Hi, I’m new to QuickFile, and even newer to the support community. I have been running my own business since 2011 and I’ve always done my invoicing and bookkeeping manually using Excel. I’m exploring the possibility of using QuickFile instead. I have started by trying to replicate some of my recently sent sales invoices, and have immediately hit a challenge:
Rightly or wrongly, I have always created invoice numbers in the format [ClientNumber-ProjectNumber-InvoiceNumber], for example 2608-124-05.
In trying to recreate an invoice on QuickFile, I see that I can manually enter an invoice number, but only a numerical value. I can’t seem to add any dashes. Is there a way around this, or would I need to adopt a new number only invoice number system?
Typically invoice numbers should be sequencial so you have a clear audit trail should there be any queries raised by HMRC (for example). QuickFile will always take your last invoice and increase it by 1 by default, but you can override this if you wish.
You should be able to use dashes as part of the invoice number. Are you receiving any errors, or is it just that you can’t input a dash at all?
No errors come up, I just can’t enter a dash in the box. I can replace the default numbers with other numbers or even letters, just not dashes. Or underscores, dots, slashes, or any other symbol as far as I can tell.
Is there a reason why this is the case? Beyond the assumption that invoice numbers should be sequential? Since it’s possible to add letters, might it be possible to tweak the field at your end so it could accept dashes as well?
This is just part of the validation on the invoice number.
It’s not something that’s likely to change at the moment I’m afraid. However, we can certainly consider looking into this further if there’s enough support from the wider community.
@StuartCookson - Just wanted to drop you a quick update here. After discussing this with a developer, we have relaxed the invoice numbers to allow hyphens
That’s great! Thank you. This is really helpful while I’m still in the process of evaluating the use of QuickFile - it’s quite a departure from what I’m used to. I’ve always done my bookkeeping on Excel, but it appears we’re all being forced away from that soon. Can you confirm if QuickFile will be compliant with Making Tax Digital when it happens?
We are working to support as much of MTD as possible, but some of the details are still to be finalised by HMRC.
We have however, already released some features to help businesses work towards this. Please see the below post for more info: Is quickfile MTD compilent?
I have just tried again today, firstly to edit a sales invoice I had previously recorded, and then to create a new one. Unfortunately, neither allowed me to add hyphens in the invoice number. Is this something you have discussed but are yet to roll out, or has there been a subsequent change of mind?
This went live just before I posted above (14th September).
When you’re viewing the invoice page, please can you try a hard refresh, by pressing both Ctrl + F5 together? This will delete any copies your device may have saved and force it to re-download it.
I tried the hard refresh, but it didn’t make a difference I’m afraid. I can add hyphens to the “Purchase Reference” field (not sure if I could before or not) but I still can’t add them to the “Invoice Number” field.
I’ve just double checked this with a developer, and it does seem that it is restricted for new invoices, but it was changed in response to another thread so it’s allowed where it’s already in use. So if it’s already in use, any new invoices will just adopt the style and increase by 1 from there.
However, let me send you a private message - please look for a green notification in the top right corner.
