I cannot issue the payment note to suppliers

Symptom

You want to pay a supplier with a payment note and the note cannot be created, the Check or Approve (ready to pay) buttons do not appear, or Issue payment note opens Invalid Operation.

The normal path is in How to pay suppliers (payment notes and SEPA file). The examples were made in Empresa Demonstração, Lda, with two users who only have the Accountant profile and one treasury profile each: one with Treasury: Manager, who created and issued the note, and another with Treasury: Approver, who checked and approved it. The bills are FTF/2026/00044 for €600.00 and FTF/2026/00039 for USD 800.00.

Message

The bill is already paid, or is not a supplier bill

In Actions › Create payment notes, when you click Create payment notes:

“Only posted supplier bills with an amount due can be paid through a payment note. Remove: FTF/2026/00045 (SEG 2026/118).”

The same text appears with a customer invoice: the option is also in Actions on the customer invoice list, but it does not apply there.

The journal is missing

If the window has no Payment journal, this appears in the corner of the screen:

“Some required fields are empty. Fill in the fields marked in red to be able to save.”

The same person created the note

In Check, with the user who created the note:

“Segregation of duties: you created NLP/00001, so someone else has to check and approve it.”

The same person approved the note

In Issue payment note, with the user who approved it:

“Segregation of duties: you approved NLP/00001, so someone else has to issue it.”

The note was refused without a reason

In Refuse / block, the Block payment note window asks for the Reason. Without it, when you click Block, the same warning about empty required fields appears.

The amount owed changed after the note was created

In Issue payment note, after the bill received a payment of USD 100.00 by another path (the Pay button on the bill):

“The amount of NLP/00002 (800.0) is different from the amount due on its bills (700.0). Partial payments are not supported by the payment note: correct the amount or the bills.”

Verified causes

• The note cannot be created: the bill is already paid, or is not a supplier bill, or the journal is missing.
• The note does not move forward: the Check and Approve (ready to pay) buttons do not appear, the same person created or approved the note, or the note was refused without a reason.
• The note cannot be issued: the amount owed changed after the note was created.

With the Accountant profile alone, or Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager alone, without a treasury profile, the note in Draft only shows Print payment note, Preview entry and Cancel.

What to check

1. The Amount Due column in the window, before clicking: a paid bill appears with €0.00.
2. The profiles of whoever authorises payments: Treasury: Manager and Treasury: Approver.
3. Who created and who approved the note.
4. What was paid on the bill.

How to fix it

• The bill is already paid, or is not a supplier bill: remove the bill the message names.
• The journal is missing: choose the journal (in the example, Bank) and click again.
• The Check and Approve buttons do not appear: Check appears to whoever has Treasury: Manager or Treasury: Approver; Approve (ready to pay) only to whoever has Treasury: Approver. The accounting profiles do not include them: ask the administrator to assign them to whoever authorises payments. In the example, after Check, the Approver saw Approve (ready to pay) and the Manager only Refuse / block and Reopen; after approval, Issue payment note appeared to both.
• The same person created the note: ask someone else, with the right profile, to check and approve it. The rule is segregation of duties: do not get around it with a shared user.
• The same person approved the note: ask someone else to issue it.
• The note was refused without a reason: write the reason, or click Discard if you do not want to block the note.
• The amount owed changed after the note was created: a note always pays the full amount owed. Check what was paid on the bill. If the payment is correct, set this note aside and pay the rest another way, as explained in How to pay suppliers (payment notes and SEPA file). If the payment was a mistake, talk to the accountant.

Expected result

In the example, note NLP/00001 was created and issued by the user with Treasury: Manager and checked and approved by the user with Treasury: Approver: FTF/2026/00044 became Paid, the note moved to Reconciled with number PBNK1/2026/00040, and the bar was left with only Print payment note and Void payment note.

Cases this article does not cover

Mixing currencies in a note, supplier credit notes and notes in payment batches have their own messages, which were not triggered for this article. If your message is not here, follow what it says and talk to the accountant.

To collect from customers by direct debit, see The direct debit was rejected or the batch is not generated.

When to contact support

If the message persists after following what it says, ask for support.

Information to send

• The payment note and the bills it pays.
• The full text of the message.
• The profile you logged in with.