Invoicing
Credit and debit notes
Correcting an issued invoice without ever rewriting it: a separate, numbered document that points back at it.
Updated on August 14, 2026
Why a separate document
An issued invoice is final. Moroccan tax law (CGI art. 145) requires continuous numbering per fiscal year: reopening an invoice or reusing its number is not an option. Corrections therefore take the form of a second document that references the first and carries all the mandatory mentions itself.
The three documents
Depending on the direction of the correction and which side it happens on.
Credit note
You lower what your customer owes: goods returned, a discount granted after the fact, a billing error, a cancellation. It carries no due date and never enters dunning.
Debit note
You raise what your customer owes: additional charges, an upward correction. Because it raises the taxable base it behaves exactly like an invoice — VAT, due date, payment, dunning.
Supplier credit note
The credit note you receive from a supplier. It lowers what you owe them and is offset against their open bills. Dropped in the vault, document analysis recognizes it and records it in the right direction.
Numbering
Each kind draws its number from its own sequence.
By default credit notes follow the “AV-” series and debit notes the “ND-” series, both independent from the invoice one. Issuing a credit note therefore never advances the invoice numbering, and the integrity check verifies each series separately.
Note
Creating a credit note
From the invoice concerned, in a few steps.
- 1
Open the invoice
A credit note is created from the invoice it corrects — which must be issued, sent or paid.
- 2
Choose the scope
Full credit: every line is copied at the same amounts. Partial credit: you pick the lines and amounts to credit.
- 3
State the reason
The reason travels with the document and drives the suggested accounting allocation.
- 4
Issue
The credit note stays a draft until you issue it. On issuance it receives its number, its PDF is archived in the vault, and it becomes final.
Warning
The reasons
What each one covers.
- Commercial gesture — a discount or rebate granted after the invoice was issued.
- Goods returned — the customer sent back all or part of what was invoiced.
- Billing error — a wrong amount, quantity or line on the original invoice.
- Cancellation — the sale or service ultimately did not happen.
- Written off — you give up on collecting.
Settling a credit note
Three possible outcomes.
Refund
The money goes back to the customer. The credit note is recorded as settled and the outflow shows in the bank account movements.
Offset
The credit note reduces one or more open invoices of the same customer. An invoice fully covered flips to paid.
Pending
The credit note stays as a credit balance for the customer as long as it is neither refunded nor offset. It shows in the figures as “to settle”.
Effect on your figures
Revenue is net of credit notes, the receivable is reduced by the credit notes still open, and collected VAT drops accordingly. On the purchase side, a supplier credit note lowers expenses and deductible VAT the same way.
Note
What stays manual
A credit request addressed to a supplier is not yet a document in the product: until the supplier issues their credit note, there is nothing to post. Record the credit note when it arrives.
Tip