> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.taskezy.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Documents and when to use which

> Quotes, proformas, sales orders, invoices, advances, credit notes, purchase orders, bills, payments, and expenses — what each one is, and the moment to reach for it.

Every deal and every purchase leaves a paper trail. Taskezy gives each step its own document so your books tell a clean story — what you offered, what you agreed, what you delivered, and what got paid. This page is the map: what each document is, and the exact moment to use it.

There are two directions. **Money in** starts with a quote and ends with a paid invoice. **Money out** starts with a purchase order and ends with a paid bill. You can ask Tia to create, find, or update any of these in plain language over WhatsApp.

## The quick chooser

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Money in — selling" icon="trending-up">
    Quote → (Sales order) → Invoice → Payment. Take a deposit with a **proforma** and **advance**. Reverse a mistake with a **credit note**.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Money out — buying" icon="trending-down">
    Purchase order → Bill → Vendor payment. Capture ad-hoc costs as **expenses** straight from a receipt.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

| If you want to…                         | Use                        | Ask Tia                                         |
| --------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Give a customer a price, not yet a bill | **Quote / estimate**       | *"quote Carpenco 85k for the villa fit-out"*    |
| Let a customer pay a deposit up front   | **Proforma** → **advance** | *"send Carpenco a proforma for a 30% deposit"*  |
| Confirm a won deal before you invoice   | **Sales order**            | *"turn the Carpenco quote into a sales order"*  |
| Bill a customer for what you delivered  | **Tax invoice**            | *"invoice Carpenco for the sales order"*        |
| Cancel or correct an invoice you sent   | **Credit note**            | *"credit invoice 1042"*                         |
| Record that a customer paid             | **Customer payment**       | *"Carpenco paid 18k on invoice 1042"*           |
| Commit to buy from a supplier           | **Purchase order**         | *"raise a PO to Plumbus for 5,000 of fittings"* |
| Record a supplier's invoice you owe     | **Bill**                   | *"log the bill from Plumbus for 4,800"*         |
| Record that you paid a supplier         | **Vendor payment**         | *"paid Plumbus 4,800 against their bill"*       |
| Capture a receipt or small cost         | **Expense**                | *forward the photo to Tia*                      |

<Note>
  Anything that changes your books — an invoice, a payment, a bill — is drafted by Tia and recorded only when you reply `confirm`. That's the [two-step on books](/how-tia-works#draft-then-confirm-the-two-step-on-books) rule.
</Note>

## Money in — the selling flow

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  Q["Quote<br/>QT-…"] --> SO["Sales order<br/>SO-…"]
  SO --> I["Tax invoice<br/>INV-…"]
  Q -.-> I
  I --> P["Payment<br/>PAY-…"]
  Q -.deposit.-> PF["Proforma<br/>PRO-…"]
  PF -.paid.-> A["Advance invoice<br/>INV-…"]
  A -.applied.-> I
  I -.reverse.-> CN["Credit note<br/>CN-…"]
```

### Quote (estimate)

**What it is:** a priced offer. Not a demand for payment and nothing lands on your revenue — it's the number you're putting in front of the customer.

**When to use it:** whenever someone asks *"how much?"*. Send it, then chase it. Ask *"which quotes are going stale?"* and Tia lists the ones that have expired or gone quiet. A quote moves through *draft → sent → accepted / declined / expired*, and once you bill it, *invoiced*.

**What's next:** when the customer says yes, convert the quote — straight to an invoice, or to a sales order first if you want a confirmation step in between.

### Proforma

**What it is:** a quote dressed up to collect money against — the document you send when a customer needs something to pay a deposit on, before any goods or work have changed hands. It looks like an invoice but it isn't a tax invoice, so it doesn't hit your books as revenue.

**When to use it:** you want a deposit before you start. Send a proforma, attach a payment link, and when the customer pays, Tia turns the receipt into an **advance** (below).

<Tip>
  Use a **proforma** to *request* a deposit; the **advance invoice** is what records the money once it actually arrives.
</Tip>

### Advance / retainer invoice

**What it is:** the invoice that records money taken before delivery — a deposit or a retainer. Because you've received cash, this is a real accounting document (unlike the proforma that requested it).

**When to use it:** it's usually created for you — when a deposit against a proforma is paid, Tia records the advance automatically. You can also record one directly: *"record a 20k advance from Carpenco"*. Later, when you raise the final invoice for the full job, the advance is **applied** to it — the final invoice shows the deposit already paid and only bills the balance.

### Sales order

**What it is:** the confirmed, agreed version of a deal — after the quote is accepted but before (or as) you deliver and invoice. It's the internal "yes, this is happening" record.

**When to use it:** it's optional. Reach for it when there's a gap between winning the deal and billing it — you're fulfilling over time, delivering in stages, or you just want a confirmed order on the books before the invoice. Small, bill-on-the-spot jobs can skip it and go quote → invoice.

**What's next:** convert the sales order to an invoice when you're ready to bill. Anything carried on the order — including which project it belongs to — flows through to the invoice, so job costing stays intact.

### Tax invoice

**What it is:** the bill you send the customer, and the document that records revenue and any tax you charge. This is the real financial record — the thing your customer pays against.

**When to use it:** when you've delivered (or reached a billing milestone) and it's time to get paid. Create it from a quote, from a sales order, or from scratch: *"invoice Carpenco 85k for the JBR fit-out"*. It moves through *draft → sent → partial → paid*, and flags *overdue* on its own so it surfaces in your [morning brief](/personal-assistant#the-morning-brief).

### Credit note

**What it is:** the reverse of an invoice — it cancels or reduces one you already issued, backing out the amount and any tax.

**When to use it:** you over-billed, the customer returned something, or you need to void an invoice that's already gone out. *"credit invoice 1042"* mirrors the original so the numbers unwind cleanly. A fully-credited invoice is marked *credited* rather than silently deleted, so the history stays honest.

### Customer payment

**What it is:** the record that money came in against an invoice.

**When to use it:** every time a customer pays. *"Carpenco paid 18k on invoice 1042"* applies it and updates the balance; one payment can be split across several invoices. If a customer pays online through a payment link, Tia records the payment for you.

## Money out — the buying flow

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart LR
  PO["Purchase order<br/>PO-…"] --> B["Bill<br/>BILL-…"]
  B --> VP["Vendor payment"]
  R["Receipt / small cost"] --> E["Expense<br/>EXP-…"]
```

