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For WooCommerce store owners, a well-organized invoicing system is crucial for smooth yearly reporting. Automatically resetting invoice numbers each year helps keep things clear, consistent, and audit-ready.
Keeping your WooCommerce store in order isn’t just about handling products and orders; it’s also about making sure your invoices are neat and consistent. If your store resets its accounting or reporting cycle every year, you might want your invoice numbers to start anew each year (like INV-2025-001).
Doing this by hand can be a bit of a hassle, especially as your store grows. The good news? You can set up WooCommerce to automatically reset invoice numbers yearly with just a few simple steps.
In this article, we’ll take you through the process using the WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, and Credit Notes plugin.
Key Takeaways:
- Automatically resetting invoice numbers at the start of each year helps maintain a clean, structured, and easy-to-track invoicing system, especially useful during accounting and audits.
- As your store grows, manually managing invoice sequences becomes time-consuming and error-prone. Automating this process saves time and reduces the risk of duplication or formatting issues.
- With the WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, and Credit Notes plugin by WebToffee, enabling auto-reset functionality is simple, flexible, and requires no coding.
Out of the box, WooCommerce doesn’t generate invoice numbers in the traditional sense. What it does provide is an order number, which is a unique identifier assigned to each order placed in the store. These order numbers are sufficient for basic operations but fall short when you need formal invoicing, such as accounting, tax reporting, or business documentation.
To bridge this gap, many store owners turn to PDF invoice plugins (like WebToffee PDF Invoices & Packing Slips) to automatically generate professional invoices that include proper invoice numbering formats.
1. Clean Slate Every Fiscal/Calendar Year
Resetting invoice numbers at the beginning of each year helps maintain a clear and consistent record-keeping system. Instead of continuing a long, ever-growing sequence from previous years, each new year starts at 001 (e.g., INV-2025-001).
This creates a natural separation between accounting periods, making it easier to distinguish transactions from different years at a glance.
2. Simplifies Bookkeeping and Reporting
Accountants and finance teams often work on a year-by-year basis, especially during audits or when filing taxes. Annual invoice number resets make it much easier to filter, sort, and reconcile transactions without manually cross-referencing dates.
Reports are cleaner, and it’s faster to track how many invoices were issued in a given year.
3. Helps Avoid Long, Confusing Number Strings
If your store has been active for several years, a continuously growing invoice number could look like INV-31894, which is harder to read and reference quickly. By resetting annually, you prevent this number bloat, keeping invoice IDs short and user-friendly.
This is especially helpful for stores with high order volume or those that print invoices regularly for packaging and logistics.
4. Meets Country-Specific Tax or Invoice Standards
In some countries, regulatory frameworks require invoice numbers to follow a chronological and segmented structure, sometimes including the fiscal year or starting fresh annually. Automatic resets help you comply with such regulations effortlessly, reducing the risk of penalties or administrative issues during audits.
It also ensures you follow industry best practices if selling in multiple regions.
With WebToffee’s WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, and Credit Notes plugin, store owners can easily enable automatic invoice number resets at the start of each year. To activate this feature, you’ll first need to switch from the default invoice numbering to a custom format, which unlocks advanced configuration options such as invoice starting number and annual auto-reset functionality.
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Enable Custom Invoice Number Format
- Go to Invoice/Packing > Invoice from your WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the General tab, scroll to the Invoice number section, and find the Invoice number format option.
- From the dropdown menu, select Custom number.
Step 2: Configure Invoice Number Format with Year and Numbering Rules
Now that you’ve enabled custom invoice numbers, it’s time to define the structure of your invoice numbers, including prefixes or suffixes and how the numbering should begin.
- In the same Invoice number section under the General tab, locate the fields for Prefix, Suffix, Invoice number length, and Invoice starting number.
- In the Prefix and/or Suffix fields, enter the placeholder [Y] to include the current year in your invoice numbers.
- To add the year specifically as a suffix, click on the Suffix field and choose the date format string that represents the year ([Y]).
Example:
Using INV-[Y]- as a prefix will generate invoice numbers like INV-2025-001.
Using -[Y] as a suffix will result in invoice numbers like 001-2025.
- Next, set the invoice number length. This defines the minimum number of digits for the invoice, padded with leading zeros.
- For instance, if you set the length to 3, your invoice numbers will appear as 001, 002, and so on.
- Enter the starting number. This is the first invoice number in the sequence when the year resets.
- Typically set to 1 or 001, depending on your preference and padding length.
Step 3: Enable Annual Auto-Reset for Invoice Numbers
- Scroll down to find the option labeled Auto reset invoice numbers annually and check the box to enable automatic resetting of invoice numbers at the start of each year.
- After enabling the option, click Update settings to save your changes.
Once enabled, your invoice numbers will automatically restart from the defined starting number (e.g., 001) every calendar year—no manual updates needed.
After you’ve set up the annual invoice number reset, you can check if it’s working correctly by going to WooCommerce > Status > Scheduled Actions.
In this section, look for a hook called “wt_pklist_restart_invoice_number_event”. This is linked to the auto-reset feature.
Here, you’ll be able to see important details like the status of the action, how often it runs, the next scheduled date, and when it was created.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
1. Not Enabling Auto-Reset Properly
One of the most frequent oversights is forgetting to check the box for the “Auto reset invoice numbers annually” option after configuring custom invoice numbers. Just setting the prefix or suffix with the year placeholder [Y] isn’t enough—the auto-reset function needs to be explicitly enabled.
If this step is skipped, your invoices will continue with the same number sequence across years, defeating the purpose of the reset setup.
2. Using Duplicate Prefixes Leading to Invoice Conflicts
Another common issue is using the same prefix (or no prefix) across multiple years without including a dynamic year placeholder like [Y]. This can lead to duplicate invoice numbers, which may confuse customers and create problems during tax audits or when syncing with external accounting systems.
Example: If you use INV- as the prefix in 2024 and 2025 without including the year, you could end up with two invoices labeled INV-001, which is not ideal.
3. Forgetting to Back Up Before Making Changes
Changing invoice number formats or resetting logic without a recent backup can be risky. If something goes wrong, like incorrect formatting or conflicts, it might affect live invoices or create inconsistencies in your order records.
Quick Tip: Always perform a full site and database backup before adjusting invoice settings. It’s a simple step that can save time and stress later.
Conclusion
Auto-resetting your WooCommerce invoice numbers each year is a small but powerful step toward better organization, smoother accounting, and legal compliance. Implementing this at the start of the calendar or fiscal year sets a clear boundary for financial records and eliminates confusion caused by extended or duplicated invoice sequences.
If you’re looking for a hassle-free way to set this up, using a plugin like WebToffee PDF Invoices & Packing Slips makes the process quick, customizable, and reliable, without needing to touch a single line of code. Whether you’re a solo store owner or managing a high-volume WooCommerce shop, setting up an annual invoice reset is a smart move that will pay off in clarity and compliance throughout the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, resetting invoice numbers does not change or override past invoices. When you enable the auto-reset feature, it only affects new invoices generated after the reset point, typically at the start of a new calendar year. Historical invoices retain their original numbers, ensuring your records remain accurate and intact.
Will the reset apply to all invoice types or only specific ones?
The auto-reset typically applies only to invoice documents, not other document types like packing slips, credit notes, or shipping labels—unless explicitly configured. Each document type may have its own numbering settings.
Absolutely! You can personalize your invoice number format by adding custom prefixes or suffixes, including text like your store initials, country codes, or customer region tags. This is especially useful for stores that operate in multiple locations or currencies.
