Credit note versus corrective invoice: which one when?

You've sent an invoice. Two days later your customer calls: "The amount is wrong." Or: "Wrong VAT." Or: "We only received half of it." What now? Can you just adjust the invoice? The short answer: no. The long answer you'll find here.

The golden rule: a sent invoice is immutable

Once an invoice is sent to your customer, it's a fiscal document with a fixed status. Adjusting it is not allowed — the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) views it as manipulation of records. Instead, you use one of two instruments: a credit note or a corrective invoice.

When to use a credit note?

You send a credit note if the original invoice needs to be reversed in full or in part. For example:

• The customer has returned a product
• The invoice was wrong (amount, VAT, customer details, description)
• A discount is granted retroactively
• The delivery did not take place

The credit note explicitly references the original invoice and contains a negative amount. If the customer is credited 100%, you can then send a new invoice with the correct amount.

When to use a corrective invoice?

A corrective invoice is a specific form of credit note: you essentially send two documents — a credit note that reverses the entire original invoice, plus a new (correct) invoice. In practice, it's cleaner than a complex partial credit.

In the Netherlands we often use these terms interchangeably. What matters is: the document must be a complete credit of the incorrect one, and then a correct invoice can be sent.

What must be on a credit note?

• All 11 mandatory fields of a regular invoice
• Its own, unique sequence number (from the same or a separate series)
• Marking "Credit note" or "Credit"
• Reference to the original invoice number and date
• Reason for credit (brief)
• Amount with minus sign
• VAT with minus sign

VAT implications

A credit note also corrects your VAT return. Did you send an invoice for €1,000.00 + €210.00 VAT in Q1, and a credit note for it in Q2? Then you owe €210.00 VAT in Q1, and get €210.00 back in Q2 — net zero, but both returns must be filed.

If you issue the credit in the same quarter? Then it automatically offsets in the same return.

Common mistakes

1. Original invoice deleted from the system. Don't do this. The invoice stays; you add a credit to it.
2. No reference to original invoice number. The credit note can't be linked to the correct sale anymore.
3. Negative amount as a regular invoice. An invoice with -€500 on it is not a credit note — it's only legally valid if marked as 'credit note'.
4. Credit + correction in one document. Confusing for customer and accountant. Split into two documents.

How do you do it in Invoisio?

For each invoice there's a button "Create credit note". You choose whether you want to credit 100% or a specific amount, and we automatically generate a correctly marked credit note with a reference to the original. The VAT return is updated automatically. Want to send a new correct invoice after that? One click from the credit note — amounts and customer are carried over, you only adjust what's correct.