### Purchase order

**What it is:** your commitment to buy — sent to a supplier before the goods or the bill arrive. It puts the obligation on your books early, so nothing is a surprise later.

**When to use it:** you're ordering ahead — stock, materials, a subcontractor. *"raise a PO to Plumbus for 5,000 of pipe fittings"* creates a numbered order you can track from *draft → sent → billed*. One purchase order can be billed across several bills as deliveries come in.

### Bill

**What it is:** a supplier's invoice **to you** — money you owe. It's the payables mirror of your own tax invoice.

**When to use it:** when a formal invoice arrives from a vendor and you want it tracked as something owed, with a due date and a running balance. Bills often flow in from your [connected accounting system](/connect-zoho-books), and can link back to the purchase order they fulfil. Ask *"what bills are outstanding?"* to see everything due.

<Note>
  A **bill** is a formal invoice from a supplier that sits in your payables until it's paid. An **expense** (below) is a quick cost capture from a receipt. Use a bill when you're tracking a debt over time; use an expense for a cost that's already settled or too small to formalise.
</Note>

### Vendor payment

**What it is:** the record that you paid a supplier — the money-out counterpart of a customer payment.

**When to use it:** when you settle a bill. *"paid Plumbus 4,800 against their bill"* logs it and clears the balance. One payment can cover several bills.

### Expense

**What it is:** a cost captured straight from a receipt, a supplier PDF, or a voice note — with the vendor, amount, tax, and category read off automatically. It's the fastest way to keep your books current.

**When to use it:** for the everyday spend that doesn't warrant a formal bill — fuel, materials bought on the spot, a supplier receipt from a site visit. Forward it to Tia, check the draft, reply `confirm`. Expenses go through *pending → confirmed → posted*, and can be tagged to a project so job costs stay accurate. Full detail lives on the [Finance](/finance#expense-capture) page.

## How they connect at a glance

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Quote vs proforma vs invoice">
    All three can look similar, but they play different roles. A **quote** offers a price and commits nothing. A **proforma** is a quote formatted to collect a deposit against — still not a financial record. A **tax invoice** is the real bill that records revenue and gets paid. Rough rule: quote to *win* the deal, proforma to *collect a deposit*, invoice to *get paid*.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Proforma vs advance">
    A **proforma** *requests* a deposit. An **advance invoice** *records* that deposit once the money has actually arrived, and is later applied against the final invoice so you don't double-bill. One asks; the other books.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need a sales order?">
    Only when there's a meaningful gap between winning a deal and billing it — staged delivery, fulfilment over time, or a formal order confirmation your customer expects. Otherwise go straight from quote to invoice.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Purchase order vs bill vs expense">
    A **purchase order** is what you commit to buy, *before* anything arrives. A **bill** is the supplier's invoice you owe, tracked until paid. An **expense** is a quick receipt capture for a cost that needs no formal invoice. PO → bill → paid is the formal path; receipt → expense is the fast path.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Reference numbers

Every document Taskezy issues gets a clean, sequential reference so you and your team can point to the exact one. References reset each year.

| Document                    | Reference        | Example          |
| --------------------------- | ---------------- | ---------------- |
| Quote / estimate            | `QT-YYYY-NNNN`   | `QT-2026-0042`   |
| Proforma                    | `PRO-YYYY-NNNN`  | `PRO-2026-0007`  |
| Sales order                 | `SO-YYYY-NNNN`   | `SO-2026-0015`   |
| Tax invoice (incl. advance) | `INV-YYYY-NNNN`  | `INV-2026-0231`  |
| Credit note                 | `CN-YYYY-NNNN`   | `CN-2026-0004`   |
| Customer payment            | `PAY-YYYY-NNNN`  | `PAY-2026-0198`  |
| Purchase order              | `PO-YYYY-NNNN`   | `PO-2026-0056`   |
| Bill                        | `BILL-YYYY-NNNN` | `BILL-2026-0088` |
| Expense                     | `EXP-YYYY-NNNN`  | `EXP-2026-0473`  |

<Tip>
  You can also keep the other side's own number — a supplier's invoice number on a bill, or your customer's PO on a sales order — alongside the Taskezy reference, so both sets of records line up.
</Tip>

## What's next

* [Sales](/sales) — capture leads, send quotes, and win deals.
* [Finance](/finance) — expenses, receivables, payables, and daily cash.
* [Connect Zoho Books](/connect-zoho-books) — keep these documents in step with your accounting system.