Corrections & cancellation

An issued invoice cannot be edited. When something on it is wrong or has changed, you issue a correction: a separate document with its own number that states the invoice's new content. In some cases you can instead cancel the invoice, or revert it to draft while nobody has acted on it yet.

Where to find it: Finance → Invoicing — open an issued invoice and choose More → Create correction, More → Correction to zero or More → Cancel invoice

When you'll use it

• A quantity, a price or a VAT rate on an issued invoice was wrong.
• The customer returned part of the goods, or got a discount after the sale.
• An invoice should not have been issued at all.
• The buyer's tax number on an invoice was wrong.
• An earlier correction was itself wrong.

Key concepts

• A correction states the final, correct content. You edit the lines to what they should be. Complaia works out the difference against the previous state.
• The chain — an invoice and all its corrections. A new correction is always issued from the newest document of the chain, because that document describes the content in force. If you open an older document, its page takes you to the newest one.
• What can be corrected — an invoice or a correction that is Issued, Partially paid, Paid or Overdue. Drafts, cancelled documents and pro formas cannot be corrected.
• What a correction keeps — the seller and the currency of the corrected invoice, and the buyer type, the buyer's tax ID and EU VAT number. You can correct the buyer's name and address. To change anything that is kept, correct the invoice to zero and issue a new one.
• A correction is first a draft. It has no number until you issue it. It then takes a number from the correction series of the sales entity (your invoicing company). Company buyers and individuals have separate series. See the numbering series.
• Cancelling withdraws an issued document from circulation. The document stays on the list as Cancelled and keeps its number. The number is never used again.

Which one do I use?

Situation	Do this
The document is still a draft	Edit it, or delete it
Just issued, wrong data, no payment, newest in its series	Revert to draft, fix it, issue again
Content changed: quantity, price, a return	Create correction
The buyer's tax number or type was wrong	Correction to zero, then a new invoice
The invoice should never have existed	Cancel invoice, or Correction to zero where cancelling is not possible

For a Polish seller connected to KSeF, a document that is in KSeF cannot be cancelled, reverted or deleted. Use a correction.

The screen

📷 Screenshot to add: the Issue a correction form with the Invoice correction section filled in and a changed line showing Before/after

The correction form is the invoice form with one extra section at the top, Invoice correction:

Element	What it is
Correction of invoice	The number and date of the corrected document, with a link to it.
Correction reason	Required. Free text, for example a quantity change or a wrong price.
Correction type	The VAT period the change belongs to: Date the original invoice was recorded, Correction issue date, Another date, or Not specified. A hint under the field suggests a type based on what you changed.
Correction method	How the correction is presented: Before/after (lines before and after) or Collective (after + difference).
Was (gross) / Now (gross) / Difference	The previous total, the total as you have edited it, and the difference. Below them: To pay when the total went up, Reduction of amount due when it went down.

With the before/after method, each line also shows a Before/after strip: the line's previous gross, its new gross and the difference. A line that did not exist before is marked new line.

On a correction's own page, the Invoice correction section shows the corrected document, the reason, the type, the three amounts and the Items before correction. The original invoice lists its corrections under Related documents.

Common tasks

Create a correction

1. Open the issued invoice and choose More → Create correction. If the invoice already has corrections, the action is called Issue another correction and starts from the newest one.
2. Type the Correction reason.
3. Choose the Correction type and the Correction method.
4. In Line items, change the lines to their correct final state: quantities, prices and VAT rates. Add or remove lines where needed.
5. Check Was (gross), Now (gross) and Difference.
6. Set the Issue date and the Sale date. The issue date cannot be earlier than the date of the corrected document.
7. Click Save to keep the correction as a draft, or Issue to issue it straight away.

You can also start from Finance → Invoicing → New invoice. Choose Correction as the Document type, find the invoice in the Correct which invoice? dialog and click Go to correction. The dialog offers only documents that can be corrected.

Edit, issue or delete a correction draft

A correction draft behaves like any draft. Open it, then:

• click Edit to change it;
• click Issue to give it a number;
• choose More → Delete to remove it.

