Remittance Advice
Remittance advice is a document a payer sends to a supplier to confirm that a payment has been made and to show what it covers. It lists the invoices being paid, the amount applied to each, the payment date, and the payment method. It is not a payment and not a request for one. Its job is to let the supplier match the money it receives to its open invoices.
Last updated: November 2026
What does payment remittance mean?
Remittance is money sent to settle a bill. Payment remittance is the act of sending it, and remittance advice is the notice that goes with it. When an invoice says "remit payment to", it is giving the address or bank account where the payment should be sent.
What does remittance advice include?
- Parties: the names of the payer and the supplier.
- Invoices: the invoice numbers or references being paid.
- Amounts: the amount applied to each invoice, with any credits or deductions.
- Date: when the payment was sent.
- Method: how it was paid, with a check number or bank reference.
Types of remittance advice
- Remittance slip: a tear-off section of a paper invoice returned with a check.
- Email or PDF: a notice sent by the payer's accounts payable team or generated by its accounting software.
- Electronic: structured data sent between systems, such as an EDI 820 file or remittance details attached to a bank transfer.
Remittance advice example
An agency owes a vendor three invoices totalling $18,400. It holds a $500 credit note, so it pays $17,900 by bank transfer on March 14. The remittance advice lists the three invoice numbers, the $500 credit, the net amount, the payment date, and the bank reference. The vendor can close all three invoices without calling to ask what the payment was for.
Remittance advice vs. invoice vs. receipt
- Invoice: the supplier asks the customer to pay.
- Remittance advice: the customer tells the supplier a payment has been sent.
- Receipt: the supplier confirms the payment has arrived.
Remittance advice and ad spend
Large advertisers on monthly invoicing pay ad platforms by bank transfer and have to quote the right invoice or reference so the payment is applied to the right account. Agencies have the same problem in reverse: when a client pays for media, the remittance details are what let the agency match the money to the client's invoice. That makes remittance advice part of ad spend reconciliation and of agency billing.
How Opal fits
Opal Ad Pay lets businesses pay Meta and Google invoices with a card instead of a bank transfer. See how Ad Pay works.
Frequently asked questions
No. Remittance advice is a notice from the payer saying a payment has been sent and what it covers. Proof of payment is the bank record or a receipt from the supplier confirming the money arrived.
The payer sends it, usually the customer's accounts payable team or its accounting system. It goes to the supplier's accounts receivable team, which uses it to apply the payment to the right invoices.
It is generally not a legal requirement, but many suppliers expect it and some contracts ask for it. Without it, a supplier can struggle to tell which invoices a payment covers, which delays the payment being applied to the account.
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