Add invoices

Add invoices

The type of bill flow determines the format and method in which invoices can be added to Tipalti.

Category

Invoice processing Flow

Tipalti bills and self-billing Flows
Supported file format
  • CSV (payers only)
  • PDF and images (JPEG, JPG, BMP, PNG, TIFF, TIF)

  • E-invoices*

 CSV (payers only)
Payers can add invoices
  • Via the Tipalti Hub
  • Via email
  • Via the payer API
  • Via the Tipalti Hub
  • Via the payer API
Payees can add invoices
  • Via the Supplier Hub
  • Via email
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* If your entity is in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, or BeNeLux, you can use e-invoicing in Tipalti

Methods

Select a method below to learn how to use that method to add invoices to Tipalti.

In the Tipalti Hub, you can upload invoices (CSV, PDF, image), or you can create a bill without an invoice.

Required user roles View Bills and Process Bills

Only one invoice file can be uploaded at a time. Select your use case below (single-entityAn entity can be a subsidiary, division, business unit, brand, etc. of your organization. Entities can have similar or different AP processes and workflows. or multi-entity) to learn how to upload invoices to the Tipalti Hub.

  1. From any screen on the "Bills" tab, click "+ Add bill", then select "Upload invoice(s)".

  2. Select the relevant file and click "Open". The invoice displays on "Invoice review" screen.

    3. If you have AI Smart ScanAI Smart Scan is a tool that reads scanned invoice images or PDFs and extracts the details, which are used to populate the fields on a bill. enabled, the bill goes into a "Pending scan" status and appears on the "All bills" subtab.

  1. From any screen on the "Bills" tab, click "+ Add bill", then select "Upload invoice PDF or image".

  2. In the "Upload Invoice" dialog, select an entity to link to the payee invoice.

  3. Click "Browse" to find and select the invoice for upload.

  4. Click "Confirm". The invoice now appears as a bill line on the "Pending review" subtab.

    5. If you have AIArtificial Intelligence Smart Scan enabled, the bill goes into a "Pending scan" status and appears on the "All bills" subtab.

Only one CSV file can be uploaded at a time. Click here for a sample CSV file that you can modify before upload. Select your use case below (single-entity or multi-entity) to learn how to upload invoices to the Tipalti Hub.

  1. From any screen on the "Bills" tab, click "+ Add bill", then select "Upload invoice(s)".

  2. Select the relevant file and click "Open".
    • If the file passes all validations, then the upload completes without errors, as you see below.

    • If the file has warnings, a yellow exclamation mark displays beside the file name and a results dialog explains what the warning is. Warnings do not prevent you from submitting the file. You can click "Submit" to ignore the warnings and upload the file, or you can click "Cancel upload". You can also click CSV icon to export the results in CSV format.

    • If the file fails to upload, a red "x" displays beside the file name. Click View icon to the right of the file name to view the errors. Files with errors cannot be submitted. You need to fix the errors and upload the file again.

    • CSV file validations

    • When you upload a CSV file, it is validated at two levels.

    • File level: If files do not pass the following checks, the upload fails.
      • The file is checked to see if it can be uploaded (e.g., correct format, no file corruption, etc.)
      • The number of lines in the CSV file is checked to ensure the allowed maximum has not been exceeded.
      • The payer's bill flow type is checked to ensure the payer is allowed to upload a CSV file.
      • The format of the CSV file is checked to ensure it was prepared properly (e.g., all mandatory fields are included, all fields are supported, no duplicate fields, etc.)
    • Invoice line level
      1. Warnings: If files do not pass the following checks, a warning occurs.
      2. Errors: If files do not pass the following checks, an error occurs.
        •  The status of payees (i.e., active, suspended, blocked, closed) is checked to ensure they are allowed to receive invoices.
        •  BillRefCode or InvoiceRefCode is unique (i.e., the bill does not already exist in the system).
        •  The value is common across all lines of the same bill (where required).
        •  The GL account exists in the system.
        •  Custom field values are supported when the custom field type is "List of values" (i.e., the list of values has been defined in the system).
  1. From any screen on the "Bills" tab, click "+ Add bill", then select "Upload invoices using CSV".

  2. Select the relevant file and click "Open".
    • If the file passes all validations, then the upload completes without errors, as you see below.

