Batch payments - Ability to include credit notes
Allow the inclusion of Credit Notes in Batch Payments where the total to be paid to a supplier is still positive. This would allow a single batch for a Supplier to match their Statement, particularly where credit notes are not related to specific Bills.

Hi everyone, we appreciate wanting to hear from us on this idea and apologies for not commenting sooner. I can assure you this has not gone unnoticed and internally there have been reviews and discussions for how batch payments can be improved. We have the appetite, but as with all developments this must be weighed up and considered against many other important changes needed in product.
We want to be upfront that developing the ability to include Credit notes in Batch payments has not been planned at this stage.
As some may have seen, we do have work going on around being able to include Credit Notes as part of the reconciliation process. We understand for many on this idea the timing of including credit notes when you’re creating the batch payments is crucial, however we hope that when delivered at least being able to reconcile these more efficiently may improve the process for some customers.
We appreciate wanting to see developments, and while this update doesn’t signal the movement you’re hoping for right now, if there is any progress to share we’ll definitely update all of you through the idea here.
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Eve Radford commented
Katie Jackman - try the CEO. You can find emails for senior Company employees on the web
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Patrick James and Co commented
Typically, it was marked as "Working On It" on March 10, 2024... 🤣🤣
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Elizna Bouwer commented
Hi all
Just saw now there is another idea that was posted similar to this one -
"Reconciliation - Allow credit notes to show and be selected on the find & match screen"
That one is actually reflecting as "working on it", but also from a while ago. Maybe go and vote on that one as well so that we can get this moved to priority.
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Patrick James and Co commented
Dear Katie,
What I did was to go through the process to "open a case", then selected the closest thing, which was "I have a question about my subscription invoice".
Even though that was technically the wrong thing, I was still able to open a conversation, based on my unhappiness with the price increase.Unfortunately, like all of these faceless technology companies, there is no simple email address or telephone number!!
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Robyn Calloway-Wardle commented
Thanks @Patrick James, great idea. I also suggest reaching out to your Xero Partner account managers (for those of you running Xero as accountants or bookkeepers in practice) and voice your unhappiness with them on this issue. I agree, this is a critical, basic function and should be addressed asap.
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Katie Jackman commented
what's the best email to send to? I have clicked critical but they just don't seem to be bothered...
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Patrick James and Co commented
Dear Lisa, Katie, Mark, Alison, Paul, etc,
Please make sure you click the CRITICAL button above to register your vote.
I also suggest you contact Xero directly to register your unhappiness that this basic, fundamental bookkeeping necessity has continued to be ignored. I have done this, but have just received the same old tired response. They apparently don't think this is important enough. Here's what they said:
"A rarely submitted feature request might be superb and very valuable but may be competing against a common request that may be perceived to be less valuable. We do try to take all elements into consideration."
Clearly Xero see this as "a rarely submitted feature request", so we need to ramp this up, people. Email them directly and vote on here!
Thanks
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Lisa Winchester commented
Xero when are you going to update us?
I've been notified of another price increase when you can't even offer this basic functionality! It's so incredibly infuriating having to match so many credit notes each month. You're not saving me time, you're costing me time!
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Katie Jackman commented
I have just moved a very reluctant client over from Sage to XERO after singing its praises and this has caused them to threaten to leave us because they have 10-15 suppliers who send multiple invoices and credit notes weekly that they pay off by statement figure and it is taking them ages to match off because they can't batch pay credit notes! I have raised this issue multiple times over the last 4 years of working with XERO and nothing is ever done and always get the same "we're looking at it" yet they release so many useless updates :-(
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Mark Hidgcock commented
Just moved from Sage after 32 years. How is this basic function not available. Xero is heavily advertised for retail businesses. So far it seems unless you're a florist or a hip coffee shop, it's hopeless accounting software. What if you work with dozens of suppliers and receive hundreds of bills and credits each month? Batch payment needs improving, and allocating credits need to be at the top of that list.
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Alison Langdon commented
Thanks Paul. This is obviously why I haven't taken any notice of it - yet another Xero "improvement" that is not worth the money it has taken to develop it.
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Paul Berry commented
Alison,
You can click a few buttons and Xero will go off and pay your suppliers. There is a small charge but currently it doesn’t work properly because a) you can’t pay credit notes and b) when you use this feature, it doesn’t reconcile it so you have to go through and find the lump sum payment and allocate it manually.
It should have been designed like GoCardless and Stripe where it knows the payment amount and who it was to and auto reconciles it.
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Alison Langdon commented
I want to remind everyone who posts on here that you also need to VOTE. I know that Xero seem to ignore the requests with the most votes, but if you don't vote, there is no record of how many people are actually wanting this fundamental accounting feature.
BTW - What auto bill payments system?
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Paul Berry commented
The irony of it all is Xero launched their auto bill payments system last year to try and make things quicker and easier, but as you cannot include credit notes you have to allocate all the CN first before you can use this system. So basically it’s a complete waste of time and not thought through properly. Like a lot of their little ideas…..
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Claire Barning commented
It is absolute BS that this idea keeps getting passed over for other items. For those who need to send remittances I have a work around (not ideal but it works). When I have all my creditors entered, both invoices and credits, I then run an Aged Payables Report, click into my supplier on the amount owing, and then export that to PDF, which I can then manually email (as I said, not ideal, but it works). Then I go back and allocate all my credits before making my payment.
Big faff around, but the best option I've found, with this when Xero keep deciding that this is not necessary. When all of us know how important it is! -
Erin Rudd commented
being able to add credit notes to batch payments is ESSENTIAL for us, as we spend at least 15 times a month explaining to clients vendors the payments made and why they can't see the credits on the remittance. It is such a headache!!!!
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Lesley Parker commented
I think this is crucial. It's a normal everyday accounting function - to be able to pay / include a credit note in a payment to a supplier (as long obviously as the total is a positive figure). When we do this, we have to allocate the credit to an invoice we are going to pay, then create a remittance, then advise the supplier that we've allocated the credit note against a particular invoice. It creates unnecessary work and the potential for mis allocation on the supplier side, which could in some cases, cause mayhem.
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Alison Langdon commented
Xero are now targeting small business users, enticing them with being able to do their own bookkeeping/accounting and keeping track of their finances easily with Xero.
The fact that small businesses who are just starting out don't know what they really need in an accounting package is the only thing that is keeping Xero in the market.
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Mel Fenemore commented
It's infuriating that a basic accounts package function is not considered a priority but a screwed up "improved" invoice system is!
I see there is no further response from the same corporate template we are now more than used to seeing from Kelly on these ideas.
I am very understanding that you are not going to please everyone, but I also believe that to market as an accounts package it should probably have the basics nailed. -
Patrick James and Co commented
Every time someone posts a message of support for this idea, it makes me even more angry that it hasn't been actioned yet by Xero. It must have been years ago that I first mentioned this.
This has become even more frustrating for me now, as I am now having to send remittance advices to my client's suppliers, which of course are useless, because the credit notes will have all been matched off against various invoices, which will not be obvious from the remittance advice! I don't know how they are supposed to understand them.Can I also mention again the fact that duplicate credit notes are not flagged, whilst duplicate invoices are??