Collections & Payments

Payments & Integrations

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Payments in Tabs settle outstanding invoice balances. Tabs supports online collection through Stripe, bank reconciliation through Plaid, manual payment recording, and credit memos — with bi-directional sync to your ERP.

How payments work

A payment is a recorded transaction that reduces an invoice’s balance. Each payment has:

ComponentDescription
Balance dueRemaining invoice balance to be paid
Total paidSum of completed payments (excludes pending, removed, or reconciliation entries)
Payment typePending, Completed, Reconciliation (bad debt / bank fees), Removed, or Failed
Payment methodCredit card, ACH Debit, ACH Credit, Check, or Stripe

When a payment is applied, Tabs updates the invoice status automatically — PARTIALLY_PAID if a balance remains, PAID if fully settled — and syncs the payment to your connected ERP.

Recording payments

You can record payments in two ways depending on whether cash application is enabled.

Without cash application

Record payments manually when a customer pays outside of Tabs (wire, check, or ACH initiated from their bank):

  1. Open the invoice and click Record a payment
  2. Enter payment details from customer advice or your records
  3. Click Record payment — the customer receives a payment confirmation

With cash application

When Plaid is connected, Tabs recommends likely transaction matches based on remaining balance, invoice ID, transaction date, and customer name:

  1. Open the invoice and click Record a payment
  2. Review recommended bank transaction matches
  3. Select the matching transaction and confirm
  4. If a balance remains, reconcile as bad debt or bank fees — or leave open if you expect additional payments

If no bank transaction exists yet but the customer confirmed payment is coming, record a pending payment. This helps match the invoice to the bank transaction when it arrives.

Stripe payments are marked as pending until cash is received in your account. With cash application enabled, Stripe payouts are automatically attributed to the appropriate invoices along with any pass-through credit card fees.

Closing out an invoice

For balances you don’t expect to collect, close out the invoice as bad debt or bank fees. ERP accounts for reconciliation must be configured under Integrations → your ERP → Manage.

Stripe

Tabs integrates with Stripe to process payments through the customer payment portal and support autocharge:

  • Card payments — processed immediately; funds transfer to your Stripe account balance
  • ACH payments — take 5–6 business days; the invoice stays pending until the bank confirms or declines
  • Autocharge — charge stored payment methods automatically when invoices are sent (configured per customer in Billing Settings)

Customers can pay via ACH Credit or ACH Debit through the Tabs payment link. Stripe payout scheduling can automatically transfer your Stripe balance to your bank account.

Configure Stripe under Settings → Integrations → Stripe. See Set Up Stripe for the connection guide.

Plaid

Plaid connects your business bank accounts to Tabs for automated cash application:

  1. Connect your bank via the Plaid authentication flow
  2. Select accounts used to receive customer payments
  3. Map each bank account to the corresponding account in your ERP

Unmatched transactions appear in Data → Transactions. Tabs uses AI to suggest invoice matches from transaction descriptions — customer names, invoice numbers, and amounts.

Configure Plaid under Settings → Integrations → Plaid. See Set Up Plaid and Match Payments to Invoices for setup and workflow details.

Credit memos

Credit memos reduce what a customer owes without collecting cash. Use them to:

  • Correct a billing error after an invoice is sent
  • Apply a post-invoice discount or goodwill credit
  • Write off unused commitment balances

Creating a credit memo in Tabs automatically syncs it to your connected ERP. Applying a credit memo reduces the open invoice balance.

Credit memos created in your ERP do not sync back into Tabs. Create and apply credit memos in Tabs to keep billing and AR in sync.

See Create and Apply Credit Memos for the API workflow.

ERP payment sync

Payment sync with your ERP is bi-directional:

  • Tabs → ERP — payments applied in Tabs sync to your ERP automatically, including Stripe and Plaid transactions
  • ERP → Tabs — payments manually applied in your ERP sync back to Tabs on the next daily sync

Removing a payment in Tabs syncs the removal back to your ERP. Journal entries for cash application are posted to the ERP accounts mapped during Plaid setup.

Customer payment methods

Customers can store payment methods for autocharge in two ways:

  • Merchant-entered — add a card in the customer’s Billing Settings
  • Customer-entered — customer saves a card when paying an invoice through the payment link

Configure autocharge per customer under Customers → Billing Settings. See Customer Ingestion for billing contact and autocharge setup.