Manage invoice deficits
If you cannot withdraw your refund balance or issue a full invoice for certain purchases, you may have an invoice deficit. An invoice deficit occurs when you receive a refund for a resource that has already been invoiced. This deficit affects future withdrawals and invoicing. This document describes how to manage invoice deficits.
What is an overdue bill?
An invoice deficit occurs when you receive a refund for an invoiced order or bill, for example, after a cancellation or downgrade. As a result, your actual spending is lower than the amount on the original invoice. For example:
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A user pays CNY 1,200 for an order and is issued a full electronic special invoice for CNY 1,200.
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The user cancels the service and receives a CNY 200 refund. This reduces the actual spending to CNY 1,000.
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Now, the actual spending of CNY 1,000 is less than the invoiced amount of CNY 1,200. This creates an invoice deficit of CNY 200.
Impact of an invoice deficit
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You cannot withdraw the amount of an invoice deficit. To enable withdrawals, you must first manage the deficit.
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If your invoicing entity has an invoice deficit, the deficit is offset first when you request a new invoice. The system uses your amount available for invoicing to cover the deficit. An invoice is then issued for the remaining balance. If the total amount pending invoicing is still negative after the offset, you cannot issue an invoice.
For example, your account has an invoice deficit of CNY 200 for the Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd. (Service) entity. You request an invoice for a CNY 500 purchase. After the CNY 200 deficit is offset, the final invoice is issued for CNY 300.
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Invoice deficits for different entities are separate. For example, if the Alibaba Cloud Computing Co., Ltd. (Service) entity has a deficit, you cannot issue more invoices for that entity until the deficit is managed. However, you can still issue invoices for other entities.
Ways to manage an invoice deficit
Offset the deficit with an uninvoiced amount
If your issued invoice has been booked, returning and reissuing it is complex and time-consuming. Instead, you can offset the invoice deficit with other purchases. The order used for the offset must meet the following conditions:
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The amount of the offsetting order must be greater than the deficit amount, and the order must not have been invoiced.
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The product in the offsetting order must have the same tax category and tax rate as the product that caused the deficit.
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The invoicing entity of the offsetting order must be the same as the invoicing entity of the order that caused the deficit.
Offset the deficit on the Manage Invoice Deficits page
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In the navigation pane on the left of the Expenses and Costs console, select Invoices. Then, click the Manage Invoice Deficits tab.
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Select the invoicing entity, the deficit order, and the order to use for the offset. Confirm the offset amount and click Confirm Offset.
Process deficit amount as needed (maximum): Select this option to have the system automatically find eligible uninvoiced orders to offset the deficit.
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Click OK. The system automatically offsets the deficit. The order used for the offset will no longer be available for future invoice requests.
If you use an enterprise account and have the Enterprise Multi-account feature enabled, you can use the root account to select orders or bills from multiple member accounts and perform a cross-account offset on the Manage Invoice Deficits or Issue Invoice page.
Offset the deficit when issuing an invoice
On the Issue Invoice page, select an invoicing entity and the orders you want to invoice. The system automatically offsets any existing deficit first. The amount available for invoicing is used to cover the deficit, and an invoice is then issued for the remaining balance. If the total amount pending invoicing is still negative after the offset, you cannot issue an invoice.
Return and reissue the invoice
If your issued invoice has not been booked, or if you do not have enough uninvoiced purchases to offset the deficit, you can return and reissue the invoice.
You can return the invoice on the Download and Return Invoices page. The system voids the original invoice and resolves the deficit amount. For more information, see Reissue an invoice.
After the invoice is returned, you can go to the Issue Invoice page and request a new invoice for the actual purchase amount.
FAQ
How do I reissue an invoice when there is an invoice deficit?
If the system displays a message such as Cannot submit due to an invoice deficit when you try to issue an invoice, this is likely because a refund or downgrade on your account created a deficit. For solutions, see Ways to manage an invoice deficit.
Why is there an invoice deficit after I get a refund for a product purchased with a prepaid card?
When you receive a refund for a product purchased with a prepaid card, the refund is credited to your account balance. This creates an invoice deficit. You can use your account balance for new purchases, which can then be used to offset the deficit.
For more information about invoices, see Invoice FAQ.