machine maintenance January 2027”. Mei checks it and issues it. The same happens on 1 February.

Starting from an invoice you already sent. On 15 September Mei invoiced Pacific Resorts Ltd for a yearly support licence. She opens that invoice and chooses Make recurring, repeating every year. The first period starts on 15 September next year, so the invoice she already issued is not billed again.

A month the customer asked to skip. Harbour Café closes for renovation in July. In June, Mei opens the recurring invoice and skips the July period with the reason “Closed for renovation”. No draft is raised for July, and August is raised as usual.

A quarterly retainer for one year. Daniel Lim sets up a styling retainer for Pacific Resorts Ltd: one line, “Styling retainer [Period n/N]”, SGD 1,500.00, every quarter from 1 January 2027, ending after 4 periods. Drafts appear on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October 2027, the first reading “Styling retainer Period 1 of 4”. Each comes to SGD 1,635.00 (1,500.00 + 9% GST of 135.00), and the year to SGD 6,540.00 (4 × 1,635.00). After the fourth period, no further period is raised.

Two months on pause. Lim & Co cares for Orchard Dental’s display lighting for SGD 450.00 a month plus GST of SGD 40.50: SGD 490.50, on a recurring invoice with the line “Lighting care [Month] [Year]” and a 30-day payment term. Mei pauses the recurring invoice on 20 June 2027 and resumes it on 10 August. The July and August periods now read Due - for you. She selects Generate now on both: each draft is dated 10 August 2027 and due on 9 September, reads “Lighting care July 2027” or “Lighting care August 2027”, and comes to SGD 490.50, SGD 981.00 for the two. The September period is raised by the schedule on 1 September.

Common questions

What is a recurring invoice? A set of lines and a schedule for one customer. easySales raises a draft invoice from it for every period, and a person checks and issues each one.
Can one month’s invoice be different from the others? Yes. Each period’s draft is an ordinary draft: change it before you issue it. To change every later period, edit the recurring invoice’s lines; drafts already raised keep theirs.
Why is a recurring draft dated later than its period? It was raised after the period’s day, by a person or by the daily retry. A late draft is dated the day it is raised; the description still names the period it bills.
Can I bill a customer in another currency on a schedule? Yes. A recurring invoice has one currency, set when you save it. Each draft takes the automatic exchange rate current when it is raised. See Currency and rates.
What happens to a recurring invoice when its owner leaves? No draft is raised while the owner is not an active user, and the list shows it under Needs attention. Someone with Invoice Edit set to All records can choose a new owner, or move it with Transfer records.
What is the difference between a recurring invoice and a billing plan? A billing plan splits one quotation’s agreed sum into stages until it is fully invoiced. A recurring invoice repeats the same lines every period, with no total. See Plan billing stages.
Who can create and manage recurring invoices? They use the Invoice permissions: List and View to see them, Add to create them, and Edit to change, pause, resume or end them. Generate now needs Add and Edit. With Own records only, you see the ones you own, plus any that sharing or an account team gives you, as with invoices.