Invoicing

The Invoicing screen is where you issue your own invoices: you create them, review them as a draft and turn them into documents with sequential numbering and a PDF ready to send to your client. Do not confuse this with the record books, which log invoices (yours and your suppliers') for tax purposes: here you generate the document; there you record it.

This is a new and optional feature: it may need to be activated in your account book before it appears in the menu. If it is not enabled, the section is hidden. On top of that, the invoicing engine is driven by your tax regime and country: the tax rates on offer, withholding, special categories and the legal requirements for issuing all depend on your book's active regime. Everything described here adapts to your jurisdiction.

Three document types: invoice, pro forma and quote

At the top there are three tabs, which are three different document types:

• Invoices. The real fiscal document. When issued it receives a final sequential number and counts for tax purposes.
• Pro forma. A document with no fiscal effect: a preview invoice you send the client before closing the deal.
• Quote. Also with no fiscal effect: an offer or estimate.

Pro formas and quotes are filled in exactly like an invoice, but they do not consume fiscal numbering nor require the legal issuing rules. When the client accepts, you can convert them into an invoice with one click (see below).

Before you issue: the issuer profile and the series

To be able to issue invoices you need two things, both under Settings (the button at the top takes you to Settings → Freelance):

• Issuer details. Your legal name, tax ID and address (street, postal code, city, province, country). This is what appears as the sender on every invoice. Without the legal name and tax ID, Cuéntamo will not let you issue and shows a notice to complete them.
• At least one invoicing series (only for fiscal invoices; pro formas and quotes create theirs automatically).

If the site detects that your tax regime does not support issuing, you will see a notice saying so and the create/issue buttons will be disabled. That is how it prevents issuing a document your jurisdiction would not allow.

Once you issue your first invoice with a given tax ID, that tax ID becomes locked in the issuer profile: it can no longer be changed, because legal documents have already been issued in its name.

The invoicing series

A series is an independent sequential numbering. You can run several in parallel (for example a base one with no prefix, an "EU" one for EU clients, another for a specific kind of work). Each series keeps its own counter, so numbers never overlap between series. They are managed under Settings, and each one defines:

• Prefix. The text placed as-is before the number. If you want a hyphen (for example "EU-1"), include it in the prefix by typing "EU-".
• Digits. The leading zeros, i.e. how many figures the number has (with 4 digits, the first invoice would be 0001).
• Year. Optional; if set, it is woven into the number.
• Start number. The number the series starts counting from.

As you configure it, Cuéntamo shows a live preview of how the first invoice will look. A series can only be deleted while it has no issued invoices (otherwise you would break the legal sequence). Besides ordinary series, the model also supports rectificative and simplified series with their own numbering, for when your regime requires them.

The invoice list

Inside each tab you see the table of documents of that type. Every row shows:

• Number. The full number (series + number) once issued; while it is a draft, the "(draft)" tag appears.
• Date of issue.
• Recipient: the client's name.
• Total with its currency.
• Status: a colour badge: Draft (grey), Issued (green) or Cancelled (red).

On the right of each row are the actions available for its status: Edit (drafts only), PDF (drafts and issued), Convert into invoice (only on already-generated pro formas/quotes) and Cancel (only issued fiscal invoices). You filter the list by document type with the tabs; the list reloads when you switch tab.

Creating and editing a draft

Press "+ New invoice" (or "New pro forma" / "New quote" depending on the active tab) to open the editor. The button is disabled while you cannot yet create one: for fiscal invoices, until a series exists; for the rest, until you complete the issuer profile.

The editor is a window with a coloured header, the header fields, the lines and a footer with the totals. Everything you fill in is saved as a draft: you can edit it as many times as you like before issuing it.

The document header

At the top of the editor you fill in the general details:

• Series (invoices only): which sequential series it will belong to.
• Collection account (invoices only): the account attached to the document, where you expect to receive payment.
• Date of issue.
• Language: which language the PDF is generated in (Spanish or English), independent of the app's language.
• Withholding %: the withholding percentage subtracted from the total. It only appears if your regime supports withholding on invoices.
• Concept (optional): a general description of the document.

