How to cancel an invoice or another certified document

What is it for?

A certified document issued by mistake (a duplicate invoice, a receipt for a payment that never happened) is cancelled with a reason. The document is not deleted and does not go back to draft: it keeps its number, ATCUD and signature and moves to the cancelled state. If the AT has already received the invoice or credit note, the cancellation is also communicated to it. A receipt does not have this step (see “Expected result”).

Cancellation is for documents of operations that did not happen. If the operation happened and only the amount is wrong, the correction is a credit note.

When to use it?

• The invoice was issued twice or to the wrong customer and the operation did not exist.
• The receipt was issued for a payment that never happened.
• Do not use cancellation for returns, discounts or price errors on a sale that happened: use How to issue a credit note.

Where to find it?

• Invoice or credit note: Billing › Invoice › Customer invoices › open the document › Cancel certified document.
• Receipt: Billing › Collect › Receipts and payments received › open the receipt › Cancel receipt. From the invoice, the receipt opens from Payments, in Linked documents.

Before you start

• To cancel an invoice or credit note, your profile is Fiscal officer, Certified accountant or Fiscal administration; with the Billing and Accountant profiles the button does not appear. A receipt can also be cancelled by the Accountant; with the Billing profile, Cancel receipt does not appear.
• The invoice has no payments, receipts or credit notes. If it has, the cancellation window shows the block and does not let you cancel (see “Common problems”).
• You can explain the reason in one sentence: it is recorded and goes into the SAF-T.

How to use it

Cancel an invoice or credit note

1. Open the document and click Cancel certified document.
2. Read the warning in the window: the number, the ATCUD and the signature are kept and, if the AT has already received the document, the cancellation must also be communicated to it.
3. In Reason, write why the document is cancelled, for example “Invoice issued twice”.
4. Click Cancel document. The document becomes Cancelled and, below the buttons, “The annulment has not been communicated to the Tax Authority yet” appears.
5. Click Communicate to the AT. The sentence changes to “The annulment was communicated to the Tax Authority by sending the document again with the status “Cancelled”.” and the AT field of the Certified document block shows Accepted.

The images are from the demo database, where the AT is replaced by a simulator.

Cancel a receipt

1. Open the receipt and click Cancel receipt.
2. Read the What will be undone list: the invoices that become unpaid again, with the amount (for example “Payment of the invoices that will be left unpaid again: - FT D26/47: €246.00”). If the payment is already matched to a bank statement line, the list also shows that match, for example “Matching with the bank statement that will be undone: - BNK1/2026/00028: €3,685.08”. That line becomes unreconciled again. If the receipt has already been communicated to the AT, the window also shows, under Warnings: “This document has already been communicated to the Tax Authority. The cancellation is meant for documents issued by mistake; if the operation took place, correct it with a credit note.” The last part is the invoice text: there is no credit note for a receipt.
3. In Reason, write why the receipt is cancelled, for example “Payment recorded by mistake”.
4. Click Cancel receipt.

Expected result

• The invoice is in the Cancelled state, with the Cancelled label below the number and Accounting status Cancelled, and keeps its number and ATCUD. After Communicate to the AT, the AT field shows Accepted.
• The receipt is in the Cancelled state, keeps its number, date, ATCUD and PDF, and the invoices it paid go back to To pay (in the example, receipt RG D26/16 and invoice FT D26/47; with the bank statement, receipt RG D26/14 and invoice FT D26/22).
• Unlike the invoice, the cancelled receipt has no Communicate to the AT and no sentence about the communication, even if it had already been communicated. Pending validation by a certified accountant: whether and how the cancellation of a receipt already communicated reaches the AT.

Demo video

No telemóvel, rode-o para a horizontal e veja o vídeo em ecrã inteiro: o texto do ecrã fica legível.

Cancel an invoice issued by mistake · 28 s · sem som, com legendas · legendas (WebVTT)

Transcrição

Important notes

Cancel or credit, and until when

Cancellation is for documents of operations that did not happen; if the operation happened, it is corrected with a credit note. If the invoice has already been communicated to the AT or sent to the customer, decide with the certified accountant which of the two paths to use and, if you cancel, communicate the cancellation (step 5). This article does not say until when an invoice can be cancelled: that deadline depends on the invoicing communication and the SAF-T and is left to the certified accountant. Pending validation by a certified accountant: cancel or credit, and the deadline to cancel.

• Cancellation cannot be undone. The cancelled number is never reused.
• To correct the customer's details, see I cannot change an invoice already issued.

Common problems

The Cancel certified document button does not appear

• Cause: your profile cannot cancel (for example, Billing or Accountant), or the document is still a draft.
• What to do: ask the Fiscal officer. A draft does not need to be cancelled: it can be changed or deleted.

The window does not let you cancel

• Symptom: the window shows Locks, for example “Document "FT D26/26" has a payment state of "Paid" — only a document that is still unpaid can be cancelled; once paid, partially paid or credited, its correction is a credit note, never a cancellation. If a further correction is needed, issue a new document (a debit note or a new invoice, as the case); if cancelling is really needed, talk to the certified accountant.”, and only has the Close button. If the invoice has already been communicated to the AT, the window also shows, under Warnings: “This document has already been communicated to the Tax Authority. The cancellation is meant for documents issued by mistake; if the operation took place, correct it with a credit note.”

• Cause: the invoice is paid, partly paid or credited.
• What to do: if the payment was recorded by mistake, cancel the receipt first (see “Cancel a receipt”); the invoice goes back to To pay and can be cancelled. If the payment really happened, correct it with a credit note.

The Communicate to the AT button does not appear after cancelling

• Cause: the cancellation has already been communicated (the sentence below the buttons says “The annulment was communicated…”). On a receipt, the button never appears (see “Expected result”).
• What to do: nothing. If the communication fails, the result message says what to fix. Pending validation on screen: in the demo database the simulator accepted the communication; a real AT refusal cannot be provoked.