# Billing
## 2.1 Reading the plans
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Change plan on a product. With more than one product, choose it at the top.
**Before you start** · Nothing.
**The steps**
1. Read the band: the product, the plan you're on, how it's paid and when it renews, and how much of its limits you use, where the product reports it.
2. Read the staircase. Your plan is pinned with "is here". Each step lists what it allows; what's new on a step is marked *new*.
3. Switch Monthly and Yearly to see every price either way. Prices are before tax; the tax is said beside them.
4. Below, read what moving up to the next step changes for you.
**What the record shows** · Nothing changes by reading.
**Who is told** · Nobody.
**What can go wrong**
- *"Your subscription is complimentary."* The product isn't charging yet. You hold all of it, and you'll hear before anything is due.
- *A price struck through.* Your organisation has an agreed price for that plan, until the date shown, after which it pays the list price; or its founding price (2.15), for as long as it stays on a paid plan.
## 2.2 Paying for a plan
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Change plan → Move up to (a plan).
**Before you start** · An e-mail address on your account: Paystack sends its receipt there. A card, or a mobile-money wallet.
**The steps**
1. Choose how long: monthly or yearly. The ticket on the right changes with it.
2. Choose card or mobile money. A card renews itself; mobile money is paid a period ahead, with reminders.
3. Read the ticket: the plan and the period it covers, the price, and NHIL, GETFund and VAT each on its own line.
4. Pay at Paystack. You leave for Paystack's own page and pay there.
5. You come back to the outcome. Paid: the plan is on at once, everywhere the product opens.
**What the record shows** · The payment, with the quote it was started from, kept as quoted, and a paid period from today. A card Paystack says can be charged again
is kept for renewals: only its brand and last four digits are ever shown.
**Who is told** · The organisation's owners and billing people, by e-mail and notice: what was paid, and until when. The product hears by webhook at once. The receipt
and the tax invoice follow with plan TB's next slices.
**What can go wrong**
- *You close the page at Paystack after paying.* It still counts: Paystack tells Atrium, and Atrium also asks Paystack every ten minutes.
- *Mobile money is waiting.* Approve the prompt on your phone. The page moves on by itself; closing it doesn't lose the payment.
- *"Paystack needs an e-mail address."* Add one under How you sign in, then pay.
## 2.3 Moving up mid-period
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Change plan → Move up to (a bigger plan), while a period is paid.
**Before you start** · Nothing.
**The steps**
1. Read the bar: the days of your period used, and the days unused, with what they're worth.
2. Choose how long and how to pay, as in 2.2.
3. Read the ticket: the new plan's price, less the unused days, then the tax on what's left.
4. Pay at Paystack.
**What the record shows** · The old period ends today; the new one starts today, for a full month or year. The unused days come off before tax, so the tax is on what
you pay.
**Who is told** · As in 2.2.
**What can go wrong**
- *"A smaller plan starts when this one ends."* A cheaper plan, or the same plan for a shorter period, can't start mid-period. See 2.4.
## 2.4 Choosing a smaller plan for the next period
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Change plan → Move to (a plan) at renewal.
**Before you start** · A period paid and running.
**The steps**
1. Choose the smaller plan, or Free. It's marked "Chosen for" the day this period ends.
2. To change your mind, choose Keep (your plan) on your own step.
**What the record shows** · The choice, on what the organisation holds. Nothing changes until the period ends; the renewal (plan TB's next slice) follows it.
**Who is told** · Nobody until the renewal.
**What can go wrong**
- *Moving to Free loses nothing.* Every record stays; only what Free allows changes, at renewal.
## 2.5 When a payment doesn't go through
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · The outcome page, back from Paystack.
**Before you start** · Nothing.
**The steps**
1. *Declined:* read what Paystack said. Try again, or pay by mobile money instead.
2. *Came back without paying:* your choice is kept for a day. Pay now picks up where you left off.
**What the record shows** · The payment, declined or still waiting, and nothing else: no period, no change to what you hold. A choice left for a day is let go.
**Who is told** · Nobody.
**What can go wrong**
- *Nothing was charged.* A declined or abandoned payment never changes the plan.
## 2.6 Charged from today: choosing a plan
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing (the top says how many days are left to choose), after the e-mail "is charged for from today".
