This article explains what happens when an invoice is marked as paid, how locking behaves, and how payment status affects your records.

🧾 Invoice Lifecycle Overview

Invoices move through the following stages:

1. Pending – Newly created, not yet issued
2. Unpaid – Sent to customer
3. Unpaid (Reminded) – Reminder email sent
4. Paid – Marked as paid
5. Cancelled – Voided but retained for audit
6. Trashed – Moved to Trash

Each stage has specific behaviour and restrictions.

▶ Marking an Invoice as Paid

To mark an invoice as paid:

1. Go to My Business → File Archive
2. Locate the invoice
3. Click Paid

You may need appropriate RBAC permission to perform this action.

🔄 What Happens When You Mark as Paid

When marked as paid:

• Status changes to Paid
• A paid badge appears on the invoice
• The invoice becomes automatically locked
• Editing is permanently restricted
• Reminder functionality is disabled

This protects your financial integrity.

🔐 Automatic Locking on Payment

Paid invoices cannot be edited.

This ensures:

• Totals cannot be altered after payment
• Tax calculations remain accurate
• Financial reports stay consistent
• Your audit trail remains intact

If an invoice was marked as paid in error:

• It should be cancelled
• A new corrected invoice should be issued

Editing a paid invoice directly is intentionally blocked.

🔔 Reminder Status Behaviour

Before payment:

• Invoice shows Unpaid
• Reminder emails change the icon to an alert bell
• Hovering reveals reminder information

Once marked as paid:

• Reminder indicators disappear
• Status permanently changes to Paid

🗑️ Cancelling vs Deleting Paid Invoices

Paid invoices:

• Cannot be edited
• Should not be deleted in normal practice

Best practice is to:

✔ Cancel incorrect invoices
✔ Issue a corrected replacement
✔ Maintain full history

Permanent deletion should be restricted to Plugin Super Administrators only.

📊 Reporting Impact

Paid invoices:

• Count toward revenue totals
• Appear in paid invoice filters
• Are excluded from unpaid summaries
• Remain in your permanent financial history

Because they are locked, they provide stable data for:

• Business insights
• Accounting exports
• Tax calculations
• Audit compliance

🧠 Best Practice Recommendation

For strong financial control:

✔ Restrict “Mark as Paid” permission to senior roles
✔ Never edit invoices after sending
✔ Use cancellation instead of deletion
✔ Treat Paid invoices as finalised accounting records

This ensures:

• Clean bookkeeping
• Reduced risk of disputes
• Professional financial management