Xero has no credit note importer. It decides between an invoice and a credit note by the sign of the UnitAmount column: a negative amount creates a credit note, a positive amount creates an invoice. If your credit notes arrived as invoices, the amounts in your file were positive.

This guide explains how the rule works on the sales side and the bills side, why Xero gives you no warning, and how to check what an import really created. It is part of our wider guide to Xero CSV import errors.

There is no credit note importer

We tested this in a Xero Demo Company (AU) on 28 July 2026. The import screen for sales is headed "Import your sales invoices". It offers an invoices template and talks only about invoices. Credit notes are not mentioned anywhere on it. The Sales menu has no credit notes item either.

Xero Central does describe importing customer credit notes. It lives in one line of the instructions: enter the UnitAmount "as a negative amount". Xero's in-product AI answer lists the columns as description, quantity, price, account, tax rate and amount, and leaves that line out. Follow the summary and you get invoices.

What we tested

We made one file with two rows. Everything was identical except the sign of UnitAmount: one row was 500.00, the other was -500.00. We imported it once and opened both documents.

  • The 500.00 row became an invoice. The page was headed "Edit invoice", with an "Invoice number" field and a due date.
  • The -500.00 row became a credit note. The page was headed "Edit credit note", with a "Credit note number" field and no due date.

Both came from the same file in the same run. The sign was the only difference.

Bills work the same way

If you are looking for how to import a bill credit template into Xero, the answer is the same. There is no separate template. You use the bills import (Purchases, then Bills, then import). That page is headed "Import your bills" and does not mention credit notes either.

We ran the same two-row test with a supplier file. A positive 300.00 row became a bill, with a due date. A negative -300.00 row became a supplier credit note, headed "Edit Credit Note", with a "Credit Note Options" menu and no due date.

So the rule is symmetric. Negative amounts through the sales import make customer credit notes. Negative amounts through the bills import make supplier credit notes.

Why you do not notice

Xero is silent when the sign is wrong, and it is also misleading when the sign is right.

  • Positive amounts in a file you meant as credit notes simply create invoices. There is no warning.
  • Negative amounts on a document you meant as an invoice create a credit note. There is no warning here either.
  • Every message says "invoice". In our test the preview said the file "contained 2 invoices" and the confirmation said "2 new draft invoices imported", although one of them was a credit note. On the bills side the confirmation said "2 new draft bills imported".

A successful credit note import looks just like a failed one.

How a credit note shows in Xero

Imported credit notes land in the same Draft list as the invoices. On the sales side that is Invoices, then Draft. On the bills side it is Bills, then Draft.

In the sales list the credit note carries a two-letter CR badge, and its amount is shown in brackets, for example (550.00). On the bills side the credit note is listed with its amount in brackets too, for example (330.00).

Xero also does not keep your minus sign. We imported -500.00. The credit note was stored with a price of 500.00, tax of 50.00 and a total of 550.00, all positive. A credit note is already a negative document by type, so the sign was an instruction to the importer and not a value to store. Do not expect to export it again and see a negative number.

How to check an import

  1. Before importing, look at the UnitAmount column. Every line of a credit note needs a minus sign. Every line of an invoice needs none.
  2. Import, but do not approve anything yet. The documents are drafts.
  3. Open the Draft list and look for the CR badge and bracketed amounts. Count them against the credit notes you expected.
  4. Open one credit note. The header should read "Edit credit note" and there should be no due date.
  5. If you imported both kinds in one file, select the drafts. An invoice and a credit note for the same value net to 0.00 in the selection total, which is a quick sanity check.

If a credit note came in as an invoice, delete the draft, fix the sign in the file, and import again. Xero needs invoice numbers to be unique, so remove the wrong drafts first.

You can also run the file through our free Xero CSV validator before you import. It runs in your browser, and it flags negative UnitAmounts as rows that will create credit notes, so you see them before Xero does.

When your source file only has positive amounts

Many systems export credit notes as positive numbers with a document type column, or as a separate file. Editing the signs by hand in a spreadsheet works for a handful of lines. It is easy to miss a line on a long file, and a single missed sign gives you an invoice.

An EntryRocket reader creates credit notes in Xero through the Xero API, so it does not depend on the invoice importer's sign rule. It can create credit notes for your customers and for your suppliers, and it can carry the original invoice reference if your file has one. You send the file as it comes, without reformatting. See importing credit notes into Xero for how it works.