Overview

AR Prepayments lets you send a customer a secure payment link by email to collect a deposit, retainer, or prepayment directly from the Account record, before any Billing has been created. The feature is available for Stripe and Sola payment processors and does not require a payment method saved on file. When the customer pays, Accounting Seed automatically updates and posts the Cash Receipt to a dedicated Prepayment GL Account. This feature is in the Summer '26 release.

In this article:

• Prepayments Workflow
• Before You Begin
• Request a Prepayment
• Resend a Prepayment Request
• After You Send the Request
• Reconciling Prepayments

Prepayments Workflow

The workflow starts on the Account record. You click Receive Payment, fill out the Request Prepayment screen with the amount and contact details, and the system emails the customer a secure payment link. The customer clicks the link and pays. Accounting Seed then automatically updates the draft Cash Receipt, adjusting the amount, date, and accounting period to reflect the actual payment, and posts it. Once posted, you can apply the Cash Receipt to the customer's Billing using the standard apply process.

Sola and Stripe follow the same high-level steps. Here is the typical workflow:

Before You Begin

• Your org must be on the Summer '26 release or later.

• Your org must have either Sola or Stripe set up as a payment processor.

• If your Ledger does not have an active Sola or Stripe payment processor, the screen displays: "The Prepayments feature is currently available for Sola or Stripe payment processors. Please send us a product suggestion if this does not support your use-case." Click Back to return to the Account.

• Complete the setup steps in the AR Prepayments Setup article.

Request a Prepayment

1. Navigate to Accounting Home > Accounts.

2. Select a list view (any view other than Recently Viewed). Open the Account record.

3. Click Receive Payment. The Request Prepayment screen opens.

4. Review and complete the fields. Most fields default automatically (see table below).

5. (Optional) Add file attachments. Click the upload area and select your files.

6. Click Request Prepayment. The button activates only when all required fields have values.

Field	Default / Behavior	Required
Ledger	Your default Ledger; other transaction Ledgers available in the dropdown	Yes
Currency (Multi-Currency orgs only)	Ledger's currency; available currencies in the dropdown	Yes
Bank Account	Sola: Defaults from the Sola payment processor record, not editable. Stripe: Defaults from the Ledger, editable.	Yes
Unapplied Prepayment Account	Defaults from Default GL Accounts based on your ledger type (accrual or cash basis); not editable	Yes
Payment Type	Set to Electronic automatically	Yes
Payment Processor	Your default AR Payment Processor on the Ledger; other payment processors available in the dropdown when applicable	Yes
Amount	Enter the prepayment amount	Yes
Reference	Enter a reference number or description	Yes
From Address	Defaults to the org-wide email address, or the current user's Salesforce email if no org-wide address is configured	Yes
Send to Contact	Defaults to the primary Contact email on the Account	Yes
Email Subject	Auto-populates from the email template when Amount and Send to Contact are entered; editable	Yes
Email Body	Auto-populates from the email template when Amount and Send to Contact are entered; editable	Yes
CC Addresses	Defaults from Contact Relationship on the Account if configured; editable	No
CC Me	Select to copy yourself on the email	No
BCC Addresses	Editable	No
GL Variables	Default from the Account; editable. Labels display as translated field labels (for example, "Region")	No
Project / Task	Blank; enter if applicable	No

Resend a Prepayment Request

If the customer has not responded or missed the original email, resend the request from the Cash Receipt record.

1. Open the Cash Receipt for the prepayment.

2. Click Resend Prepayment Request. A read-only version of the screen opens. Only Email Subject, Email Body, CC Addresses, and BCC Addresses are editable.

3. Update the email fields as needed. Any original attachments are automatically included.

4. Click Resend Prepayment Request to send. The resent email is logged to the All Activities tab on the Cash Receipt.

After You Send the Request

If an email fails to send

If the Account's Contact has an invalid or missing email address, clicking Request Prepayment displays the warning "Your cash receipt was created, but the prepayment email failed to send. A task has been assigned to you with the next steps," and opens the new Cash Receipt record.

