How does invoicing hours work in e-Boekhouden?
An invoice in e-Boekhouden belongs to a relation (the client) and consists of lines. Each line has a description, a quantity with a unit, a price, a VAT code and a ledger account. Layout and fixed details come from an invoice template; numbering and payment term from your administration.
Because e-Boekhouden is a bookkeeping package, an invoice there is immediately a booking: revenue and VAT land on the accounts you choose per line. That makes checking up front more important than in a package where you first edit a draft at your leisure.
Hours are ordinary lines with the unit hour. The work is in the step before: collecting the right hours, knowing they've been checked and that you haven't invoiced them already.
What do you set up before the first invoice?
Set this base once in e-Boekhouden. If something is missing, an integration can't create the invoice.
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| Relations with billing address | Every invoice belongs to a relation. |
| Revenue ledger accounts | For example separate accounts for advice and delivery. |
| VAT codes | High (21%), low (9%) or no VAT, depending on the client. |
| Invoice template | Your logo, company details, IBAN and payment term. |
| The unit ‘uur’ (hour) | So lines show as hours on the invoice. |
Because the invoice is final in e-Boekhouden straight away, check the lines before you have it created, not after.
Step by step: hours from Half5 into e-Boekhouden
With e-Boekhouden the route differs from Moneybird, WeFact or Exact Online. The draft stays in Half5; e-Boekhouden only receives the invoice once it's final.
- Connect e-Boekhouden under Integrations. You create an API token in e-Boekhouden with the name and end date Half5 shows, and paste the token into Half5.
- Half5 fetches your relations and ledger accounts. New clients you create in Half5 are added to e-Boekhouden as relations.
- Pick the ledger account invoices are booked to by default on the connection, and give activities that belong elsewhere their own ‘Ledger account’. Mark each activity ‘Billable’ or ‘Non-billable’.
- Your team logs hours. With ‘Approve hours before invoicing’ on, only approved hours are included.
- Open the report, filter by period or client and choose ‘Create draft invoices from report’. Half5 makes one draft per client. That draft lives only in Half5, under Invoicing.
- Review and edit the draft in Half5: lines, descriptions, VAT.
- Choose ‘Finalize’. Half5 creates the invoice in e-Boekhouden with your invoice template and the ledger account and VAT code per line, and takes over the invoice number.
- Send the invoice from e-Boekhouden or your own way. Half5 doesn't e-mail e-Boekhouden invoices.
What syncs and what doesn't?
The integration is deliberately simple: relations and ledger accounts stay aligned, and a final invoice goes from Half5 to e-Boekhouden once.
- Rides and leave never become invoice lines.
- Hours on an activity marked ‘Non-billable’ stay off the invoice.
- Changes you make in e-Boekhouden after creation don't flow back to Half5.
| Data | Syncs? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Relations | Yes | Relations appear in Half5; new clients in Half5 go to e-Boekhouden. |
| Ledger accounts | Yes, e-Boekhouden to Half5 | Selectable per activity, with a default account as fallback. |
| Draft invoice | No | The draft only exists in Half5. |
| Final invoice | Yes, on ‘Finalize’ | With the invoice number back in Half5. |
| VAT code | Yes | Dutch sales codes for 21%, 9% and 0%. |
| Sending by e-mail | No | You send it yourself. |
| Projects | No | The project name can still appear in the line description. |
What about VAT and foreign clients?
Half5 picks the VAT rate from your country and the client's. e-Boekhouden receives the Dutch sales codes: 21% becomes high, 9% low, 0% no VAT.
When you invoice a business client in another EU country, Half5 applies 0% with VAT reverse-charged. In e-Boekhouden that line arrives as ‘no VAT’. Check the VAT code in e-Boekhouden in that case, so your VAT return is right.
How Half5 does it
Half5 connects to e-Boekhouden with an API token and syncs relations and ledger accounts. ‘Create draft invoices from report’ makes one draft per client with the billable hours not yet invoiced (with approval on, only ‘Approved’ ones). That draft lives only in Half5: with e-Boekhouden there's no draft invoice in the package itself.
With ‘Finalize’ Half5 creates the invoice in e-Boekhouden, on the activity's ‘Ledger account’ or the default account, and takes over the invoice number. You send it yourself; Half5 doesn't e-mail e-Boekhouden invoices. More on approval in Approving hours and on the whole flow in Invoicing from hours.
Frequently asked questions
Why don't I see my draft invoice in e-Boekhouden?
That's expected: with e-Boekhouden the draft stays in Half5. The invoice only reaches e-Boekhouden when you choose ‘Finalize’ in Half5.
‘Finalize’ fails. What's usually wrong?
Usually a ledger account is missing (none on the activity and no default), the client isn't a relation in e-Boekhouden yet, or there's no invoice template. A VAT rate other than 21%, 9% or 0% can't be passed on either.
Does Half5 send the invoice to my client?
Not with e-Boekhouden. You send the invoice from e-Boekhouden or yourself, for example as a PDF by e-mail.
Which invoice template does the integration use?
The first invoice template in your e-Boekhouden administration. If you have several, check on your first invoice that the right template was used.
How do I correct an invoice that's already in e-Boekhouden?
Make the correction in e-Boekhouden, the way you would for other invoices there. Changes there don't flow back to Half5.
