This articles describes the Invoice tab in Filevine’s Billing Setup Advanced tool. In this tab, the user can upload a custom template for invoices, choose payment settings, define default terms, and more. The Invoice tab contains the following sections:

• Invoice Template
• Payment Settings
• LEDES Settings
• Invoice Generation Settings 
• Email
• Invoice Approval

Invoice Template

The “Invoice with Fusion” section of the Invoices tab is used to upload a custom template for your invoices through the power of Filevine Fusion and Word templates. This invoice template will be used across the Org for all projects.

To create the invoice template for your Org, with replacement codes that act as placeholders for information in each project, follow the steps below:

1. Click Advanced > Billing Setup > Invoices. Click the hamburger menu in the top left corner and select “Advanced” from the dropdown menu. Choose “Billing Setup” from the lefthand side menu, and then click the “Invoices” tab. 
2. Download the template. Select the "Invoice Template" section. In step one, you will see an option to download the default template. Click this link, and open the downloaded Word document. Alternatively, you can begin with your own custom template using Fusion with Word templates.
   
   
3. Edit the template. This Word template is a Fusion and uses MERGEFIELD codes. For more information on how to edit the template while ensuring proper formatting of the fused reports, read the Help Center articles on Word templates, and MERGEFIELD formatting. A list of available MERGEFIELDS for invoices can be found underneath step two of Invoice with Fusion. 
   
   When editing, pay special attention to the MERGEFIELD start and end codes; these codes indicate the beginning and end of information from a single report and need to be contained and nested in specific ways. More information is available in the Word template article.
4. Save. When you have made any necessary changes to your template, save the document.
5. Upload the edited template. Click the “Upload Template” button under step three of “Invoice Template” in the Billing Setup Invoices tab. Choose the saved template and upload. 
6. View changes. When the new template is successfully uploaded, it will appear under step one of “Invoice with Fusion” as the “Current Invoice Template.” Click the red trash can next to the template to delete it, or click the button under step three to replace the template.
   
   

Payment Settings

The next section in the Invoices tab is “Payment Settings.” Payments can be either automatically or manually applied.

Turning Automatic Payments Off and On

If the automatic payments setting is being used, payments on a project level will be automatically applied to the finalized invoice with the oldest outstanding balance, either zeroing out the balance or lowering the total due. When the manual payment setting is toggled on, payments can be manually applied to specific invoices.

To toggle between manual and automatic payment settings, follow the steps below:

1. Click Advanced > Billing Setup > Invoices. Navigate to the correct tab by clicking on the hamburger menu in the top left corner and selecting “Advanced” from the dropdown menu. Choose “Billing Setup” from the left side menu and then click on the “Invoices” tab.
2. Toggle off or on. Under the “Payment Settings” header, find the toggle next to “Manually Apply Payments.” If the toggle is swiped to the right, manual payment settings are on. If the toggle is swiped to the left, manual payments are off and automatic payments are being used. Click on the toggle to slide it from either the left or the right, depending on whether you want automatic or manual payments.
   
   
   
   
3. If switching to automatic payments, confirm. When you toggle manual payments off, a confirmation screen will appear asking if you are sure you wish to switch to automatic payments. Once you’ve selected this option, any newly created payments will be applied automatically going forward. If this is your intention, hit “Continue” to confirm.

Terms

Under the “Payment Settings” header in the Invoices tab of Billing Setup, you will see the header “Terms.” Terms refer to the length of time between the invoice date and when payment is due, and are used to calculate the default due date for an invoice. The invoice due date can be adjusted before finalization.

By default, the term code “Net 30,” making invoices due in 30 days, is included. Terms for a project as well as the Org’s default terms can be changed at any time. To add additional terms, follow the steps below: 

1. Click Advanced > Billing Setup > Invoices > Payment Settings. Navigate to the correct tab by clicking on the main menu in the top left corner and selecting “Advanced” from the dropdown menu. Choose “Billing Setup” from the lefthand side menu and then click on the “Invoices” tab. Click on the "Payment Settings" section.
2. Click the plus. Locate the header “Terms.” Click the plus button next to this header.
3. Add Invoice terms. In the “Add Invoice Terms” window, fill out the name of the new terms code, and choose the number of days that this term should use. If you would like this term to be the default for the Org, check the “Set as Org Default” box.
   
   
4. Create. Click “Create” in the bottom right. Terms will be listed in the terms table in ascending order.
   
   

LEDES Settings

In the LEDES section, you can enter the law firm ID you are using to generate LEDES-compatible bills. Learn more about creating LEDES 1998B bills.

This ID must uniquely identify your law firm. Your law firm's Federal Taxpayer ID must be used if operating in the US.

Invoice Generation Settings

The next section in the Invoices tab is the “Invoice Generation Settings” section. This setting allows you to save all invoice PDFs to a single selected project, rather than in the Docs sections of their respective projects. This option is useful for managing rate-viewing access, for security, or for ease of access.

To save invoices to a single project, toggle save all invoiced PDFs to a single selected project. Search for and select the project you’ve created to house the PDFs, or create a new project.

Email

Settings for emailing invoices can be set up in the penultimate “Email” section. Users can send invoices via email directly from Filevine. Invoices are attached to the email as a PDF and are sent to the project contact’s primary email address. Learn more about emailing invoices.

Before users can send invoices in emails, the Org must have a reply-to email address. Replies to the invoice email will be directed to this email address.

In this section, enter the reply-to email. Click Save. 

Invoice Approval

Under Invoice Approval, you can assign an approver role for your Org as part of a pre-billing workflow. Learn more about the pre-bill workflow.

Select the role you would like to act as the approver across the Org from the dropdown, and click save. The user assigned to the “first” position of the role will be listed as the “Approver” in the “Invoices” tab of the Billing Advanced tool table.