Invoicing Setup

Set up Invoicing once before you send your first estimate: the sender details every document carries, and the tax rates its totals use. In the Back Office , open Invoicing > Settings.

The Settings tab has three cards: Invoice Settings, Online Payment, and Tax Configuration.

You don’t need a Selflane plan to use Invoicing. It’s priced per online payment instead; see Invoicing pricing. Sending needs an active business account. If your account isn’t active, for example because the business is closed, you can still create drafts, but Send shows “Sending is unavailable for this business. Please contact Selflane support.”

Invoice settings

These details appear on every estimate and invoice PDF and email.

The first time you open the tab, the card shows the form. After you save, it shows your saved details. Select the pencil icon to edit them.

Select the image on the left of the card to upload a logo. A square logo works best.

Estimate and invoice numbers are assigned in sequence when each document is created. The Settings tab has no field to change the next number.

Online payment

The Online Payment card shows whether customers can pay your invoices online through Stripe Checkout. The badge reads Enabled or Disabled. You can’t change this setting or the limits yourself. Contact Selflane support to turn online payments on or off, or to change a limit.

When online payments are enabled, the card shows two limits:

• Max per Invoice — the largest single online payment. The default is $2,000.
• Max per Month — the most your customers can pay online in one calendar month, across all invoices. The default is $10,000.

A customer who goes over either limit can’t complete the online payment. They see a message asking them to contact you for another way to pay. You can still record that payment yourself with Record Payment. See Payments.

A test account shows Unavailable on this card. Test accounts can send estimates and invoices, but customers can’t pay them online.

Online payments have card processing and invoicing fees taken from the amount collected. Review Invoicing pricing before you share payment links.

Tax rates

The Tax Configuration card lists your tax rates. Each card shows the rate name, its category (or All categories), its state, and the percentage. Rates are sorted by country, then state, then category. Selflane doesn’t supply tax rates. You enter the rates that apply to your business.

Add a tax rate

1. On the Tax Configuration card, select Add.
2. Enter a Name, for example NM Sales Tax.
3. Enter the Rate (%). It must be greater than 0.
4. Pick a country and state. Leave either one at All to skip it.
5. Pick a Tax Category. Leave it at All categories for a rate that covers every taxable item.
6. Save.

Select the pencil icon on a rate card to edit it, or the trash icon to delete it.

How rates are applied

Selflane picks the rates for each estimate or invoice from where the customer is:

1. It uses the customer’s address. If the customer has no address, it uses your business address from Invoice Settings.
2. It looks for rates that match that country and state.
3. If there are none, it looks for rates that match the country with no state.

If neither step finds a rate, no tax rate applies.

The first step that finds any rate is the one used. Each taxable item then gets every All categories rate from that step, plus any rate for the item’s own tax category. A category rate is added on top of the all-categories rate. It doesn’t replace it.

For example, with a 5% all-categories rate and a 2% Food (Prepared) rate in the same state, a prepared-food item is taxed at 7% and a service is taxed at 5%. If you use one rate for everything, you need only a single all-categories rate.

Items marked non-taxable, items with the Non-Taxable category, and documents marked Tax Exempt get no tax. See Products and Estimates.

When a rate is missing

If the matching location has rates but none of them cover an item’s category, the form summary shows No <state> tax rate covers <category>. and the document can’t be saved. Add an all-categories rate for that location, or mark the item non-taxable.

If no rate matches the location at all, the invoice form shows No tax rate is set up for <place>. and the save button stays off. Add a tax rate in Settings, mark the items non-taxable, or check Tax Exempt. An estimate saves without tax in this case.

A rate with both country and state left at All doesn’t apply to any document. Set a country, and a state if needed.

Tax categories

Each product has a tax category. A rate with a category applies only to items in that category.

Related

• Products — set each product’s tax category and Taxable box
• Clients & Contacts
• Invoicing pricing

Owner-level access required.