Pro · Professional tierRequires an Easy Invoice Pro Professional licence or above. Get Easy Invoice Pro →

Retainers & Prepayments

Agencies and consultants are often paid before the work: a quarterly retainer, a project deposit, a block of hours. The money arrives once; the invoices come later. This addon keeps that balance on the client record and settles invoices from it.

What you get

• A retainer balance per client, on the client record, with every movement listed — money in, and each invoice it was applied to.
• Record a retainer in one form: amount, date, how it was paid, a note.
• Apply it to an invoice with one click from the client record, for the amount due or whatever balance remains.
• Automatic settlement (optional): the moment an invoice is issued for a client with a balance, credit is applied and the invoice is partly or fully paid. Turn it on under Settings → Invoice → Settle new invoices from the client's retainer balance automatically.
• Real payment records. Applied credit is a completed payment with the method credit, so the invoice, the client statement, reports and accounting sync all see money received. The profit & loss statement counts the retainer once — when it arrived, not again when it is applied.

Enabling

1. Open Easy Invoice → Addons and activate Retainers & Prepayments
2. Open any client record: a Retainer panel appears with the balance, the record form and the open invoices it can be applied to
3. Optionally switch on Settings → Invoice → Settle new invoices from the client's retainer balance automatically

How the money is recorded

Recording a retainer creates a payment record of type credit for the client with no invoice. Applying it creates a payment of type credit_applied on the invoice for the amount applied. The balance is the sum of the first minus the sum of the second — nothing is stored that could drift.

For developers

Hook	Type	Purpose
easy_invoice_retainer_added	action	After a retainer is recorded ($payment_id, $client_id, $amount)
easy_invoice_retainer_applied	action	After credit is applied to an invoice ($invoice_id, $amount, $payment_id)
easy_invoice_payment_completed	action (free plugin)	Fires when an application settles the invoice in full

Retainers::balance( $client_id ) and Retainers::history( $client_id ) return the figures shown on the client record.