Cash control in a clinic: payments and the day's till

Cash control in a clinic means recording each payment at the moment it is made, with its patient, its invoice and its method (cash, card, Bizum or bank transfer), and checking at the end of the day that what has been recorded matches the money in the drawer, the card terminal's closing report and what has come in through the bank.

Why a clinic's till does not balance

When a till does not balance, the first thing to look for is a payment that was not recorded, was recorded late or was recorded with a different method. In a clinic, payments are taken in snatches: between two patients, with the phone ringing and someone waiting at the counter. These are the causes to rule out first:

• Payments noted from memory at the end of the morning, when nobody remembers whether that payment was cash or card.
• Wrong method: a Bizum payment recorded as card throws both off at once.
• Partial payments with no trace: the patient pays part and nobody notes how much is left.
• Payments without an invoice, or invoices that are prepared but never issued.
• Money going out of the till, such as a small purchase paid with the cash in the drawer, which nobody notes down.

The solution is not to count better at the end, but to record properly at the start: each payment, at the moment, against its invoice and with its method.

Each payment, with its invoice and method

A well-recorded payment says who pays, what for, how much and how. In Mi Clínica it is recorded from “Registrar cobro” (Record payment): you choose the patient and, if they have pending invoices, the software shows them in case you are taking payment for one of them, with its amount and its method. If not, you enter what is being paid for, its amount, the method (cash, card, Bizum, bank transfer or other) and, if needed, a note. That payment is recorded without an invoice and, if the patient asks for one, you issue it from the same payment; for VAT-exempt services, that invoice cannot yet be issued from the software.

• Full or partial. If the patient pays part, the software tells you how much will remain pending on the invoice. You can never take more than the invoice total.
• Drafts. A draft invoice is issued, and numbered, when its payment is registered. To issue it, the patient needs their DNI/NIE (Spanish national ID / foreigner ID number) on their record.
• The method, in the software. The payment method is stored with the payment, and it is the one used by the day's till, the payments list and the breakdown by payment method.
• Who takes payments. By default, “Dirección” (Management), “Administración” (Administration) and “Recepción” (Reception) take payments; the healthcare practitioner does not invoice.

Mi Clínica does not take the money for you: there is no card terminal or payment gateway connected, and no online payment. Payment is made on your card terminal, by Bizum or by bank transfer, and in the software it is recorded with its method.

Check the amount and method before confirming. An invoice that already has payments cannot be cancelled from Mi Clínica: the refund of the money would have to be registered first, and that cannot yet be done from the software.

The day's till in Mi Clínica

The day's till has to answer one question: how much has come in today and through which channel. In Mi Clínica, the “Facturación” (Invoicing) screen has a “Caja” (Till) tab with today's movements and a cash count:

In the “Caja” tab	What it shows
Today's till movements	Each payment of the day with its patient, what it was for, its method and its amount and, as outgoings, refunds.
Payments of the day	The sum of everything taken today.
Outgoings of the day	The sum of those refunds. Expenses are not included in the day's till.
Taken in cash	What was taken in cash today, minus what was refunded in cash today.
Card / Bizum / bank transfer	What was taken today through the other channels.

Above that, the same screen summarises what was taken today, what was invoiced in the last 30 days, what is pending collection and the average transaction value. The “Cobros” (Payments) tab lists payments with their date, patient, invoice and method (the method, for invoices paid in the last 62 days), and the “Métodos de pago” (Payment methods) tab splits what was taken in the last 30 days between card, cash, Bizum, bank transfer and other. In “Resumen” (Summary), the monthly balance sets income received against expenses over the last 30 days.

How to balance the till at the end of the day

Balancing the till means comparing three things: what the software says, what is in the drawer and what the card terminal and the bank say. An order that works:

1. Go through the day's diary. Every patient seen should have their payment or a pending invoice. Issued invoices not yet paid appear in the “Deudores” (Debtors) tab; drafts, in the invoice list.
2. Count the drawer and subtract the float you opened with. What is left, plus anything you paid in cash out of the drawer, should match “Cobrado en efectivo” (Taken in cash).
3. Print the card terminal's closing report and add the day's Bizum and bank transfers. Compare it with the card, Bizum and bank transfer line.
4. If it does not balance, look in the payments list for a payment with the wrong method or one that is missing.
5. Note down the result of the count wherever your clinic keeps it, with the name of whoever closes. Mi Clínica gives you the day's figures; the drawer count is done by you.

Two habits help: record each payment at the moment the patient pays, not at the end, and make sure whoever closes the till knows what float it was opened with if someone else opened it.

The limit on cash payments

If your clinic takes payments as a business or as a professional, an operation of 1,000 euros or more cannot be paid in cash. This is stated in article 7 of Spanish Law 7/2012 (the anti-fraud law): operations in which any of the parties acts as a business or professional cannot be paid in cash if the amount is equal to or greater than 1,000 euros or its equivalent in foreign currency. The amount rises to 10,000 euros when the payer is an individual who proves that their tax residence is not in Spain and who is not acting as a business or professional.

Three details that matter in a clinic:

• Instalment payments are added together. To calculate the limit, the amounts of all the payments into which the provision of the service may have been split are added up: a 1,200 euro treatment paid in two instalments is still a 1,200 euro operation.
• Both sides are liable. Both the person who pays and the person who receives cash above the limit are in breach.
• Keep the receipts. For operations that cannot be paid in cash, those involved must keep proof of payment for five years from the date of payment.

That is why it helps for each payment to be stored with its method: if a treatment has been paid in several instalments, in the “Cobros” tab of that invoice you see each payment with its date, method and amount.

What to check during the trial

Before entrusting your till to software, test it with the payments of a normal day:

1. Register a partial payment in cash and another by Bizum.
2. Open the “Caja” tab and check that both appear with their method and that the cash count separates cash from the rest.
3. Take payment for an invoice that is in draft and see how it is issued with its number.
4. Review the “Métodos de pago” tab and the “Deudores” tab.
5. Check that your reception can take payments and that a healthcare practitioner, by default, cannot.

If you prepare quotes before treating, in treatment quotes in a clinic we explain how they turn into invoices. To see how payments fit into the clinic's whole day, read clinic management software, and the rest of the features are on the Mi Clínica page (in Spanish).

Sources consulted

Checked on 11 October 2026. We link to the original source so that you can consult the current text.

• Ley 7/2012, de 29 de octubre, de modificación de la normativa tributaria y presupuestaria y de adecuación de la normativa financiera para la intensificación de las actuaciones en la prevención y lucha contra el fraude (texto consolidado). BOE.