Write off small amounts from customer accounts

Are you ready to write off small amounts from your customer accounts?

When you write off small amounts Sage 200 posts transactions to a number of nominal accounts. One of these is the nominal account assigned as the default for Bad Debt Write Offs.

This default nominal account must be assigned or Sage 200 will post the transactions to suspense.

Default nominal accounts

Find this screen

Open: Customers > Credit Control > Write Off Customer Bad Debt.

How to

Set a maximum write off value

To make sure you don't write off transactions with large outstanding balances, enter a maximum write off value. This defaults to £200 (base currency). Change this value if required.

Only transactions with less than this amount outstanding are displayed.

  • Enter the maximum value in the Maximum value field.

Write off for a single customer

  1. Select Write off transaction from a single account.
  2. Choose the account from the Code, Short Name, Postcode drop-down lists.
  3. Enter a Maximum value.

  4. Choose the nominal account that you want to post the VAT portion of the write off to. This defaults to the VAT Output nominal account.
  5. If required, choose a Transaction analysis code.
  6. Use the check boxes to select the transactions to write off from the list.
  7. If you want to write off a portion as VAT, enter the VAT amount for each transaction. The VAT amount cannot be more than the amount outstanding on the transaction.

Write off for all customers

This displays all transactions that have an outstanding amount.

  1. Select Write off transaction from all accounts.
  2. Enter a Maximum value.

  3. Choose the nominal account that you want to post the VAT portion of the write off to. This defaults to the VAT Output nominal account.
  4. If required, choose a Transaction analysis code.
  5. Use the check boxes, to select the transactions to write off from the list.
  6. If you want to write off a portion as VAT, enter the VAT amount for each transaction. The VAT amount cannot be more than the amount outstanding on the transaction.

Useful info

What you can write off

Up to 50,000 records are displayed at once and you can write off up to 1000 sales values. If you need to write off more than 1000 values you'll need to repeat the write off process. You can write off a sales value even if its associated transaction is part allocated.

The default maximum transaction value to write off is 200 (base currency) but you can amend this amount if required.

When writing off values on a foreign currency customer account, the exchange rate applied to the original transaction is used to convert the value to base currency.

Choosing how much VAT is written off

You can also specify the portion of the write off that is VAT. For a part paid invoice, you must work out how much of the write off is VAT.

This VAT portion is posted to the VAT output nominal account by default, but you can change this.

Note: This does not affect the VAT Return. If you want to reclaim the VAT from the HMRC, use the Provide for and correct customer bad debt screen.


What Sage 200 does when

You write off small amounts

  • A reverse transaction is posted to the following nominal accounts:

    • Bad Debt Write Off.

    • Debtors Control.

    • VAT Output (if VAT is included).

  • The transaction uses the same date and reference numbers as the original invoice or credit note.

  • The customer account balance is updated.

Note - information

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