Billing App
Copilot Billing App
Overview 
The Billing App makes it easy to create invoices and subscriptions for your clients and gives your clients a streamlined way to pay, track invoices, and manage payment methods.
App setup
Payout account
If you plan to use the Billing App, you need to first connect a payout account. This lets us send money to you when clients pay you. In all transactions, Copilot acts as the merchant which means that money first flows to us, and then we immediately send it out to you. You can connect a payout account on the Settings > Payout account page.
Allow payment via credit card
Turn this on if you want your clients to be able to select credit cards as their payment method. Note that this is a default setting and you can override it when creating an invoice or subscription.
Allow payment via ACH
Turn this on if you want your clients to be able to select ACH as their payment method. ACH is only supported for USD. For other currencies this preference is ignored. Note that this is a default setting and you can override it when creating an invoice or subscription.
Absorb transaction fees
Turn this on if you want to absorb payment processing fees. Note that this is a default setting and you can overwrite it when creating an invoice or subscription.
Default memo
This will pre-fill the memo field when you create a new invoice or subscription.
Invoicing
Using the Invoices page
On the Billing > Invoices page you can see the status and any other associated information for all invoices. You can create a new invoice by clicking + New invoice in the top-right of the Invoices page. You can export invoices by clicking on Export in the top-right of the Invoices page.
Invoice templates
When you click on the dropdown to the right of + New invoice, you’ll see a menu where you can select existing invoice templates and an option to create new ones. Invoice templates are useful if you find yourself creating invoices with the same information over and over.
Invoice statuses
Status | Definition |
|---|---|
Open | The invoice was created but payment hasn’t been made. |
Paid | The invoice has been paid. |
Void | The invoice has been voided. |
Create a new invoice
Follow these steps to create an invoice. At any time toggle the Preview button to see how this invoice will appear to clients. You can preview the email notification, checkout page, and invoice PDF.
Navigate to Billing > Invoices on the sidebar and click on + New invoice.
Select an individual client or company. If you select a company, any client associated with the company can view and set up the subscription.
Add one or more line items, each with a price and quantity.
Optionally add taxes.
Specify if you want to auto-charge or notify the client to pay manually.
If you select Automatically Charge Payment Method**,** you must add a payment method for the client if there isn’t one on file yet.
If you select Notify Client to Pay Manually, the client will receive an email notification that notifies them about the invoice. If you select this option, you also have to set a due date.
Optionally add a memo.
Optionally add attachments.
In the Advanced settings section, you can:
Specify if you want to allow credit card payments and/or ACH payments.
Specify if you or your client pays for payment processing fees
Subscriptions
Using the Subscriptions page
On the Billing > Subscriptions page you can see all subscriptions you have, their status, and any other associated information. You can create a new subscription by clicking on New. You can export invoices by clicking on Export.
Note that since subscriptions create invoices, you can see invoices that were created by a subscription on the invoices page.
Subscription templates
When you click on New you’ll see an area for existing subscription templates and an option to create new ones. Subscription templates are great if you find yourself creating subscriptions with the same information over and over.
Subscription statuses
Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Active | The subscription is active. |
Canceled | The subscription was canceled. |
Past due | The most recent invoice is past due. |
Creating a new subscription
Follow these steps to create a subscription. At any time toggle the Preview button to see how this subscription will show to clients. You can preview the email notification, checkout page, and invoice PDF.
Navigate to Billing > Subscriptions on the sidebar and click on + New subscription.
Select an individual client or company. If you select a company, any client associated with the company can view and pay the invoice.
Add one or more line items, each with a price and quantity.
Set the billing period, start date, and end date.
Optionally add taxes.
Specify if you want to auto-charge or notify the client to pay manually.
If you select Automatically Charge Payment Method**,** an invoice will attempt to be auto-charged each billing period. You can add a payment method when creating the subscription and if you don’t the client will be prompted to add a payment method for their first invoice.
If you select Notify Client to Pay Manually, the client will receive an email notification that notifies them about each invoice. If you select this option, you also have to set a due date.
