In Business Central, the sell-to customer and the bill to customer on a sales order can be two different accounts. This lets you ship goods to one entity and send the invoice to another. It is common in larger companies with regional offices and a central finance team that handles all payments.
A sales order in Business Central has fields that control where goods go and where the invoice goes. Understanding how these fields work together is useful for any team that deals with customers who have multiple accounts or locations. In particular, the sell-to and bill to fields let you separate the ordering entity from the invoicing entity on the same sales order.
What Are the Sell-To and Bill-To Fields?
The sell-to customer is the account that placed the order. This is the customer you select at the top of a sales order. It drives the default payment terms, pricing, and contact information for that order. Also, BC uses this account to track which customer actually ordered the goods.
The bill to customer is the account that will receive and pay the invoice. By default, the billing account matches the sell-to customer. However, you can change it to a different account. When you do, BC uses the billing account’s payment terms and address on the invoice. So the same order can show two different company names – one on the confirmation, one on the invoice. Furthermore, BC stores both links, so you can always trace which customer placed the order and which one was invoiced.
How to Change the Bill To Customer on a Sales Order
To change the bill to customer on an open sales order, scroll down to the Shipping and Billing section of the order. There is a Bill-to field in that section. Click the three dots next to it to open the customer list. Select the billing account from the list. BC will prompt you to confirm the change. It then updates the order lines with the new account information.
After you make the change, you will notice that the payment terms at the top of the order may update as well. This is because the bill to customer has its own payment terms set up in BC. For example, if the ordering customer has 14-day terms but the head office has 30 days, the order reflects the head office setup. Consequently, the invoice printed from that order will carry the correct payment terms for the account that will actually pay it.
What the Confirmation Document Shows
When you print a confirmation after changing the bill to customer, the document reflects the new account. The name and address at the top of the confirmation change to show the billing account rather than the ordering account. So if the order came from a regional office but the billing account is the head office, the confirmation shows the head office name. In short, the document matches exactly how the transaction is set up in BC.
Using Ship-To Addresses on a Sales Order
Alongside the bill to field, the Shipping and Billing section also has a Ship-to field. This controls where the goods are physically delivered. By default, it uses the sell-to customer’s address. However, you can change it to an alternate ship-to code on the customer card.
For example, a customer with four retail locations can have a ship-to address for each one. When creating an order, you select which location should receive the delivery. BC then updates the delivery address on the order. Also, the printed confirmation shows the correct delivery address. Therefore, the goods go to the right place even if the order was placed by a central contact. In short, the ship-to code and the bill to customer work independently – you can set them to different values on the same order without any conflict.
Sales Statistics: Who Ordered and Who Paid
After you post a sales order with a different bill to customer, BC keeps separate records for each account. On the sell-to customer card, you will see a sales history showing that this customer placed the order – posted shipments and invoices appear in the sell-to section. On the billing customer card, the history shows the invoices billed to that account.
This means you can always see the full picture. You know who placed the order and you know who was invoiced. Also, the statistics on each card reflect only the role that account played in the transaction. Furthermore, this makes sales analysis cleaner – the data for each account stays separate. Consequently, reports and statements for each account show the correct history for that specific role.
Setting a Default Bill To Customer
If a customer always uses the same bill to account, you can set a default on the customer card. Open the customer card for the sell-to customer and go to the Invoicing tab. There is a Bill-to Customer field there. Set it to the account that should receive the invoices. Then, save the customer card. After that, every new sales order will use that billing account by default. So you do not need to change the field manually each time.
This is especially useful for ongoing relationships where the billing setup never changes. In that case, you set it once and BC handles it from there. Also, it removes the risk of forgetting to update the field on each new order. So the correct invoicing account always applies, even if a new team member creates the order. In short, setting the default bill to customer on the card automates the setup so the correct billing always applies without extra effort at the order level.
Wrapping Up: How to Use Bill To and Sell To in Business Central
The sell-to and bill to fields in Business Central give you the flexibility to separate who orders from who pays. You can change the billing account on individual orders or set a default on the customer card for ongoing arrangements. Also, BC keeps separate sales statistics for each account. Indeed, the history stays clear because each account only shows the role it played. In short, these fields handle real-world billing scenarios without any customisation.
Also, you can combine this with alternate ship-to codes on the same order, giving you full control over both the invoice and the delivery address. This covers the main use cases for these fields in Business Central. Both settings are easy to configure and require no custom development – only a few field changes on the customer card and the order itself. As a result, every order goes to the right billing account and delivery address without manual correction. NAV SEAL will continue covering sales order features in Business Central.
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