Navigating client payments

SimplePractice's billing features let you record payments, apply them to invoices, and review client billing details.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• Adding a client payment
• Applying partial payments
• Billing cash-only clients
• Deleting and editing client payments

Adding a client payment

You can add client payments from the Calendar, an unpaid invoice, or a client’s billing summary.

To add a payment from the Calendar homepage:

1. Navigate to your Calendar
2. Open the appointment you’d like to add a payment to
3. Click Add Payment in the appointment flyout

Note: If the appointment has an uninvoiced amount, click Create Invoice & Add Payment.

To add a payment from an unpaid invoice:

1. Open the unpaid invoice

To add a payment from a client’s billing summary:

1. Navigate to the client’s profile
2. Click Add Payment

Next, you’ll select which invoice(s) the payment will be applied to. If you'd like to add a partial payment, see Applying partial payments.

To select the invoices:

1. Check the boxes next to the invoice numbers

Note: If you’d like to add a payment that isn’t attached to an invoice, you can deselect all invoices and enter a payment amount.

If the client still has a balance after applying the credit, choose a payment method to cover the remaining amount.

Tip: If you only want to apply the credit to an invoice and don’t want to select an additional payment method, you can adjust the Amount to match the amount of credit being applied.

Now, you’ll select a payment method. There are multiple types of payment methods you can record in SimplePractice, including:

• Online Card: Charge a client’s credit, debit, or FSA/HSA card using our integrated Online Payments feature
• External Card: Record a client credit card payment made using a third-party credit card processor
• Cash
• Check

When adding a client's first payment, no payment method will be selected and the one you choose will be their default method for future payments.

To charge a client’s credit, debit, or FSA/HSA card using our integrated online payments processor:

1. Select Online card on file

2. If you’d like to charge a different card than the default, click Change
3. To add a new card, click +New online card

To add a payment that’s not an online card, choose Cash, Check or External card when selecting a payment method.

Note: Payments will only be processed through SimplePractice if you select the Online card on file option. You can also record a client’s payment as Cash, Check or External card, but these forms of payment will need to be collected outside of SimplePractice.

To finish adding the client payment:

1. Review the Summary and confirm the transaction

Note: If the payment amount is lower than the invoiced amount, you won’t be able to confirm it. If the payment amount is higher than the invoiced amount, a credit will be added to the client’s account.

Adding partial payments

With updates to our billing features, you can now apply partial payments to new invoices. To add a partial payment:

1. Navigate to the client’s profile
2. Click Add Payment
3. Adjust the Amount field

4. Confirm the payment method
5. Review the Summary
6. Confirm the transaction

The invoice will show the amount paid and the remaining balance.

Note: Partially paid invoices won't be marked Paid.

To add a partial payment to a client account with a large balance, follow the steps in this video:

Note: Invoices can't have line items added or removed if a partial payment is added. If you need to add or remove an item from an invoice, and a partial payment is already added, delete and recreate the invoice and then allocate the payment  to the newly created invoice.

Billing cash-only clients

If you're not currently accepting insurance or have a cash pay client, you can select Self-pay as a client's billing type when you create their profile.

You can also update an existing client’s billing type to Self-Pay. To do this:

1. Navigate to the client's profile
2. Click Edit
3. Select the Billing and Insurance tab
4. Choose Self-pay as the client’s billing type

5. Scroll down and click Save Client

Deleting and editing client payments

If you added a Cash, Check, or External card payment in error, or need to change the amount, you can delete the original payment from the client record.

Note: Online card payments can’t be deleted or edited. Instead, you can refund the client.

To delete a Cash, Check, or External card payment:

1. Navigate to the client’s Billing page
2. Use the filters to narrow the date range and sort by Transactions by client to locate the payment

3. Find the payment and click View

4. Click the trash can icon on the Payment details page

5. Click Delete payment

You also have the option to edit the payment date or payment method of a Cash, Check, and External card payment, if it isn’t applied to an invoice. If a payment has already been applied to an invoice, you’ll need to delete and recreate the payment, or mark it as refunded.

To edit a Cash, Check, or External card payment:

1. Navigate to the client’s Billing page
2. Use the filters to narrow the date range and sort by Unallocated to locate the payment

3. Find the payment and click View

4. Click Edit on the Payment details page

5. Make your changes and click Save