**Before you start** · The date to choose by, in the e-mail and on the band.
**The steps**
1. Until that date your organisation keeps all of the product.
2. Choose a plan and pay (2.2), or Choose Free to settle it now.
**What the record shows** · The plan paid for; or, with Free chosen, the days to choose end today.
**Who is told** · As in 2.2 when paid. The product hears either way.
**What can go wrong**
- *Nothing chosen by the date.* The organisation moves to Free the next morning, and nothing is deleted. Its owners and billing people are told.
## 2.7 Reading Billing
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing.
**Before you start** · Nothing.
**The steps**
1. Read the dark card: what your organisation pays in a year, tax included, split by product. A product still complimentary says so.
2. Read the card beside it: what's due next. The most pressing thing comes first: a product that moved to Free, a card declined, the grace days, a plan to choose, a period about to end, then simply the next payment.
3. Read the ribbon: each product's year. Today is the line with the flag. A solid bar is a period paid; a dashed one is the renewal or the next period to pay; a bell is a reminder, sent or to come; a cross is a declined card; the hatched stretch is the grace days; the dotted line is Free. When something is due, the ribbon narrows to the weeks around it.
4. Below, read the card and mobile money you pay with, and who sees your bills.
**What the record shows** · Nothing changes by reading.
**Who is told** · Nobody.
**What can go wrong**
- *You see "Your part" instead of the people.* You hold the billing role alone: you see and pay the bills, and nothing else of the organisation.
## 2.8 Paying the next period ahead
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Pay the next year (or month), from the first reminder.
**Before you start** · The reminder e-mail, 14, 7 and 1 days before the period ends. A card that renews itself needs nothing.
**The steps**
1. Choose Pay the next year. The ticket says the period it covers: from the day the current one ends.
2. Pay by mobile money (or card) at Paystack, as in 2.2.
**What the record shows** · A renewal payment and the next period, starting where this one ends. If a smaller plan was chosen for it (2.4), the plan changes on that day.
**Who is told** · The owners and billing people get the paid e-mail. The reminders stop. The product hears when the period starts.
**What can go wrong**
- *"Pay the next year" isn't there.* It's more than 14 days before the period ends. Come back after the first reminder.
- *A bigger plan is refused.* The next period is paid for already; change once it starts.
## 2.9 When a renewal isn't paid
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing, after the e-mail "wasn't renewed".
**Before you start** · The e-mail says why (the card's bank declined it, or nothing was paid by hand) and the day it moves to Free.
**The steps**
1. Read the top card: how many days of grace are left. The plan is kept, with everything, until then.
2. Choose Pay now, by card or mobile money. Paid in the grace days, the plan carries on as if nothing happened.
3. A declined card is tried once more two days later by itself; you needn't wait for it.
**What the record shows** · Each declined try. Paid: the next period, from the day the last ended. Unpaid at the end of the grace days: Free, from that morning, with the period marked lapsed.
**Who is told** · The owners and billing people, when the grace days begin and when the product moves to Free. The product hears both.
**What can go wrong**
- *It moved to Free.* Nothing is deleted. What's beyond Free's limits waits; choose Back to (the plan) to pay, and it starts today.
- *Atrium was down when the period ended.* The grace days count from when Atrium tells you, never from while it was down.
## 2.10 Stopping a card renewing
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Billing → Stop renewing, on the product.
**Before you start** · A card kept from paying by card.
**The steps**
1. Choose Stop renewing. The card won't be charged when the period ends.
2. To start again, choose Renew by card.
**What the record shows** · The product renews itself, or doesn't.
**Who is told** · Nobody. Stopped, you're reminded 14, 7 and 1 days before the period ends instead.
**What can go wrong**
- *You meant to leave the plan.* Stopping renewing still asks you to pay. To step down, choose Free or a smaller plan for the next period (2.4).
## 2.11 Reading invoices and receipts
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Invoices.
**Before you start** · A payment made. Each one gets its paper the moment it's paid.
**The steps**
1. Read the year: what was invoiced, tax included; how much of it was tax; what your organisation withheld; month by month, and where the money went (the price, NHIL, GETFund, VAT).
2. Open a slip. *Tax invoice* means the GRA's E-VAT cleared it: its seal and QR code are on the paper. *With the GRA* means it's a receipt for now.
3. Download the PDF, or Download (the year) for a spreadsheet for your accountant.
**What the record shows** · Each paper exactly as it was issued: the number, the day, your organisation's details that day, and the rates of that day.
**Who is told** · Nobody.
**What can go wrong**
- *A receipt stays "With the GRA".* Atrium keeps sending it to E-VAT every hour by itself, and the company is told if it keeps failing. Your payment stands and your plan runs either way.
