How to Waive an Invoice or Mark It as Bad Debt?
Not every invoice gets paid in full. A customer disputes a small charge, a rounding penny lingers forever, or an account simply goes uncollectible. Rentablez gives you two clean ways to close the loop without deleting the record or leaving a phantom balance on your outstanding list: waive off the balance, or mark it as bad debt. Both leave an audit trail so your books stay honest.
Waive vs. Bad Debt — Which One Do I Use?
They sound similar but do very different things to your numbers. Pick based on whether you want the balance gone or just set aside.
| Waive off | Mark as Bad Debt | |
|---|---|---|
| Effect on balance | Reduces the amount owed (writes it off) | Balance stays on the books — nothing is reduced |
| Credit note | A credit note is issued | No credit note |
| Collection follow-up | Removed (balance is cleared) | Removed from the daily follow-up list |
| AR / aging reports | Balance no longer outstanding | Still shown as exposure |
| Reversible from the UI | No — reversal needs an administrator | Yes — you can Recover it later |
| Typical use | Goodwill discount, billing error, rounding residual | Account you’ve written off but haven’t formally cleared |
In short: waive when you’ve decided the money will never be collected and you want the balance cleared. Mark as bad debt when you want to stop chasing it but keep the amount visible as a loss until you decide how to handle it.
Waiving Off an Invoice
Waiving reduces (or fully clears) an invoice’s outstanding balance and issues a credit note for the waived amount. This lives on the Order Invoices list, which is generated from your rental orders.
Permission required. The Waive off action only appears for roles that have the
invoices.waivepermission. If you don’t see it, ask an administrator to grant access.
Step 1 — Open the Order Invoices list
Go to Finance → Invoices (the Order Invoices list at /invoice). Each row is color-coded by status, and you can search or filter by payment status, invoice status, and more to find the one you need.
Step 2 — Choose “Waive off”
Open the row’s action menu (the three-dot menu at the end of the row) and select Waive off. On a row you’re hovering over, a quick Waive button also appears inline next to Pay.
The action is available only when the invoice:
- Has been finalized (has an invoice number),
- Is not cancelled,
- Is not already fully paid or waived, and
- Still has an outstanding balance.
If the option is greyed out, one of those conditions isn’t met.
Step 3 — Fill in the waive details
The Waive off invoice window shows the current Outstanding balance at the top and asks for:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Amount to waive | Defaults to the full outstanding balance. You can waive less, but never more than what’s outstanding. |
| Category | Why you’re waiving — Goodwill, Bad Debt, Billing Error, Rounding Residual, or Other. |
| Reason | A short note (minimum 5 characters). This is saved to the audit log and visible to your team. |
Waives cannot be undone from the app. An audit entry recording who waived, when, how much, and why is permanently kept. Reversing a waive requires administrator action, so double-check the amount before you confirm.
Step 4 — Confirm and submit
Tick the confirmation checkbox (“I confirm this waive is intentional and the customer’s balance should be reduced”), then click Waive. Rentablez records the waive, issues a credit note, and shows you the credit note number in the success message.
After waiving, the invoice reflects the change on the list:
- A fully waived invoice shows a purple Waived status.
- A partially waived invoice keeps its remaining balance and shows a + Waive marker, plus a small ”− [amount] waived” note on the balance.
Marking an Invoice as Bad Debt
Bad debt is for balances you’ve stopped chasing but don’t want to formally write off yet. The amount stays on your books and in AR/aging reports as exposure — it’s simply pulled out of your day-to-day collection follow-up.
Bad debt is available on both the Order Invoices list (/invoice) and the Standalone Invoices list (/standalone-invoice).
Step 1 — Find the invoice and open its actions
From either invoice list, open the row’s action menu. On the Order Invoices list, Mark as Bad Debt is available when the invoice is finalized, not cancelled, not fully settled, still has an outstanding balance, and isn’t already flagged as bad debt.
Step 2 — Add a reason and confirm
Select Mark as Bad Debt. In the window that opens:
- Enter a Reason explaining why the invoice is uncollectible (required, minimum 5 characters). It’s saved to the audit log.
- Read the notice confirming the balance stays on the books, then tick the confirmation checkbox.
- Click Mark as Bad Debt.
Once marked, the invoice shows a red Bad Debt badge on the list and drops off your collection follow-up — but the balance is untouched and still appears in outstanding/aging reporting.
This is reversible. Unlike a waive, bad debt can be undone at any time from the same menu.
Step 3 (optional) — Recover from bad debt
If the customer eventually pays or you decide to chase the balance again, open the row’s action menu and choose Recover from Bad Debt. Add an optional note (for example, “customer paid”), tick the confirmation checkbox, and click Recover. The invoice returns to active outstanding and reappears in your collection workflows.
Finding Waived and Bad-Debt Invoices Later
On the Order Invoices list, use the filters to isolate these invoices:
- Payment status → Waived shows invoices that have been fully waived.
- Bad Debt filter → Bad Debt only shows just your flagged invoices; Exclude Bad Debt hides them so you can focus on live collections.
The Standalone Invoices list has a similar Bad Debt quick filter chip.
Bad-debt invoices stay in your aging and AR figures by design. If you want a balance to disappear from those numbers entirely, waive it instead.