The recipient (client)

The client is chosen with the third-party search box: type to find or create a client from your directory. Selecting one auto-fills its name, tax ID and country. You can also type the details by hand (name, tax ID and country as an ISO code); if you do, it detaches from the saved third party.

Depending on the client's country and whether it has a tax ID, Cuéntamo automatically adjusts the tax treatment of the lines (always editable afterwards):

• Domestic client: normal tax rates.
• Foreign client with a tax ID (business): the lines switch to 0% as not subject by place-of-supply rules, with a notice explaining that if you sell goods (intra-EU supply or export) you should mark the line as exempt rather than not subject.
• Foreign client without a tax ID: treated as normal tax (possibly a private individual), with a notice prompting you to add the tax ID if it is in fact a business.

These automations and notices depend on your regime; the goal is to keep you from applying the tax where it does not belong.

The lines: quantity, price, discount and tax

Each line is one item you invoice. Press "+ Add line" to add as many as you need, and the on each to remove it. Per line you set:

• Description. What that item is.
• Quantity and unit price.
• Discount % (optional) on that line.
• Tax (VAT). A dropdown with two groups:
  • Rates: the positive rates your regime offers (with their label, if any).
  • Special: Exempt (0%), Not subject and Reverse charge. These categories set the rate to 0 and record the reason.

If your regime does not publish a list of rates, the tax is entered as a free percentage. A saved rate that is no longer in the regime's list is preserved, so earlier documents are not altered.

The totals

At the foot of the editor, Cuéntamo computes live the base (sum of lines with their discounts), the VAT, the withholding (subtracted, if any) and the total. They are marked as approximate: the final, legally valid figures are computed at the moment of issuing, so each rate is rounded according to your jurisdiction's rules.

Save, issue and generate

The footer of the window offers three actions:

• Save draft. Leaves the document half-done to continue later. It does not consume numbering.
• Issue (invoices) / Generate (pro formas and quotes). Turns the draft into the final document.
• Delete draft (when editing an existing one): discards it.

When you issue an invoice it is assigned its final sequential number within the series, moves to "Issued" status and its PDF is generated. Depending on the regime, issuing may also add compliance metadata (for example a verification code or a QR) required by the anti-fraud rules that apply in your country. Issuing is an action with legal effects: once done, the invoice can no longer be edited.

The issue/generate button is disabled while you do not meet the requirements yet (incomplete issuer profile or unsupported regime), with a hint explaining what is missing.

PDF: download and send

From the list, the PDF button opens the generated document in a new tab, both for a draft (preview) and for an already-issued invoice. From there you can download or print it to get it to your client.

The look of the PDF is configured once under Settings and applies to all your invoices: logo, brand colour, legal footer and a template engine with several options: layout (Classic / Band / Minimal), typeface, font size, density (normal or compact), showing or hiding the discount column, a payment details block (IBAN, payment method, due date) and a closing note (a "thank you for your business"). A preview button shows how it looks before you save.

Converting a pro forma or quote into an invoice

When the client accepts a quote or confirms an already-generated pro forma, the "Convert into invoice" button creates a draft invoice with the same data and lines. The app takes you automatically to the Invoices tab and opens the draft so you can review the series, date and the rest before issuing it. The original pro forma/quote document is kept.

Cancelling an issued invoice

An already-issued invoice is not deleted: if you have to void it, you cancel it. In the list, the "Cancel" action marks the invoice as Cancelled (red badge) while keeping it with its number, so the series sequence is not broken and there is a record that it existed and was voided.

When your regime requires issuing a corrective (rectificative) invoice (to fix amounts or details on an already-issued invoice), you do it from a series of the rectificative type, with its own independent numbering. Drafts, by contrast, can simply be deleted, because they never became a fiscal document.