A reason is required both to save the correction and to issue it. If another correction of the same invoice was issued in the meantime, the draft is out of date and cannot be issued. Delete it and start a new correction from the newest document.

For a Polish seller connected to KSeF, a correction for a company buyer is sent to KSeF like an invoice. The corrected invoice must already be accepted by KSeF. See KSeF.

Correct an invoice to zero

Use this when the invoice should not exist, or when the buyer's tax number or type was wrong.

1. Open the invoice and choose More → Correction to zero.
2. The correction form opens with every line at quantity 0, so the new total is zero. Restore items brings the lines back if you change your mind.
3. Type the Correction reason and issue the correction.

When you correct to zero because of wrong buyer data, use Correct to zero and issue a new invoice in the buyer section. After you issue the correction, a new invoice draft opens with the details and lines of the old one. Correct the buyer and issue the new invoice.

A correction with nothing to pay or refund is settled at once. If the invoice was paid, the overpayment can be refunded. See Payments.

Cancel an invoice

1. Open the issued invoice and choose More → Cancel invoice.
2. Read the confirmation and confirm. The number is kept and never used again.

The status changes to Cancelled. A cancelled document can still be opened and its PDF downloaded. It cannot be sent, paid, corrected or deleted.

Cancelling is not possible when:

• the document has payments;
• for a Polish seller connected to KSeF: the document is in KSeF. Correct it to zero instead.

If the document has already left the system (it was e-mailed, downloaded or printed), Complaia warns you that the buyer may have it, and suggests a correction to zero. You can still continue.

Delete an issued invoice or correction

Deleting is stricter than cancelling, because it returns the number to the series. A document can be deleted only when all of these are true:

• it is the newest document in its series;
• it has no payments and no corrections;
• for a Polish seller connected to KSeF: it is not in KSeF.

A correction that is followed by a later correction cannot be deleted until the later one is deleted. The steps are on Invoicing.

When it doesn't work

What you see	Why	What to do
Create correction is missing from More	The document is a draft, cancelled or a pro forma, or you lack the Finance: corrections permission.	Edit the draft instead, or convert the pro forma first.
A message that a correction is issued from the newest document of the chain	You started from an older document.	Open the document named in the message and correct it from there.
Enter the correction reason	The reason is empty.	Fill in Correction reason.
A message that a correction without items has no content	Every line was removed.	Use Correction to zero.
A message that the seller, the currency or the buyer's tax details cannot be changed	A correction keeps them from the corrected invoice.	Correct the invoice to zero and issue a new one.
A message that the issue date cannot be earlier than the date of the corrected document	The correction is dated before the document it corrects.	Set a later issue date.
A message that the state before correction in this draft is out of date	Another correction was issued after this draft was made.	Delete this draft and start a new correction.
A message that the corrected invoice is not in circulation	It was cancelled or reverted to draft.	Correct only issued documents.
Cancel invoice is greyed out	The document has payments, or it is in KSeF.	Read the reason shown. Use a correction to zero.
The invoice has corrections issued. Delete the corrections of this invoice first.	You tried to revert or delete an invoice that has corrections.	Delete the corrections, newest first, or leave the invoice corrected.
Cancel invoice is missing on a draft	A draft is deleted, not cancelled.	Use More → Delete.

For a Polish seller connected to KSeF, more refusals are listed on KSeF.

Permissions

To do this	You need
Start a correction, or a correction to zero	Finance: corrections
Edit a correction draft	Finance: corrections
Issue a correction	Finance: issue invoices
Cancel an issued document	Finance: cancel invoices
Delete a draft or an eligible issued document	Finance: Delete

Related

• Invoicing — issuing, reverting to draft and deleting
• The invoice & money — the fields you edit on a correction
• Payments — payments, refunds and the amount after corrections
• KSeF — for Polish sellers: why a document in KSeF is corrected, not cancelled
• OSS returns — how corrections of invoices under the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) scheme reach the quarterly return
• Glossary — the short definition of a correction