## 2.12 Paying net of withholding
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Pay → What (your organisation) deducts.
**Before you start** · Know which applies: withholding tax (7.5%, on a contract over GH₵ 2,000) or withholding VAT (7%, only if the GRA appointed your organisation an agent).
**The steps**
1. Choose the deduction. The ticket shows the total, tax included, then what's withheld, and what you pay now.
2. Pay at Paystack (2.2).
**What the record shows** · The payment, net. The plan starts on it straight away. The withheld part stays open for 30 days for its certificate.
**Who is told** · As in 2.2.
**What can go wrong**
- *Withholding tax can't be chosen.* The price is under GH₵ 2,000, which it applies over.
## 2.13 Sending the withholding certificate
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Invoices → the paper → Drop the certificate here.
**Before you start** · The GRA's certificate, as a PDF or a photo. The paper counts down the days left.
**The steps**
1. Drop the file, or Choose a file.
2. It's checked for safety, then kept; the paper says *certificate sent*.
**What the record shows** · The certificate, who sent it and when.
**Who is told** · The company, to check it against the GRA's records.
**What can go wrong**
- *The 30 days pass.* The company is told and follows it up with you. Your plan is never taken away for the paperwork.
- *The file is refused.* It must be a PDF or an image, within the size allowed; the words beside it say why.
## 2.14 Sending an invoice to someone
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · Invoices → the paper → Send it to someone.
**Before you start** · Their e-mail address, such as your accountant's.
**The steps**
1. Type the address and choose Send.
**What the record shows** · The e-mail, in the organisation's e-mail log.
**Who is told** · Only that address: a link to the PDF that works for 30 days without signing in.
**What can go wrong**
- *The link has stopped working.* It lasts 30 days; send it again.
## 2.15 When a product gets plans
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · The e-mail "(the product)'s plans, from (a date)", then Billing.
**Before you start** · Nothing. The e-mail comes at least 60 days before the date.
**The steps**
1. Until the date, nothing changes: the product stays complimentary, with all of it.
2. Read the plans (2.1). If your organisation was on the product when the plans were announced, each paid plan shows its founding price, with the list price struck through.
3. Choose a plan and pay (2.2), before the date or after it.
**What the record shows** · Nothing until you pay. On the date the product starts charging.
**Who is told** · Your owners and billing people, once, by the e-mail. The product hears on the date.
**What can go wrong**
- *Nothing chosen by the date.* You keep everything for the grace days after it, or to the end of your current term if you were given a paid plan; then Free, and nothing is deleted.
- *The founding price has gone.* It lasts while you stay on a paid plan; once a period goes unpaid and you move to Free, the list price applies when you come back.
- *Your organisation has its own terms.* Kept complimentary, or on an agreed price, those stand until they end.
## 2.16 When money comes back
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · The e-mail "(an amount) is on its way back", then Billing → Invoices → the invoice it came back on.
**Before you start** · Nothing. Money comes back when the company gives it back: ask through support. A refund is never started from here.
**The steps**
1. Read the banner on the invoice: how much is going back, where to (the card that paid, the wallet, or by hand), and its track: asked, with Paystack, sent back, the credit note, cleared by the GRA.
2. Read the invoice, stamped *Refunded* or *Part refunded* with its credit note's number.
3. Open the credit note beneath it. It reverses the invoice's price and each tax in the same proportion as the money returned, says what went back and when, and is cleared by the GRA as an invoice is.
4. Download it, or send it to your accountant (2.14).
**What the record shows** · The credit note under Invoices, its own number (`CN-2026-0001`), against the invoice it adjusts; the year's figures count what was credited; the year's spreadsheet lists it below nothing.
**Who is told** · Your owners and billing people, once the money has gone (`billing.refunded`), naming the credit note. Never before, and never about a bank dispute.
**What can go wrong**
- *The bank doesn't show it yet.* Paystack has sent it; banks can take up to 10 working days.
- *The credit note says "With the GRA".* It's waiting for E-VAT, as a receipt waits; it's sent again every hour by itself.
- *You paid net of withholding.* The credit note credits your share of what you withheld too, shown on its own line; what went back to you is exactly the refund.
- *Your plan changed.* If the company ended the period, the product is on Free from that day, with nothing deleted (2.8).
## 2.17 When what you withheld is owed
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · The e-mail "(an amount) withheld on (an invoice) is owed", then the invoice under Billing → Invoices.