    • If the file has warnings, a yellow exclamation mark displays beside the file name and a results dialog explains what the warning is. Warnings do not prevent you from submitting the file. You can click "Submit" to ignore the warnings and upload the file, or you can click "Cancel upload". You can also click CSV icon to export the results in CSV format.

    • If the file fails to upload, a red "x" displays beside the file name. Click View icon to the right of the file name to view the errors. Files with errors cannot be submitted. You need to fix the errors and upload the file again.

    • CSV file validations

    • When you upload a CSV file, it is validated at two levels.

    • File level: If files do not pass the following checks, the upload fails.
      • The file is checked to see if it can be uploaded (e.g., correct format, no file corruption, etc.)
      • The number of lines in the CSV file is checked to ensure the allowed maximum has not been exceeded.
      • The payer's bill flow type is checked to ensure the payer is allowed to upload a CSV file.
      • The format of the CSV file is checked to ensure it was prepared properly (e.g., all mandatory fields are included, all fields are supported, no duplicate fields, etc.)
    • Invoice line level
      1. Warnings: If files do not pass the following checks, a warning occurs.
        • The GL account exists in the system (when the GL account is optional). If not, submitting the invoice will create a bill without an associated GL account.
        • The "Quantity × Unit Price" can be calculated (i.e., both "Quantity" and "Unit" fields have assigned values; if neither field has values, this validation is skipped).
        • The bill approvers are defined in the system. If not, submitting the invoice will create a bill without these approvers.
      2. Errors: If files do not pass the following checks, an error occurs.
        •  The status of payees (i.e., active, suspended, blocked, closed) is checked to ensure they are allowed to receive invoices.
        •  BillRefCode or InvoiceRefCode is unique (i.e., the bill does not already exist in the system).
        •  The value is common across all lines of the same bill (where required).
        •  The GL account exists in the system.
        •  Custom field values are supported when the custom field type is "List of values" (i.e., the list of values has been defined in the system).
  1. From any screen on the "Bills" tab, click "+ Add bill", then select "Create a bill without an invoice".
  2. Refer to the Bill details and Bill lines tables while completing the bill.
  3. Refer to Post-review of bill to complete this process.

The Tipalti bills flow does not support "create a bill without an invoice".

Both you and your payees can submit invoices via email. Each email may include multiple invoices. Once the email has been sent, the email sender receives a confirmation email, which includes the invoice submission date and time, and a list of the invoices submitted. If submission is unsuccessful, the email sender is informed of the reason for failure (e.g., too large an invoice file size, invalid file format, etc.).

You can collect invoices and add the invoices to the Tipalti Hub or Tipalti can collect invoices for you and add the invoices to the Tipalti Hub (see Define email account for collecting invoices). You may also need to change firewall settings to allow Tipalti to pull emails from the server.

Bill attachments are automatically added in the Comments and files section of the bill as an EML file. To open the file, you must have a local mail client installed and connected to your main mailbox. Contact the Tipalti team if you need help setting this up.
Comment and files section

If you have multiple entities, there are 2 types of email collection accounts that you can use.

  • General email account (optional):
    • Tipalti does not assign an entity to invoices sent to the general email account. Note that an entity can still be assigned during AI Smart Scan (based on smart default logic) or by the user during the review process.
    • Users with the "All" entities permission can view/ manage bills sent to this email.
  • Entity email account (optional):
    • The entity for the email account is assigned to invoices received by that account.
    • Users with the "All" entities permission or the specific entity permission for the account can view/ manage bills sent to this email.

Payees can submit invoices via the Supplier Hub. Only one invoice file can be uploaded at a time from the "Submit an Invoice" tab. A confirmation message informs the payee if file upload was successful or not; if unsuccessful, the reason is indicated (e.g., too large an invoice file size, invalid file format, etc.).

On the "Submit an Invoice" tab, there is also the option to submit invoices via email. The payee has to click the email address that displays for an email window to open with the subject line "New bills submission". Submission then proceeds as described above in Via email.

Payees can track invoice status on the "Invoice History" tab of the Supplier Hub (for further information, see Invoice and payment history).

To add invoices to Tipalti via Tipalti's CreateOrUpdateInvoices API function, click the links provided for further information. If using the APIs, also refer to the APIs section of this documentation.