The quick answer
Turn on Installments under Setup > Company > Enable Features (Accounting subtab). Then create a payment term in Setup > Accounting > Accounting Lists with Installment checked, and set Recurrence Frequency, Recurrence Count and Repeat Every. Days Till Net Due sets the first due date. For a bill that comes from a purchase order, set the term on the purchase order before you click Bill. On a standalone bill, set it on the bill. The bill's Billing subtab then lists one row per installment with its own due date and amount. With Split Evenly the total is divided equally. Check Pay Tax Upfront on the term if the vendor wants all the tax in the first payment. After you save, Pay Bills shows each installment as its own row, so you pay them one at a time as they fall due.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and company names are fictional. Use your own vendor, amounts and term when you follow the steps.
Before you start
You need:
- The Installments feature. It covers both A/R and A/P. If it's off, the term form has no Installment box and bills have no installment schedule.
- A role that can edit accounting lists, bill purchase orders and pay bills. This example uses Administrator.
- A purchase order ready to bill. It has to be approved and have something left to bill. Here it's PO-2318 for Kestrel Packaging Co., status Pending Bill: Subtotal 16,000.00, Tax Total 1,280.00, Total 17,280.00 for a bottling line upgrade.
The vendor agreed to four monthly payments. The bill is dated 04/10/2026, and the term's Days Till Net Due is 30, so the first installment lands on 05/10/2026.
01. Check the Installments feature
Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features and open the Accounting subtab. Under the advanced features, Installments (Manage installments and related payments for A/R and A/P) should be checked. If it isn't, check it and click Save.
02. Review the installment term
The schedule lives on a payment term, not on the bill. Go to Setup > Accounting > Accounting Lists, set Type to Term and click View on 4 Monthly Installments. If you don't have one yet, click New, pick Term and check Installment.
This term has Days Till Net Due 30, Installment checked, Recurrence Frequency Monthly, Recurrence Count 4 (four installments in total) and Repeat Every 1 month(s). Split Evenly is checked and Pay Tax Upfront isn't. Checking Installment takes away the early-payment discount fields and the Date Driven option, so you can't combine installments with a 2% 10 Net 30 style discount on the same term. Depending on your release and form, the recurrence fields sit below the main fields or on an Installments subtab.
03. Bill the purchase order
Open PO-2318. It's Pending Bill, and its Summary shows the numbers the schedule will split: Subtotal 16,000.00, Tax Total 1,280.00 and Total 17,280.00. Click Bill.
The bill opens with Amount 17,280.00 and Tax 1,280.00 carried over. Enter the vendor's invoice number, VB-7741, in Reference No. and set Date to 04/10/2026.
On the Billing subtab, pick 4 Monthly Installments in Terms. An Installments section appears below with four rows: 4,320.00 each, due 05/10/2026, 06/10/2026, 07/10/2026 and 08/10/2026. That's 17,280.00 split evenly, so here every installment carries a quarter of the tax. Rounding and your tax setup can shift a cent or two, so read the rows rather than assuming. Installment Number, Amount Due and Status fill in once the bill is saved. Monthly installments keep the same day of the month, so a bill dated near month end can land on shorter-month dates.
In this example the term was picked on the bill and the schedule built there. For bills from purchase orders, the reliable route is to edit the purchase order, pick the installment term in Terms on its Billing subtab, save it, and then click Bill, so the bill inherits the schedule. Use that route if your account doesn't rebuild the schedule when you change Terms on the bill.
Nothing is saved yet, and the vendor wants the tax paid with the first installment, so click Cancel.
04. Turn on Pay Tax Upfront
Back in Accounting Lists, click Edit on 4 Monthly Installments, check Pay Tax Upfront and click Save. Editing a term changes the schedule for bills you create afterwards. Bills already saved keep their installments. The schedule is built when the bill is created, so test a new bill after you change a term before relying on it.
05. Bill again and save
Open PO-2318 again, click Bill, enter VB-7741 and 04/10/2026, and pick 4 Monthly Installments in Terms on the Billing subtab. Same due dates, new amounts: 5,280.00, then 4,000.00 three times. NetSuite split the 16,000.00 before tax four ways and added the whole 1,280.00 of tax to the first installment. The bill total is still 17,280.00.
Click Save. VB-7741 is Open for 17,280.00, and its Due Date is 05/10/2026, the first unpaid installment. If bills in your account go through approval, it may sit at Pending Approval first, and a bill pending approval or on payment hold won't be ready to pay.
The saved bill's Billing subtab lists installments 1 to 4 with Due Date, Amount, Amount Due and Status Unpaid.
06. Find the installments on Pay Bills
Go to Transactions > Payables > Pay Bills. VB-7741 shows up as four rows for Kestrel Packaging Co., with Installment Number 1 to 4. Installment 1 is due 05/10/2026 for 5,280.00, and installments 2, 3 and 4 are due 06/10/2026, 07/10/2026 and 08/10/2026 for 4,000.00 each. It's still one bill, but each installment is a separate payable for payment and aging. Columns and filters can differ by form and role, so check how yours shows them.
Check the result
- Without Pay Tax Upfront, the 17,280.00 bill splits into four installments of 4,320.00.
- With Pay Tax Upfront, installment 1 is 5,280.00 and installments 2 to 4 are 4,000.00.
- The saved bill is Open with Due Date 05/10/2026 and four Unpaid installments.
- Pay Bills lists VB-7741 as installments 1 to 4, due 05/10/2026 to 08/10/2026.
Select only the installment that's due and pay it. The others stay open. A partial payment leaves that installment partly paid, and an overpayment can move on to the next one. A/P aging counts each installment from its own due date, so a late first payment doesn't make the whole 17,280.00 look overdue.
Common questions
How do Days Till Net Due and Recurrence Count set the installment dates?
Days Till Net Due sets the first due date from the bill date. The bill here is dated 04/10/2026 with Days Till Net Due 30, so installment 1 is due 05/10/2026. Recurrence Count is the total number of installments, and Repeat Every with Recurrence Frequency sets the gap, so 4, 1 and Monthly give 05/10, 06/10, 07/10 and 08/10/2026.
Can the installments be different amounts?
Yes. Uncheck Split Evenly on the term and enter the amount for each installment yourself. They have to add up to the bill total, tax included. For a bill from a purchase order, set the term on the purchase order first and check the schedule on the bill before you save.
What does Pay Tax Upfront do?
It puts all of the bill's tax in the first installment and splits only the amount before tax. In this example the 17,280.00 bill went from four installments of 4,320.00 to 5,280.00 followed by three of 4,000.00. The total doesn't change. Subsidiary and tax preferences can affect the result, so read the rows on the bill.
Why does Pay Bills show the same bill four times?
Each installment is its own payable, so Pay Bills lists one row per installment with its own Installment Number, due date and amount. It's still one bill. The rows are there so you can pay and age each installment separately.
How do I pay just one installment?
On Pay Bills, check the row for that installment and confirm the payment amount. The other installments stay open. A partial payment leaves the installment partly paid, and an overpayment can be applied to the next one.
How does A/P aging handle installments?
Aging uses each installment's own due date. If the 05/10/2026 installment goes unpaid, only that installment shows as past due and the later ones stay current. The bill's header Due Date always shows the next unpaid installment.
Can I change the term after the bill exists, or add an early-payment discount?
Changing a term doesn't rebuild schedules on bills that are already saved, and editing the dates on an existing bill can be restricted, especially once an installment is paid. Get the term right on the purchase order before you bill. Installment terms turn off the early-payment discount fields, so a bill that needs a discount needs a regular, non-installment term.