**Before you start** · Your organisation paid net of withholding, and its certificate was rejected (the reason is on the invoice) or none came by its day.
**The steps**
1. Read the banner on the invoice: why it's owed, and how much.
2. Send a corrected certificate (Send a certificate), which the company reads again; or pay what's owed, by card or mobile money, on Paystack's page, and come back to the invoice.
3. Read the banner turn green: settled, by the certificate accepted or by the payment.
**What the record shows** · The invoice's withheld line says owed, then settled; the money bar beside it turns from rose to green.
**Who is told** · You, once, when it becomes owed (`billing.withholding_owed`).
**What can go wrong**
- *You try to pay net of withholding again.* Not offered while something is owed; the pay page says why.
- *You paid after the company had accepted a corrected certificate.* The payment is kept and refunded to you.
- *Your plan.* It carries on throughout: it's never taken away for the paperwork.
## 2.18 Your texts and SMS credit
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · **Texts**, in your organisation's menu.
**Before you start** · Nothing.
**The steps**
1. **This month's texts** shows two tanks: what your plans include this month, used first, and your SMS credit behind it, shared by every
product you use. A long text, or one with letters outside the basic set, counts as two or three.
2. The line under them says how long what's left lasts at this month's pace.
3. **Texts a day** shows this month; **Credit** lists credit bought and changes support made, with why.
**What the record shows** · Every change to the credit, kept as a line: bought, spent by a text, given back, or changed by support with
its reason.
**Who is told** · Owners and billing people, once when credit runs low (**SMS credit is running low**) and once when it runs out
(**Texts have stopped**). Your products hear too, so they can show a prompt to top up.
**What can go wrong**
- *"Texts have stopped."* Credit ran out and this month's texts in your plans are used. Texts are refused, not kept to send later; e-mail
and sign-in codes still go.
- *"Texts aren't charged yet."* Every text is free for now; this page only counts them.
- *A text that failed.* If it never left, what it took is given back. One that left but wasn't delivered (a phone off for days) keeps
its cost, since the network carried it.
## 2.19 Buying SMS credit
**Who** · Owner Billing
**Where** · **Texts** → **Buy credit**. Your products' "top up SMS" prompt leads here.
**Before you start** · A card, or a mobile money wallet.
**The steps**
1. Choose how many texts. Each pack shows its price a text, which falls as the pack grows, and what your credit would be after it.
2. Choose card or mobile money, then **Pay … at Paystack**. Paystack's own page takes the payment.
3. Back on Texts, the texts are added the moment the payment goes through, and the receipt is with your invoices.
**What the record shows** · The payment, its invoice (*5,000 texts of SMS credit*, each tax on its own line), and a line in your credit.
**Who is told** · Owners and billing people (**5,000 texts added**), and your products, so texts flow again.
**What can go wrong**
- *"Waiting for the payment to finish."* A mobile money prompt not yet approved: the texts are added the moment it is, even if you've left
the page.
- *"The payment didn't go through."* Nothing was charged and no texts were added: choose again.
- *No **Buy credit** button.* No packs are on sale yet, or you aren't an owner or billing person.
## 2.20 Your sender name
**Who** · Owner Admin (anyone who manages the organisation's settings asks; anyone who sees them reads it)
**Where** · **Texts** → **Your sender name** → **Change**, or **Ask for a name**. Your product may also ask for one on your behalf.
**Before you start** · The name you want phones to show: 3 to 11 letters, numbers and spaces, starting with a letter. Most SMS providers ask
for the organisation's registration letter before they register a school's or company's name; have it ready to send when asked.
**The steps**
1. Type the name and choose **Ask for it**.
2. The card shows the name with each SMS provider: **To register**, then **Submitted**, then **Registered** or **Refused**. It usually takes
two to five working days.
3. Until a provider registers it, the phone on the card shows the name texts go out under today: your old name if you had one, otherwise the
company's.
**What the record shows** · Who asked, and when; each provider's state, with its reason if it refused.
**Who is told** · Those who manage your settings, and your products, when a provider registers or refuses the name.
**What can go wrong**
- *"A sender name is 3 to 11 letters…"* Shorten it, or take out other characters.
- *Refused.* The card says the provider's reason. Ask for another name, or send the provider what it asked for and the Service records
its new answer. Texts through that provider keep going under the old name, or the company's.
- *"Texts can't go out under anyone else's."* Your organisation doesn't fall back to the company's name (a setting): until a name is
registered, texts through that provider wait.