Bill Upfront takes payment when the client accepts the proposal. Bill on completion holds the bill until you mark the proposal complete, or until you raise it yourself from Bills & Payments. You can use one, the other, or both on the same proposal.
Before you start
Turn on Billing on the proposal.
Bill Upfront needs a connected payment provider under Settings > Business > Payments.
These switches are set on each bill in the proposal billing step. After the client accepts, change bills in Bills & Payments instead.
At a glance
Bill Upfront | Bill on completion | |
|---|---|---|
When payment is taken | On proposal acceptance | Not at acceptance. Charge later, after the bill is raised |
When the bill is raised / synced | When the proposal is accepted | When the proposal is marked complete, or when you sync it yourself from Bills & Payments |
What the client sees | Payable upfront (or a percentage if you set a partial amount) | Payable on completion |
Payment provider required | Yes | No (you can still collect a payment method if you ask for payment details) |
How many bills | One per client, or one per package if the proposal has multiple packages | As many as you need |
Bill Upfront
Use this when you need to be paid (or take a deposit) before you start work.
When the client accepts:
OnboardMe charges the upfront amount using the payment method they added on the proposal.
The bill is created in your ledger (for example Xero or QuickBooks) at the same time.
The due date is the bill date, because payment is due on acceptance.
Partial upfront (%)
When Bill Upfront is on, you can set a percentage (for example 50%). Only that share is charged at acceptance. The rest of that bill is billed later.
The upfront amount must be at least $2.00. Increase the bill total or the percentage if the switch will not turn on.
Limits
Only one bill per client can be Bill Upfront. If the proposal has more than one package, the limit is one Bill Upfront bill per package.
You cannot turn on Bill Upfront without a payment provider.
Bill on completion
Use this when you invoice after the work is done, or when you want to decide when the bill goes across to your ledger.
The bill is held. It is not charged at acceptance, and it is not synced on the bill date like a normal scheduled bill.
Raise it when the proposal is completed
Open the proposal and choose Mark proposal as completed.
OnboardMe lists each pending bill-on-completion invoice and lets you confirm (or change) the bill date. See Redating past bills below.
Confirm. The bills are raised.
What happens next depends on your ledger:
Xero: bills are raised and synced to Xero when you mark the proposal complete.
QuickBooks or GreatSoft: bills are raised. Sync them yourself from the Bills tab.
No ledger connected: bills are raised in OnboardMe. Sync later from Bills & Payments when you are ready.
Raise it yourself (before or instead of completing)
You do not have to wait for completion. After the proposal is accepted, open the bill in Bills & Payments and create or sync it to your ledger (for example Create in Xero or Sync to Xero).
If the bill date is in the past, OnboardMe asks whether to keep that date or update it to today before sending it to the ledger.
On a standalone bill, turning Bill on completion off also releases it. If the bill date is today or in the past, it will sync on the next background sync run.
When to use both
Use both when some money should come in at acceptance and the rest should wait until the work is finished. Typical patterns:
Deposit plus balance: one bill as Bill Upfront (full or a percentage), and a second bill as Bill on completion for the remainder.
Setup now, project later: a setup or onboarding fee as Bill Upfront, and the main engagement fee as Bill on completion.
Mixed services: charge identity, software, or a commencement fee up front, and hold compliance or year-end work until you mark the proposal complete.
The client still pays the upfront amount at acceptance. On-completion bills stay held until you complete the proposal or raise them from Bills & Payments.
When not to use either switch
Leave both switches off if the bill should follow its bill date (a scheduled or dated bill). Those bills sync to your ledger on the bill date during the daily sync.
If you use Xero or QuickBooks, Sync on acceptance creates the invoice in the ledger when the proposal is accepted, without taking payment and without waiting for completion. That is separate from Bill Upfront.
Redating past bills
Proposal bills often keep the original bill date from when the proposal was built. If that date is now in the past, update it before the bill is created in your ledger so invoices are not backdated by accident.
When you mark the proposal complete
The completion screen shows each pending on-completion bill with its current date (Past, Today, or Future) and a new bill date. New dates default to today. You can:
Keep today for a bill that is overdue to be raised.
Pick a later date (not a date before today).
Use Set all to today to update every listed bill in one step.
Due dates are recalculated from the new bill date using your practice payment terms (Settings > Business > Payments).
When you sync a bill yourself
If you create or sync a bill whose date is in the past, OnboardMe shows Bill date is in the past:
Keep past date creates the invoice in your ledger with the original date.
Update to today changes the bill date (and the due date) in OnboardMe to today, then sends it across.
Cancel leaves the bill unsynced.
Recurring bills that were missed
That is a separate setting. Under Settings > Business > Payments, Recurring billing catch-up controls what happens if a proposal is accepted after recurring run dates have already passed: reset the schedule with no missed bills, or bill the missed periods (those invoices are dated today).
How to set the flags
Open the proposal and go to the billing step.
On the bill, turn on Bill Upfront or Bill on completion. You cannot have both on the same bill.
For Bill Upfront, set the percentage if you are only charging part of the total at acceptance.
Save and send the proposal. After acceptance, use Bills & Payments for further changes.
You can save the same flags on proposal templates and Template Bills so new proposals start with the right timing.
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