When this happens:

• The Cash Receipt is created, but Prepayment Pending is left unchecked.

• A high-priority task is created for the Cash Receipt owner, due the same day, with the subject "Action Required - your prepayment email failed." and this comment “The email with your prepayment request failed. Delete this Cash Receipt, correct the email address on the customer’s desired recipient, then send the prepayment request from their Account again.”.

If you don't have permission to delete a Cash Receipt or edit Contact details, ask your Salesforce administrator.

When payment is received

When the customer pays using the link in the email, the system automatically:

• Unchecks Prepayment Pending on the Cash Receipt

• Updates Reference with the payment processor's transaction ID

• Updates Amount, Convenience Fees, Receipt Date, and Accounting Period to reflect the actual payment

• Creates a Payment Activity record and links it to the Cash Receipt

• Tries to post the Cash Receipt

Sola users: The payment link sent in the email always shows the full amount due. If your customer is not sure whether they have paid, ask them to verify with you first to avoid duplicate prepayments.

Stripe users: If a Stripe customer clicks the payment link a second time after paying, they see a zero balance and cannot pay again.

When the Cash Receipt is posted, the GL transactions are as follows:

• Debit GL Account: The Merchant Account on the Sola payment processor, or the default Bank Account on the Ledger (Stripe)

• Credit GL Account: The Unapplied Prepayment Account saved on the Cash Receipt

Once the Cash Receipt is posted, you can apply it to the customer's Billing using the standard apply process.

When a payment fails

Immediate failures (for example, a declined credit card): The customer can retry using the same payment link. No other action is needed.

Delayed failures (for example, an ACH payment returned for insufficient funds): The system unchecks Prepayment Pending. Reach out to your customer to let them know of the payment failure and let them know not to use the payment site URL any more.

• If the accounting period is open: The system posts and then voids the Cash Receipt. If the system is unable to post and void the Cash Receipt, the Prepayment Pending checkbox is cleared, a Task is created for the Cash Receipt owner, and an email alert is sent notifying them that manual action is required. The Reference field is updated with: "Prepayments payment failure: [error from the Payment Activity]".
• If the accounting period is closed: The Reference field is updated with the failure details. An email alert is sent to the Payment Failure Notification Email address with instructions to either reopen the period and then post and void the Cash Receipt, or change the Receipt Date and Accounting Period to an open period and then post and void it.

Reconciling Prepayments

Sola Prepayments

Convenience Fees: If you have configured convenience fees with Sola, note that the Prepayments screen does not show these fees. When your customer clicks the link, convenience fees are charged on your Payment Site, over and above the Prepayment amount you requested, calculated based on your Sola convenience fee setup. The Convenience Fees field on the Cash Receipt is updated with this value and the total Cash Receipt Amount is also updated by the merchant download job.

Reconciling payments: Sola processes payments outside of Accounting Seed. After a prepayment is received, run the Merchant Download Automation Job to reconcile the transaction. This is the same job used for regular Sola payments.

When the job runs on a batch that includes a prepayment transaction, it:

• Creates a Bank Deposit record for the settled batch and associates the prepayment Cash Receipt

• Creates the Merchant Funds Transfer Journal Entry

• Routes the prepayment to the Unapplied Prepayment GL Account, not the Unapplied AR GL Account used for regular payments

• If Convenience Fees are enabled, the fee journal entry line debits the Unapplied Prepayment GL Account and credits your Convenience Fee GL Account

Stripe Prepayments

When the customer pays via the Stripe payment link, the Stripe Payment Link App processes the payment in real time. The Cash Receipt is automatically updated and posted, and the funds are recorded against the default Bank Account on your Ledger.

For credit card prepayments, no further action is needed after the Cash Receipt posts.

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