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How do I verify the charges on my invoice are correct?

Zuora

How do I verify the charges on my invoice are correct?

Billing is complex and involves many parameters to ensure that your customers are billed correctly.  This article will help you troubleshoot invoice charges that did not bill as expected by walking you through some scenarios that would cause an invoice to charge a certain way.

Invoice Charged Too Little

Proration is turned off  

The first partial month was not billed at all because billing begins on the first Bill Cycle Day. See Proration for more information.

Proration is turned on  

If the Effective Start Date of the charge does not fall on the Bill Cycle Day (we call this Anniversary Billing), then the first invoice will bill only for the partial month when the billing period starts (based on the charge's Trigger Condition) through the next Bill Cycle Day.  See Proration for more information.

A discount charge was applied 

A discount may be used to reduce the amount charged for subscription fees. If the discount doesn't exist in the subscription, review previous subscriptions for the account level discount charge.  Account level discounts apply to the subscription, which contains the discount charge, as well as any subscriptions created thereafter for the duration of the discount period. See Discount Charge Models for more information.

Invoice Charged Too Much

​A Canceled Subscription Continues to Bill

If a subscription's charges were billed and that subscription has a cancelled status, verify that the subscription's cancel date is less than the bill run target date.  If the cancel date is greater than the bill run's target date, the invoice was generated to cover the service period through the cancel date.

Bill Run Target Date Set Too Far in Advance

The bill run target date allows you to specify which charges the billing engine should pick up and bill. For example, if you want to bill for all charges from January 1, 2011 through January 31, 2011, you need to set the bill run target date to be January 31, 2011. By doing so, Zuora's rating and billing engine picks up all charges due through January 31, 2011. If you accidentally set your bill run target date through January 31, 2012 (note the year), it will pick up all charges through the following year. Thus, make sure you have set the correct bill run target date.

For new subscriptions, if proration is turned on and the bill run target date is after the first bill cycle date, the first invoice will show a prorated amount combined with the charges for the next (full) billing period. See Proration for more information.

In Z-Billing, recurring charges are billed in advance for one billing period, which means that charges are billed ahead of time, prior to the service being rendered. For example, you can bill a recurring monthly fee on September 1, 2010 for service between September 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010.

Invoice Includes a Credit

  • Your subscription was cancelled in the middle of a period that has already been billed and a proration credit is reflected on the invoice for the unused amount.  See How do I properly cancel or downgrade customers to avoid issuing a credit or refund?.

  • The customer submitted a payment for an amount greater than the total amount of a previous invoice (an overpayment), and the remaining payment amount was transferred to a credit balance in Z-Billing. This credit balance was then applied (just like a payment) towards the invoice. See Handling Overpayments.

Invoice Item Amounts on the Invoice PDF Add Up Incorrectly

  • Review the setup of your invoice template and verify that are no missing fields. The invoice total includes all charges, but for example, if you omitted usage charges, then the charge events will not compute to the invoice total. See more on Creating an Invoice Template.