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Adding a credit limit to your invoice

If you want to encourage your customers to pay quickly, a credit limit can be a handy tool. Robaws adds a percentage to the invoice total and states on the invoice that your customer may deduct that amount if they pay within the agreed term. If they pay too late, they owe the full amount, credit limit included.

You set a credit limit on a payment condition, not on the invoice itself.

The credit limit is mainly a Belgian practice. The function is available in every Robaws environment, but the VAT treatment below follows the Belgian rules. If you work in another country, coordinate this with your accountant.

Example: you grant a credit limit of 1% if your customer does not pay within 30 days of receipt of the invoice.

Applying a credit limit

You can have the credit limit calculated on the total including VAT (default) or on the total excluding VAT. You determine this with the 'Calculate on total excluding VAT' toggle on the payment condition.

Because at the moment of invoicing you do not know whether your customer will pay on time, you do not yet charge VAT on the credit limit. If they pay on time, you do not have to do anything further. If they pay too late and pay the credit limit as well, you still owe VAT on that amount.

If your customer is entitled to deduct VAT, they can only deduct the VAT on the credit limit if you send an additional invoice for it.

Example: as a company you deliver goods for €10,000.00 to a customer, with 21% VAT. You send an invoice with a payment condition of 30 days and a credit limit of 1%, calculated on the total incl. VAT.

Robaws adds the credit limit to the invoice total and states on the invoice that your customer may deduct it on payment in time:

On the invoice
Goods (excl. VAT)	€10,000.00
VAT 21%	€2,100.00
Total VAT incl.	€12,100.00
Credit limit (1%)	€121.00
Total	€12,221.00

	Customer pays on time	Customer pays too late
Customer pays	€12,100.00	€12,221.00
Credit limit acquired	€0.00	€121.00
VAT still to be paid on the surcharge	€0.00	€21.00

The €121.00 credit limit is a VAT-inclusive amount: it is calculated on the total incl. VAT. So if your customer pays it as well, it includes €21.00 VAT (€121.00 − €121.00 / 1.21) that you still have to pay over.

Creating a credit limit

You create a credit limit on the payment condition, via settings > general > master data > financial > payment conditions.

A credit limit only exists for sales. The block only appears on the payment condition once the 'Sales' toggle is switched on; you cannot set a credit limit on a purchase payment condition.

Please note: you can only fill in the Credit limit block when you create a new payment condition. As soon as you save, the toggle, the percentage, the number of days and the calculation basis are fixed permanently. If you want to change something, create a new payment condition.

A payment condition contains either a credit limit or a financial discount, never both. If you switch on the credit limit, Robaws switches off the financial discount automatically.

Setting	Explanation
Enable creditlimit	Has to be switched on before you see the fields below and can fill them in.
Creditlimit %	The percentage that is added to the invoice total.
#days valid	The number of days after the invoice date within which your customer may deduct the credit limit.
Calculate on total excluding VAT	If this is switched off (default), Robaws calculates the percentage on the total incl. VAT. If you switch it on, on the total excl. VAT.

Tip: in the 'Payment condition' combobox on the invoice you see a summary for every condition, for example '1% credit limit after 30 days'.

What appears on the invoice?

Alongside the columns Total VAT incl., Credit limit and Total, Robaws prints a statement at the bottom. You manage that text yourself in the invoice settings, in the Credit limit notice field. By default it reads:

On payment before ${financialDate}, ${credLimit} credit limit (${creditLimitPercentage} %) may be deducted from the total.

The replacement codes are filled in automatically: ${financialDate} is the invoice date plus the number of days of the payment condition, ${credLimit} the calculated amount and ${creditLimitPercentage} the percentage. With the action button next to the field you enter a translation per customer language. If you leave the field empty, no statement appears on the invoice. The statement only appears if a customer is linked to the invoice.

If the totals table is set to the 'Vertical' layout, or if the invoice contains instalments, discounts at document level or a deduction, the Credit limit column disappears and only the statement remains.

Please note: the credit limit is only shown on the PDF invoice. If you send the invoice as an e-invoice via UBL or Peppol, it only contains the amount without credit limit (€12,100.00 in the example). If you mainly invoice via Peppol, take that into account.

What happens when your customer pays?

Robaws keeps track of the outstanding amount of the invoice on the total without credit limit. If your customer pays on time (€12,100.00), the invoice simply moves to paid and you do not have to do anything.

If they pay too late and pay the credit limit as well (€12,221.00), Robaws sees that as a surplus of €121.00. You process that yourself: open the invoice, go to Payments > Simple registration and register the difference with genre Payment difference. If you want to process the VAT on the surcharge correctly, send an additional invoice for the credit limit.

Updated on: 08/09/2026

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