How to: Set Up a Recurring Invoice for a Subscription Client
Modules involved: Sales → Recurring Invoices · CRM → Clients
Who uses it: Finance / AR, sales operations
Time required: ~5 minutes per client
Overview
Recurring invoices automate the monthly (or quarterly, annual) billing for retainers, subscriptions, and maintenance contracts. Once set up, the platform generates and optionally sends the invoice automatically on the configured schedule — no manual action required each cycle.
Set up recurring invoices before the end of the first manual billing period — not after several months of ad-hoc invoicing. Retroactive cleanup (voiding manually issued invoices and replacing with a recurring series) is time-consuming.
Step-by-step
1. Navigate to Recurring Invoices
Go to Sales → Recurring Invoices → Add (or click the + quick-create menu and select Recurring Invoice).
2. Select the client
In the Client field, search for and select the client. All their billing details (address, VAT number, currency) are pulled in automatically.
If the client has a specific price list assigned, that list is applied to the line items automatically. Verify the unit prices in Step 3 match your agreed rate.
3. Add line items
Click Add Item and select the service or product from your catalog. Set:
- Quantity — units per billing cycle
- Unit price — the recurring rate
- Tax rate — applied per line item; usually your standard VAT rate
- Description — this text appears on each generated invoice (make it recognisable to the client)
Repeat for each component of the recurring charge (e.g. software license + support hours as separate lines).
4. Configure the schedule
| Field | What to set |
|---|---|
| Start date | First invoice generation date |
| Frequency | Monthly / Quarterly / Annually / Custom |
| Next invoice date | Typically 3–5 days before the payment due date |
| End date | Leave blank for open-ended; set if the contract has a fixed term |
| Auto-send | Toggle ON to send the invoice to the client automatically on generation |
If Auto-send is ON, the invoice goes to the client immediately when generated — no review step. Only enable this if the recurring amount is fixed and you never need to adjust it before sending.
5. Set the payment due date
In the Payment Terms or Due Date field, set the number of days the client has to pay after the invoice date (e.g. Net 15, Net 30). This determines when the invoice transitions to "Overdue" if unpaid.
6. Link to contract (optional but recommended)
If this recurring invoice corresponds to a signed contract, link it in the Contract field. This connects the invoice series to the CRM contract record, so account managers can see billing history directly from the contract page.
7. Save and activate
Click Save. The recurring invoice series is now active. The platform generates the first invoice on the Next Invoice Date you set.
To verify: go to Sales → Recurring Invoices and confirm the entry shows Active status with the correct next generation date.
8. Review the first generated invoice
On or after the first generation date, go to Sales → Invoices and check the newly created invoice. Verify:
- Client details are correct
- Line items and amounts match the agreement
- Tax is applied correctly
- If auto-send is off, send the invoice manually from the invoice detail
Set a calendar reminder to check the first two generated invoices manually — this catches any configuration error (wrong price, wrong tax rate) before the client receives it. After two confirmed clean cycles, you can trust the automation.
Result
The client is billed automatically every cycle without any manual work. Finance has a predictable recurring revenue line visible in the invoices list, and the contract-to-invoice link gives a full paper trail for each billing relationship.
Allow the first recurring invoice cycle to generate and review it manually before enabling auto-send — verify the generated invoice has the correct client, amount, tax, and payment terms before automated delivery starts sending to real clients.
Recurring invoices are generated by the scheduled cron job and issued with the date of the generation cycle, not the original setup date. If a cycle is missed due to a system issue, the missing invoice must be created manually — the system does not backfill skipped cycles automatically.