Credit Notes

Issue credit notes (avoirs) in Sixième Étoile — full and partial credits, accounting impact, and French legal retention obligations.

Overview

A credit note (avoir) is a corrective accounting document issued against an existing invoice. It reduces or cancels the client's debt when services were not delivered as billed, when a commercial discount is granted after invoicing, or when an overpayment needs to be formally credited.

Credit notes are permanent accounting records. They cannot be deleted once issued. See Legal Retention below for the applicable French regulatory constraints.

When to Issue a Credit Note

Situation	Recommended action
Invoice was sent but service was cancelled	Full credit note on the entire invoice
Billing error on one or more lines (wrong price, wrong quantity)	Partial credit note on the affected lines
Commercial discount granted retroactively	Partial credit note for the discount amount
Client overpaid and the surplus must be formally returned	Partial credit note for the overpayment amount
Full refund required on a paid invoice	Full credit note, then process the refund externally

Note: If the invoice is still in DRAFT status, simply edit it directly instead of issuing a credit note. Credit notes are reserved for invoices that have already been sent or paid.

Opening the Credit Note Dialog

From the Invoice Detail (screen E-03), click Issue Credit Note. The Credit Note dialog (screen E-06) opens pre-populated with all line items from the original invoice.

Full Credit Note

To cancel the entire invoice:

Leave all lines at their original quantities and amounts.
Optionally add a reason in the Notes field.
Click Issue Credit Note.

The credit note is issued for the full HT amount of the original invoice. The Finance Hub receivables view reflects the credit immediately as a negative receivable offsetting the original invoice balance.

Partial Credit Note

To credit only part of the invoice:

Edit the quantity or unit price on the lines you want to credit.
Remove lines that are not being credited (click the minus button on each row).
Review the partial credit total in the summary panel.
Click Issue Credit Note.

Example: an invoice contains three lines — airport transfer (€200), waiting time supplement (€30), and luggage handling (€15). The waiting time charge was billed in error. Issue a partial credit note with only the waiting time line at €30.

Original Invoice FAC-2026-0055   Total HT: €245,00

Credit Note AV-2026-0008
  Waiting time supplement — 1 × €30,00 = €30,00 HT
  Total credited HT: €30,00
  VAT 10 %: €3,00
  Total credited TTC: €33,00

Net balance after credit: €245,00 − €30,00 = €215,00 HT

Credit Note Numbering

Credit notes receive a sequential reference number in their own series, separate from invoice numbers. The series format is configured under Settings → Invoicing → Numbering Series, for example AV-2026-0001. Each credit note includes a linked invoice reference so the connection to the original document is always traceable.

Accounting Impact

Accounting effect	Description
Reduces receivable	The client's outstanding balance decreases by the credit note amount.
Negative revenue entry	The credited amount appears as a negative revenue line in Finance Hub period reports.
No automatic refund	Issuing a credit note does not trigger a bank transfer or any payment to the client. The refund must be processed externally and recorded as a payment with a negative sign if your workflow requires it.
Offsets paid invoice balance	If the original invoice was `PAID`, the credit note creates an excess credit that can be applied to a future invoice or refunded to the client.

Legal Retention Obligations

Legal obligation — France

French accounting law (Code de commerce, article L.123-22 and related texts) requires that all accounting documents, including invoices and credit notes, be retained for a minimum of 10 years from the end of the fiscal year in which they were issued.

This obligation applies to both the operator and the client. Sixième Étoile enforces this at the data layer: credit notes and the invoices they are linked to cannot be permanently deleted, regardless of any data retention settings configured elsewhere in the platform.

When a data subject exercises their right to erasure (RGPD article 17), Sixième Étoile can anonymise personal data in contact records, trip details, and non-financial communications. However, financial accounting records — including invoices, credit notes, and payment entries — are exempt from erasure under Article 17(3)(b) of the GDPR, which allows retention when necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

In practice:

The client's name and address on an invoice are replaced with an anonymised identifier (e.g., "Client #4821 [anonymised]").
All financial figures (amounts, VAT, dates) are preserved unchanged.
The invoice and credit note remain searchable and reportable in the Finance Hub.
The audit trail record is preserved.

This balance satisfies both the 10-year accounting retention requirement and the GDPR right to erasure.

Credit Note in the Finance Hub

Issued credit notes appear in the Finance Hub Receivables view (screen LA-02) as negative line items. In the period KPI summary (screen LA-01), credited amounts reduce the gross revenue figure for the period in which the credit note was issued (not the period of the original invoice).

Practical Tips

Issue promptly: credit notes affect client account balances. Issuing them quickly avoids confusion during account reviews and prevents the client from receiving payment reminders for a balance they dispute.
Always add a reason: the Notes field on the credit note is not mandatory, but a clear reason (e.g., "Service not rendered — flight cancelled") is invaluable during annual accounting reviews and client disputes.
Do not delete invoices: never attempt to work around the credit note process by deleting or cancelling an invoice after it has been sent. Use credit notes as they are the legally correct corrective instrument and leave a traceable audit trail.

Credit Notes

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