Optionally add a memo.
Optionally add attachments.
In the Advanced settings section, you can:
Specify if you want to allow credit card payments and/or ACH payments.
Specify if you or your client pays for payment processing fees.
Client experience
Email notifications
Clients will automatically receive email notifications when a new invoice is due for payment or when there is a new subscription request. Email notifications will contain links to checkout in your portal.
Portal notifications
When invoices are open, clients will see a numbered notification on their sidebar beside Billing that corresponds to the number of open invoices.
Checkout
Clients can check out directly from your portal on desktop and mobile. They will have the option to add a new payment method or select an existing payment method.
Client payment methods
Adding a payment method on behalf of a client
You can add a payment method for a client as long as it is a credit card. ACH payments are primarily configured by the client themselves, due to the fact that they must log in with their online bank credentials in Plaid or verify their micro-deposits in their bank account from Stripe.
There are two places in the product where adding payment methods is possible:
Client Details (Existing Clients):
From the Clients page, click on the client you wish to add the payment method for and their details will appear to the right.
Next, expand Payment Information. If there are no payment methods added for the client, you will see the option to add a new payment method. If they already have a payment method connected, you will see an Edit button.
Clicking the Edit button will display the current payment methods for the client, as well as an option to add a payment method.
Clicking Add a new payment method will prompt you to select the payment method type.
Select Connect a credit card.
Enter the client’s credit card details when prompted and click Save. The payment method has now been added to the client’s account.
Note: If you are adding an additional payment method, please make sure Set as primary payment method is checked or unchecked based on your preference.
Creating an Invoice or Subscription:
When creating an invoice or subscription, you have the option to automatically charge a payment method. If there are no payment methods added for the client, you will see the option to add a new payment method.If they already have a payment method connected, you will see an Edit button.
Clicking the Edit button will display the current payment methods for the client, as well as an option to add a payment method.
Clicking Add a new payment method will prompt you to select the payment method type.
Select Connect a credit card.
Enter the client’s credit card details when prompted and click Save. The payment method has now been added to the client’s account.
Note: If you are adding an additional payment method, please make sure Set as primary payment method is checked or unchecked based on your preference. Adding a payment method for a client that has not accepted their invitation is not supported.
ACH Payments
When a client goes to pay their invoice or add a payment method in their Settings, they will have the option to connect a bank account for ACH payments in addition to adding a credit card.
There are 2 ways for you clients to connect a bank account to use for ACH payments:
Connect a bank using Plaid (Recommended)
Plaid is the simplest way to connect a bank account. Plaid will accept the client's credentials they use to log into their online bank account and verify the connected account immediately.
Connect a bank manually
If a client's bank does not support Plaid or they would rather verify their account manually, they will need to enter their name, account number, and routing number:
Once they've entered their information, they will be taken to their Settings > Payment methods page. This is where they will go to verify their account using microdeposit amounts sent from Stripe. It will take 1-2 business days for the microdeposits to appear on the client's statement.
The microdeposits will have __ACCTVERIFY__ in the statement descriptor.
Once they've clicked Verify they will be shown the above pop-up. Stripe will deposit 2 amounts less than $1 USD and the client will need to enter the exact amount of the microdeposits.
Note: It is important that your clients are aware that a third transaction will appear as a withdrawal for the total amount of the microdeposits. For the example below, the client would enter $0.05 and $0.03 in the amounts inputs of the Verify account pop-up. They do not need to enter the negative (withdrawal) amount.
Clients will have a maximum of 3 attempts for this verification. If you client exceeds the maximum number of attempts, please contact support.
Frequently Asked Questions
When a client pays an invoice, funds flow from the client to Copilot, and then from Copilot to your connected payout account. If a payment is disputed, the transfer from Copilot to your payout account is reversed.
If the dispute is won, the transfer reversal will be voided and the funds returned to your connected payout account.
If the dispute is lost, the funds will not be returned since otherwise we're effectively absorbing the cost of the dispute.
