# Bill from a work record > Link invoices and bills to a work record, set its contract total, split a bill across records, and what the record's figures show. Source: https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/billing-from-a-record Updated: 2026-10-26 · Applies to: Web · Section: Jobs A work record collects what you bill for one piece of work. It also collects the bills you owe for it. The console calls work records Jobs. Your workspace may use a different word for its work; the screens are the same. A law firm calls them Matters; an insurance agency, Policies. Every invoice made from a record is a normal draft. You review it and send it as usual. ## The Billing tab ![The Billing tab of a record, with its invoices.](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/img/record-billing.png) Open a record and select the **Billing** tab. It has two parts: **Receivables**, the invoices you send for the record, and your payables, the bills you owe for it. The payables part takes your industry's label, such as **Vendor bills**. **Receivables** lists the record's invoices with their number, status, issue date, due date, total and amount due. A draft shows as **Draft**. A void invoice stays in the list but is never counted. ## Make a draft from a record 1. Open the record's **Billing** tab. 2. In **Invoices**, select **New invoice**. The draft opens. It takes the record's client, business and currency, and it is linked to the record. It starts with no lines. Add them, review the draft and send it from **Invoices** as usual. Nothing is sent from the record. - **New invoice** shows only on an active record, and only to someone who can edit the record. A draft record says **Activate this call to invoice it**, with your own word for a record. - A record with no client cannot make an invoice. Add the client to the record first. - A cancelled record cannot make an invoice. A type billed in stages also offers **Deposit draft**, **Progress draft** and **Release retainage** here. See [Jobs: deposits, progress billing and retainage](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/deposits-progress-and-retainage.md). A connected assistant or the API can also make a draft from a record. The draft can then take the record's unbilled time, expenses and trips as its lines. Each entry is marked billed with the draft, so it is not billed twice. An invoice linked to a record shows "Part of job" and the record's title, with a link to the record. ## Find records ready to invoice On the Jobs list, the **Ready to invoice** view shows active and completed records that have no invoice yet. In the **All** view, the **Billing** filter narrows the list to **Not invoiced**, **Invoiced**, **Partly paid**, **Paid** or **Overdue**. It works with the status filter only. Clear the type, assignee or client filter to use it. It is not offered while you search. ## When a linked invoice can be sent The record must be active or completed. A draft record refuses the send until you activate it. A cancelled record refuses the send. ## Which answers reach the invoice ![The Billing tab of the record type editor, with the answers copied to the invoice.](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/img/type-editor-billing.png) Nothing is copied from a record to an invoice unless the record type says so. Each type lists its mappings: this answer fills that invoice field. A type holds at most 30 mappings. - **Internal answers never reach the customer.** An answer marked internal is never copied to a field your customer sees. BillingMart refuses the draft instead. - **What you type wins.** A field you filled yourself keeps your value. The mappings fill the rest. - **A refresh copies them again.** Refreshing a draft from its record writes the mapped fields again. Only a draft can be refreshed. Example: in the insurance agency pack, the effective date is visible to the client. The policy number and the gross premium are internal, so they stay off the invoice. ## Time and expenses that belong to a record When you bill a client's unbilled work from **Bill unbilled**, entries that belong to a record are left out. The screen says how many, so you bill them from the record instead. See [Bill time and expenses](https://support.billingmart.com/time-and-expenses/bill-time-and-expenses.md). ## Estimated value and contract total On the record's **Details** tab, choose **Edit** on the **Basics** card to set two figures: - **Estimated value.** A budget for your own reference. It shows as "Not set" when empty. Billing never uses it. - **Contract total.** The agreed price. Deposit and progress invoices are worked out from it. The contract total can be changed but not cleared. It is locked once a deposit or progress invoice has been raised against it, until that invoice is void. Deposits, progress invoices and retainage work as described in [Jobs: deposits, progress billing and retainage](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/deposits-progress-and-retainage.md). Each type can name these steps in its own words. A law firm's types call a deposit an Advance and a progress invoice a Phase invoice. Not every record needs staged billing. A towing call or a consultation is usually one invoice. ## Split a bill across records You allocate a bill on the bill's own page, in the **Allocate to** card. A bill can belong to one record or be split across several. The records offered are the active and completed ones in the bill's business. 1. Pick a record and enter the amount that belongs to it. 2. Add a row for each other record that shares the bill. The amounts can add up to less than the bill. The rest shows as **Unallocated**. They can never add up to more. Anyone who can edit the bill can change the split while the bill is a draft. Once the bill is open, only an owner or admin can move it, with **Reallocate…**. They give a reason and confirm a recent sign-in. Reallocating changes only which record carries the amount. The bill's total, status and payments stay the same. A payment on a split bill is shared across its records in proportion to each share. A draft bill counts toward no figure. A void bill counts toward no record. Recording a bill payment moves no money. See [Vendor bills](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/vendor-bills.md). ## The record's figures ![The Overview of a record, with its figures.](https://support.billingmart.com/jobs/img/record-overview.png) The record's **Overview** shows the estimated value, the contract total, **Invoiced**, **Balance due** and **Costs**. Costs are the bills allocated to the record plus its expenses. A figure with nothing behind it shows a dash, not zero. So does a figure that could not be read. The estimated value and the contract total show "Not set" when empty. A connected assistant or the API can read the same figures. Receivables and payables are never netted. A record holds no ledger of its own. ## The payables label is only a label Each industry names payables in its own words: | Pack | Payables label | | --- | --- | | Contractor | Vendor bills | | Insurance agency | Premium dues | | Insurance MGA | Carrier remittances | | Insurance carrier | Commissions payable | | Most others | Costs & bills | Renaming the label changes no amount, status, category or ledger entry. It only changes the heading you see.