Before Smoobu can create invoices for your guests, you set your sender details, tax, currency, numbering, and logo once under Invoice Settings. These settings become the template behind every guest invoice you make, so getting them right here means each invoice comes out correct. Until you fill them in, Smoobu blocks invoice creation on your bookings.
Before you start
- Have your business details ready: your billing name and address, your tax or VAT number, and a square logo image if you want one on the invoice.
Steps
- Go to Configuration > Invoice Settings.
- Set the Invoice Type to New. Legacy exists only for hosts who set up invoices in the older engine; new accounts should use New.
- Choose the Invoicing language and Currency. The invoicing language is independent of your account language and the guest's language.
- Set Apply tax and its percentage if your invoices carry a tax line, and set Invoice due in days (for example 14 for two weeks).
- Fill in Sender Information: your name, address, and tax identity. The Tax type has three states: None (no tax line at all), Tax Number (the tax line uses your tax number), or VAT ID (the tax line uses a country-prefixed VAT ID, such as DE123456789).
- Set your Payment details: the default payment method, an optional PayPal.me link, and your payment terms (free text, up to 1000 characters, for bank details or instructions).
- Add a Note if you want a footer line on every invoice (up to 1000 characters, for example a thank-you).
- Upload your logo or photo for the top of the invoice. The image must be 2 MB or smaller and square (150 x 150 px works well). If your image is rectangular, crop it to a square first. This same logo is also used on your Smoobu website, so updating it in one place updates both.
These settings apply to your whole account. There is no per-property version, so every invoice uses the same sender identity, tax rate, currency, and language. If you operate in more than one country with different tax needs, create the invoice in Smoobu and adjust the country-specific details in your accounting software.
Set your own invoice numbering
Smoobu numbers invoices automatically, starting at 1 and adding 1 for each new invoice. To use your own numbering, overwrite the Invoice Number field on the next invoice you create, and Smoobu continues the sequence from there. For example, set it to 5847 and the next invoice becomes 5848.
Smoobu reads the first number in the field to work out the next one, so the format matters:
- A plain number like
5847keeps counting up. - A number-then-year format like
42.2026keeps counting up (the next one is43.2026). Use this form when you need a year in the number. - A year-first format like
2026-42does not count up, because the year at the front is read as the sequence. - Letters or spaces inside the leading number (such as
INV-2026-001) switch automatic numbering off, and you then type each invoice number by hand.
To start your sequence at a specific number without keeping the invoice, create an invoice, set the Invoice Number to the value just below where you want to begin (for example 599 to make your next real invoice 600), click Create, then delete that invoice. Smoobu does not roll the sequence back when you delete, so the counter stays where you set it and your next invoice is 600.
Charge a different tax rate on a single invoice
The tax rate in Invoice Settings applies to every invoice. For a one-off different rate on a single invoice, open that invoice in the editor and set a different tax percentage on it directly. There is no automatic per-property tax rate, so this manual change is how you handle a single exception.
Set up a German-compliant invoice
For invoices that need to follow German invoicing rules (§14 UStG), set the Country in Sender Information to Germany. That switches on Smoobu's German invoice logic, including the mandatory fields and the correct tax-line presentation.
If you are a small business under §19 UStG (Kleinunternehmer) and issue invoices without a tax line, there is no separate preset: turn Apply tax off and leave the VAT number blank, and your invoices generate without VAT. To collect a business guest's tax details for a German invoice, set the tax code and company fields on your Online Check-in form so the guest can enter them.
This section covers a regular German paper or PDF invoice. Sending a legally transmitted electronic invoice (for example XRechnung in Germany, or the equivalents in Italy and Spain) is a separate paid feature. See How Smoobu's e-invoicing works for Germany, Spain, and Italy.
Check it worked
Create an invoice on any booking (see ) and download the PDF. Your sender details, tax line, currency, logo, and payment terms should all appear as you set them, and the invoice number should match your numbering.
Common problems
My logo won't appear or the field resets when I save
Check first that the image meets the limits: at most 2 MB, and square. Crop it to a square, keep it under the size limit, and upload it again.
The invoice date is in the wrong format
The new invoicing engine always shows dates as mm/dd/yyyy and has no setting to change it. If you need the European dd/mm/yyyy format, switch the Invoice Type back to Legacy, which takes its date format from your Smoobu account settings. Legacy is being phased out, so treat this as a temporary workaround.
My invoice numbers stopped filling in automatically
Automatic numbering only works when the number starts with a plain number. Letters or spaces in the leading part of the number (such as INV-2026-001) turn it off. To get automatic numbering back, set the next invoice number to a plain number (for example 600), and Smoobu resumes counting from there.
Related articles
Still stuck?
If these steps didn't fix it, contact the Smoobu team: open the Help menu to open a ticket or book a call slot, or use the chat bubble in the bottom-right corner. To get the fastest answer, please include:
- Your Smoobu User ID (in the profile-icon menu, top right).
- The property name or ID, if it's about one property.
- The Booking ID, if it's about one booking (Bookings, then View more).
- The channel name, if it's about channel sync (Booking.com, Airbnb, Vrbo, and so on).
- A short step-by-step: what you did, what you expected, and what happened.
- Screenshots or a short screen recording of the problem.
- Your browser and operating system, if something looks wrong on screen.
Comments
7 comments
I created an invoice and now I can process payment. However it does not show the invoice has been paid! Meaning I have to wait 2-3 days for the money to clear in the bank and only then check if the client has paid.
It does creates a BIG issue to me.
When guests requests additional services - pet fee, additional parking permits, additional guests, etc I cannot see that the guests paid. However the guests expect me to provide service for which they paid (or they said they did).
Such a simple, but VERY important function to add.
Can't agree with Jacob and Sons Relocation Ltd enough! Would be so much more helpful if there was some mechanism that automatically tracked payments. It's very manual to go in a check a box if the invoice is paid. We use Dubsado for another business and the payment tracking is automatic and very easy to identify. So important for getting out of a manual process for tracking payments.
Ditto to the above comments, would really like if we could take the reminder payment automatically somehow.
Hi there,
We recently released a new feature to collect a balance payment.
While it is not automated, the ability to collect this is now live.
Head here to read more on how to do this.
Many thanks
Erika from the Smoobu Team
Goedendag,
Hoe kan ik standaard factuurproducten/services toevoegen. Bijv schoonmaakkosten.
Zodat ik deze niet elke keer handmatig moet aanmaken en typen in de factuur. Is er een mogelijkheid om een lijst aan te maken waaruit je kan kiezen zodra je een factuur opsteld?
Hi there,
We cover this in our guide: Where can I add Additional Items / Fees for my website?
You can add this "Additional Item" in Smoobu under: Settings / Booking System.
Also you can go there directly via this link: Booking system
Kind regards,
Erika from Smoobu
Bedankt voor uw reactie. De link verwijst naar de mogelijkheid om extra diensten toe te voegen zoals late check-out of extra bed. Maar ik ben op zoek naar waar ik de standaard kosten kan invoeren. Zodat ik deze makkelijk kan toevoegen aan de facturen. Kosten zoals schoonmaakkosten, verblijfskosten, borg ect. Dit moeten geen optionele diensten zijn om bij te boeken via de gastenportal.
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