If Copilot receives notice that a client has disputed a transaction, we will reach out to you and ask for any evidence that will help us counter the dispute and get your funds back to you as soon as possible.
Stripe requires detailed evidence for countering a dispute. We'll ask you to provide some of this evidence depending upon the dispute category.
If your brand or DBA name differs from your legal business name used for invoices, you can set your legal business name in Settings > General.
The QBO integration is a 1-way sync from Copilot Dashboard to your QBO account. Once an invoice is in an Open state, a matching invoice and customer (if the customer doesn't yet exist) is created in your QBO account.
If the customer already exists in your QBO account, the invoice sent to the client in your portal will be matched to the customer in QBO.
From there, changes to the invoice and payments are tracked and sent to your QBO account.
Each line item in an invoice is associated with the default Sales service setup in your QuickBooks account.
Note: Since this is a 1-way sync, when you create an invoice in QBO, the invoice will not be automatically created in the Copilot Dashboard.
If one of your clients requests a refund for an invoice paid via Copilot, we do not have a way built into the product for you to process the refund on your own (coming soon).
However, we're more than happy to process the refund for you, please reach out to our support team. We will need the following information:
- Client's email address
- Invoice number
- Amount to be refunded
Please note that a refund can be processed only if your connected account has available funds.
Payment processing fees are different depending on your subscription plan the payment method (credit card or ACH). The fees below are inclusive of all fees and no additional fees are charged. Note that you can also choose to pass payment processing fees onto your clients.
Credit cards
- Starter: 3.5% + $0.30
- Professional: 3.2% + $0.30
- Advanced: 3.1% + $0.30
ACH
ACH payments have a transaction fee of $5 or 1% (whichever is lower) for all plans.
When you connect a payout account, you're creating a Stripe Express account to which payouts will be sent. We do not establish a 2-way connection with Stripe, which means that on Stripe you will not be able to see customers or invoices.
In other words, your portal becomes the source of truth for customers, invoices, and individual payments.
The reason we do this is because it gives us full control over the payment experience and lets us provide features that we otherwise could not. For example, we let you decide whether you want to absorb payment processing fees or pass them onto clients. This is only possible because of the setup we have in place.
At this time you cannot bring your own payment processor with you. In all transactions we internally use Stripe for payment processing and act as the merchant.
This means that when your clients pay, money first flows to us, and then we immediately send the payout to you. The payment processing fees you see advertised are inclusive of all fees, you do not pay any additional fees.
The reason we do this is because it gives us full control over the payment experience and lets us provide features that we otherwise could not. For example, we let you decide whether you want to pay payment processing fees or whether you want to pass them onto clients. This is only possible because of the setup we have in place.
As of November 16, 2023, we no longer support connecting Standard Stripe accounts for payouts. You can still connect your bank account to receive funds in Settings > Payout account.
This occurs when:
- Stripe is verifying the information that was provided, such as an ID document upload.
- Stripe is performing a watchlist check against a list of prohibited individuals and businesses.
- Stripe is reviewing the account for suspected fraudulent activity.
Stripe will automatically update your account’s status when the review finishes.
If your account is still pending review after 7 business days, please contact our support team.
The currency used for the billing App is the same as the currency of your connected bank account.
If you need to change the currency, please contact our support team. We will need to disconnect your current connected bank account. Then, you can replace it with an account using your desired currency.
You can update a client subscription by going to Billing > Subscriptions, clicking the 3 dots next to subscription, and selecting Edit.
Here you can update line items and payment methods. On the right sidebar you can also prorate changes and/or reset the billing cycle. The right sidebar provides a preview of the date and amount for the next invoice.
The amount of time it takes for money to arrive in your bank account depends on the payment method and whether this is the first payout.
If your client paid via credit card it will take 2-5 business days for money to arrive. If this is the very first payout it may take an additional 2 business days.
If your client paid via ACH it will take 5-9 business days. If this is the very first payout it may take an additional 2 business days.