How to correct an NRS e-invoice: credit and debit notes

When the NRS registers an invoice, it registers its IRN, the reference number that identifies that invoice. The invoice also carries a QR code made with your business's own NRS key. From that moment, what the invoice says is final.

Your buyer may already have the invoice. If they are on the e-invoicing network, it goes straight into their own system. If you could change your copy afterwards, your records, your buyer's records and the NRS's records would stop matching.

So a correction is always a new document. It refers to the original by the original's IRN and date. The original stays exactly as it was, and the correction is reported to the NRS too.

What you can do depends on how far the invoice has gone. Every invoice in Yona shows a status. Find it first.

• Draft: nothing has gone to the NRS yet. Change it as much as you like, or delete it. Drafts are the only invoices you can delete.
• Issued: the invoice is finalised, which means locked for sending. Its supplier details and totals are frozen, but the NRS has not registered it yet. If it has not been reported and no payment has been recorded against it, you can revise it, which puts it back to draft.
• Reported or Delivered: the NRS has registered it, so its content is final. Correct it with a credit note or a debit note, or cancel it.
• Paid or Part paid: a payment has been recorded, so you can no longer revise it. If it has been reported, correct it with a note or cancel it.
• Cancelled: the invoice is void. Nothing more can be done to it. Its closing credit note is the record of the cancellation.

Sometimes the NRS refuses an invoice because something in it is wrong, such as a missing detail. Yona shows the NRS's reasons on the invoice.

A rejected invoice was never registered, so it is not final and you do not need a credit or debit note. Reopen it, which puts it back to draft. Then correct it and submit it again.

The IRN is made from three things: your invoice number, your NRS service ID and the invoice date. If the number and the date stay the same, the IRN stays the same too.

You are not charged for the rejected attempt, because the NRS never registered it. Sending the corrected invoice is a new submission, and it uses credits.

Once the NRS has registered an invoice, you can correct it in three ways. Each one creates a document that is reported to the NRS and points back to the original invoice.

If you are unsure which one fits, ask your accountant. As a rule of thumb, use a note when part of the invoice is right. Cancel when none of it should exist.

• Credit note: lowers what the buyer owes. Use it when you charged too much, agreed a discount after the sale or took goods back. The original invoice still stands for the rest.
• Debit note: raises what the buyer owes. Use it when you charged too little or left something off. The original invoice still stands.
• Cancel: voids the whole invoice. Use it when the invoice went to the wrong buyer or the sale did not happen. Yona issues a closing credit note, and a cancellation is the only way an invoice becomes Cancelled.

A correction never changes or removes the IRN of the original invoice. Here is what happens in each case.

• A registered invoice keeps its IRN for good. A credit note, a debit note or a cancellation leaves it as it is.
• Each note refers to the original invoice by that invoice's IRN and date. This lets the NRS, your buyer and your own records link the two.
• A cancelled invoice is void, but it is not deleted. It stays in your records with its IRN, and the closing credit note records the cancellation.
• A registered invoice is never moved back a step. If the NRS later reports a problem with it, the invoice keeps its registration and the problem is recorded against it.
• If you cancel and still need to bill, create a new invoice. It gets a new invoice number, so it also gets a new IRN. Every IRN must be unique.

Open the invoice in the Yona app. You correct it from the invoice itself, and what is on offer depends on its status.

When you cancel, the closing credit note goes to the NRS first, and the cancellation stays pending until it gets there. When it is done, the invoice shows as Cancelled.

Cancelling with a credit note uses credits, just as reporting an invoice does. The price list on the pricing page shows the current cost.

Want to practise first? Try a credit note, a debit note and a cancellation in the sandbox. It runs the real process against the NRS test system with no legal effect, and it comes with free test credits.

• A draft: edit it, then send it when it is ready.
• Rejected by the NRS: reopen it, fix what the NRS's reasons point to, and submit it again.
• Issued, not reported and not paid: revise it to put it back to draft, then correct it.
• Reported: issue a credit note to lower the amount, or a debit note to raise it. Cancel it to void the whole invoice. Yona reports the note to the NRS and links it to the original.
• Afterwards, tell your buyer what you corrected so their records match yours.

Some problems have nothing to do with what the invoice says. You do not need a note for these.

• Held up: the NRS was unavailable, your connection was not ready or the buyer could not be reached. Yona parks the invoice, which means it holds it, until you retry it.
• Number clash: the invoice number was already used. Renumber the invoice and send it again. The new number gives it a new IRN.
• Payments: recording a payment is not a correction. Once an invoice is issued, mark it paid or part paid. If the invoice has been reported, Yona reports the payment to the NRS too.