Most common sales invoice errors
The price cannot be negative
Description lines, or zero-sum header lines
VAT numbers of the seller and buyer
Product name is missing from the line
Seller's address details and business ID
Customer information
Data verification on the invoice form
What should I do if an invoice fails to send due to missing or incorrect information?
Connection error
This article concerns invoices that are in the Heeros Sales invoices Error in sending status. You can find the specific error code on the sales invoice Editing history tab.
See also the article: Sales invoice error situations
Since April 1, 2021 the status of sales invoices must be checked either from the Accounting Office's Dashboard (read more here) or from the company's Sales invoices, Invoices - Sending view.
The price cannot be negative
If you want to create a negative invoice line on the invoice (this also applies to credit invoices), the quantity field must be marked as negative. The price on the invoice line cannot be marked as negative, as this prevents the invoice from being sent to the recipient. Marking the price as negative is prohibited on the new sales invoice form; this restriction is not present on the old invoice form.
Description lines, or zero-sum header lines
In sales invoices, it has previously been possible to add so-called description lines (zero-sum header lines) to the invoices. Description lines are no longer supported in e-invoicing (XML documents), and their use should be avoided. Adding zero-sum description lines to an invoice prevents the invoice from being delivered to the recipient as an e-invoice. When the invoice is sent as a letter, by email, or only to the Archive, description lines may appear on the invoice image (PDF).
Zero-sum explanatory lines appear when creating an invoice as follows:
...and with a ready-made invoice image for such cases:
A description can be used on the invoice line, or the description can be added to the invoice's description or additional description field.
VAT numbers of the seller and buyer
If the invoice includes VAT, it must always contain the seller's VAT number. The buyer's VAT number is required if reverse VAT applies. If the invoice does not include any VAT at all, no VAT numbers are needed. However, in this case, the seller's business ID must be filled in on the invoice. Individual customers do not need to have a VAT or business ID filled in.
Product name is missing from the line
Product name is a required field on the invoice line (ArticleName). Sending the invoice will fail if the product name is missing from the invoice line.
The mandatory information in the product register includes Code and Name, make sure that the information is definitely filled out for each product:
- Code - 1-70 characters, Sales invoices require a code for each product
- Name - 1-100 characters
Seller's address details and business ID
The invoice must include the seller's address and business ID information. In the settings for sales invoices, this information can be filled in under Settings – General – Company information:
The following information must be complete:
- Company name - at least 2 characters, information will be split into a new line after 70 characters
- Your business ID
- Street address - at least 2 characters, a maximum of 105 characters, will be split into a new line after 35 characters
- Postal code - 2-35 characters, Finnish postal code consists of exactly 5 characters
- City - 2-35 characters
- Country - selected from the list
Customer information
In the customer information, it is possible to enter three different addresses for the customer:
- Clients address (required)
- Billing address (optional)
- Delivery address (optional)
The billing and delivery address are optional – NOTE! The billing address is used only on the new invoicing form! Please note that if the address details are filled out, they must be completely filled. This means that the clients address details must include name, street address, postal code, city, and country information. If the billing or delivery address is not desired to be filled in, all fields must be empty. Incomplete address details will result in the failure of the invoice sending.
Customer's mandatory basic information:
- Code - Sales invoices' required identifier for the customer (1-70 characters)
- Name - at least 2 characters, after 70 characters the information will be split into a new line
- NOTE! If the invoice includes value-added tax, both BUSINESS ID and VAT ID must be filled in. The fields are not mandatory in Sales invoices, as the customer may also be tax-exempt.
Required fields on the Clients address tab:
- Name 2 - optional, at least 2 characters, will be split to a new line after 70 characters
- Street address - at least 2 characters, maximum 105 characters, will be split to a new line every 35 characters
- Postal code - 2-35 characters, Finnish postal code must be exactly 5 characters
- City - 2-35 characters
- Country - selected from dropdown menu
Billing address tab mandatory information, if any of the marked fields are filled in:
- Name - optional, at least 2 characters, data is wrapped to a new line after 35 characters
- Name 2 - optional, at least 2 characters, data is wrapped to a new line after 35 characters
- Street address - at least 2 characters, data is wrapped to a new line after 35 characters
- Postal code - 2-35 characters, Finnish postal code consists of exactly 5 characters
- City - 2-35 characters
- Country - selected from a dropdown menu
Mandatory information for the Delivery address tab, if any of the marked fields are filled in:
- Name 2 - optional, at least 2 characters, data will be split onto a new line after 35 characters
- Street address - at least 2 characters, data will be split onto a new line after 35 characters
- Postal code - 2-35 characters, a Finnish postal code has exactly 5 characters
- City - 2-35 characters
- Country - selected from the dropdown menu
Data verification on the invoice form
When creating an invoice in Sales invoices, it is important to check that all mandatory information is clearly visible on the invoice form. The required address fields on the invoice form are marked in red. The delivery address fields marked in blue are not mandatory, but if any information is filled in one of the fields, all fields must be completed – or all blue-marked fields must be cleared.
The invoice form has also been marked with other information and their character lengths.
Information about the new invoice form:
Make sure you have also selected the seller's bank account to which the money is to be paid. If no bank account has been selected, the invoice sending will fail with the message: Bank account not found.
What should I do if an invoice fails to send due to missing or incorrect information?
The status of sending sales invoices should be checked either from the Accounting Office Dashboard (read more here) or from the company's Sales invoices, in the Invoices - Sending view.
If invoices are left in the Heeros Sales invoices Error in sending status:
- Go to the Invoices - Sending view
- Click the Return to completed state button and select the desired option
- Correct any errors preventing the sending of invoices that are in the ready state and resend the invoices.
(For these invoices, there is no need to fill out a return request form for sales invoices, such as for invoices that have errors left by the operator; the return can be processed directly in the program.)
NOTE! The return to the ready state with this button only works for invoices in the Error in sending status.
Connection error
Occasionally, sending an invoice may fail due to a connection error during data transfer. In this case, the invoice remains in the Invoices - Sending view, and its status is Error in sending. An invoice may encounter a connection error, for example, during the operator's maintenance break on Saturday between 16:00 and 20:00. These will be processed automatically thereafter. In such a situation, the Changes tab of the invoice may display error messages such as the following:
- heeros-sales-robot: POST https://api.cloud.heeros.com/login-v1 failed with 502
- heeros-sales-robot: GET https://dr.cloud.heeros.com/DominoRouter.nsf/ViewRows.xsp?tt=00000&type=DOCUMENT&application=LINK&view=(Settings) failed with 504
- heeros-sales-robot: GET failed with 502&id=39E885F605045DE3C22586700037B1BF&application=VENDA failed with 502
- heeros-sales-robot: PATCH https://dr.cloud.heeros.com/DominoRouter.nsf/Document.xsp?tt=00000&id=B351040CB22A24F9C2258696002ADB4E&application=LINK failed with 404
- heeros-sales-robot: Error in invoice submission: An error occurred while retrieving invoice data
You can return these invoices to the ready state using the button found in the Sending view of the program and resend them as they are.
(For these invoices, it is not necessary to fill out the sales invoice return service request form, like for invoices that were left with errors by the operator, but the return can be made in the program itself.)
NOTE! Returning to the ready state using this button only works for invoices in the Error in sending status.