₹94,400, invoiced last October. Three reminders, two promises, and now eleven months of silence. You need it out of your receivables — but not by marking it paid, and not by deleting it, because the sale happened and its GST was reported in October.
In short
- Where
- Sales documents → Invoices → ⋯ → Write it off
- Requires
- A reason — not optional
- Result
- Balance nil, total unchanged, out of receivables
- Reversible
- Yes — ⋯ → Cancel the write-off
Three words that are not synonyms
This is the part worth getting right, because the three are confused constantly and they leave different marks on your books.
| What it says | The tax | Reversible | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written off | The sale happened. The money will not arrive. | Stands — it was reported and remains reported | Yes |
| Cancelled | It was real, and was then called off. | Withdrawn with the document | No |
| Void | It should never have counted at all — raised in error, a duplicate, a test. | Never counted | No |
| Credit note | Part or all of the supply is reversed, by agreement. | Reduced, reported in CDNR | Applied or refunded |
A customer who simply will not pay is the first row. The supply happened, you reported the tax, and you are recording that the money is not coming. Reaching for a credit note instead quietly reduces your output tax for a supply that was genuinely made — which is a different thing entirely, and one somebody may ask about.
Step by step
Look at the ageing first
Sales documents → Invoices, sorted by what is oldest. The decision is different at 60 days and at 400, and seeing the whole list often changes which invoices you write off today.
⋯ → Write it off
Not offered on a draft — nothing has been sent, so nothing is owed. Not offered on a paid invoice, or on one already written off.
Say why, properly
“Customer unreachable since November, two legal notices, not worth pursuing.” Not “bad debt”. This is the sentence your auditor reads, and the one you will read yourself when the same customer comes back with a new enquiry in two years.
Save
The invoice moves to Written off. Its balance is nil, so it stops appearing in receivables and in the chase list. Its total, its tax and its number are untouched — it keeps its place in October’s return, where it belongs.
If they pay after all
⋯ → Cancel the write-off. The balance comes back and the invoice takes the payment normally. Writing it off in the meantime costs you nothing.
The bit that trips people up. A write-off does not reverse the GST. The supply happened and the tax was reported; a write-off is a decision about whether the money is collectable, not about whether the sale occurred. If the supply itself is being reduced — wrong quantity, agreed discount, goods returned — that is a credit note, and the difference matters.
Why not just delete it?
Because the number would go with it, and a gap in your invoice series is the thing GST specifically does not want. A written-off invoice keeps its number, its total and its place in the return, and carries a note saying what happened to it. That is a record you can defend; a missing number is a question you cannot answer.
Common questions
What is the difference between writing off an invoice and cancelling it?
Writing off says the sale happened, the tax stands, and the money will not arrive. Cancelling says the commitment was real and was then called off.
When should I void an invoice instead?
When it should never have counted at all — raised in error, a duplicate, a test. Voiding keeps the number so the series stays consecutive.
Does writing off an invoice reverse the GST on it?
No. The supply happened and the tax was reported. Reducing the tax means a credit note, which is a different document.
What if the customer pays after I write it off?
Cancel the write-off and the balance returns, ready to take the payment.
Correct as of September 2026. The treatment of a bad debt for income tax is a separate question from what your invoice record says; take advice on the deduction.
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