Managing Payments in Mastt

Use the Payments module to record contract payments, take them through your approval workflow, track retention and generate payment letters.

Payment statuses

Status	Meaning
Draft	The payment has just been created (the default for a new payment)
Submitted	Submitted for approval
Approved	Approved but not yet paid
Paid	Payment processed
Rejected	Payment declined

The payments list

Open the Payments tab in the Cost Module to see all your payments, grouped by contract by default. Payments sit under their contract, and each row shows the payment amount, submitted amount, approved contract value, value completed, percentage complete, previous payments and the number of attachments.

Control	What it does
Add Payment	Creates a new payment
Letters	Generates letters for the payments you've ticked (see For several payments below)
Export	Exports payment data
Group By	Groups payments by Contract (the default), Month Paid, Month (the month the work was done), Status, Reimbursable or None
Expand All	Shows or hides the payments under each contract
Columns and Filter	Choose which columns to show and filter the list
Reset	Returns the list to its default view

For a project-wide view, see How to View and Manage Payments in the Payment Overview.

Create a payment

Click Add Payment.
Fill in the details at the top of the form (see below), or let AI fill them in for you.
Click + Add Contract and choose the contract. You can add more than one contract to the same payment. Each contract uses the name and dates from the top of the form.
Enter the amounts on the Line Items tab.
Add notes and attachments, then click Add.

Save time with AI. At the top of the form, click Upload File under Fill details with AI and select your invoice or payment PDF. Mastt AI fills in the form and checks it against your contract. Files can be up to 50MB and 1,000 pages, and your uploads are private. See How to Use AI Pre-fill for Contracts and Payments.

Payment details

Field	Notes
Title	A name for the payment (required)
Status	Starts as Draft (required)
Month	The calendar month the work occurred in (required)
Date Received	When the invoice or claim arrived
Date Payment Due	When the payment must be made
Date Approved	Fills in automatically when the status changes to Approved
Month Paid	Fills in automatically when the status changes to Paid Month Paid is where the payment appears in Cash Flow, and a closed Cash Flow month shows only payments with a Paid status.
Payment Reference, Invoice No. and Payment Statement/Claim No.	Your reference numbers

For a non-calendar payment period, open the Additional Fields tab and set Payment Period From and Payment Period To.

Enter amounts

On the Line Items tab, each contract you add is shown with its line items. Every line shows:

Column	What it shows
Contract Total	The line's contract value
Total Payment	The total paid on the line, including this payment
% Complete	The cumulative percentage complete
Previous Payments	What was paid in earlier payments
Amount Remaining	What's left to pay
Amount Approved	The amount for this payment
Comment	A comment for the line

Enter this payment's amount in Amount Approved, or enter the % Complete. Mastt calculates the other for you.

Submitted amounts: toggle on Submitted amounts to record what was claimed, then enter the claimed amounts. This lets you track the gap between what was claimed and what was approved.
Comments: click the comment icon on a line to explain any difference. Comments appear on the payment letter.
Variation Display: use this dropdown to control how variation lines appear in the list. The default is Group at Bottom.

Mastt also shows a hierarchical breakdown of any In Principle or Approved variation line items. You can pay against variations with a status of In Principle or Approved. Both are committed costs.

Record retention

Scroll down the Line Items tab to the Retention section (cash retention). It shows what's been retained so far and what's retained this payment:

Column	What it shows
Total Retained and Total %	Retention held to date, including this payment
Previous Retention and Previous %	Retention held before this payment
Retained This Payment and This %	Enter the amount, or the percentage, to retain in this payment

Retention limitations. Retention is calculated on contract line items. It isn't applied automatically to variations, so adjust the retention amount manually if you need it there.

Review a payment with AI

The AI Review tab (beta) checks your payment PDF against your contract terms. As soon as you upload a PDF to the payment, Mastt AI reviews it automatically. You can also work through the checklist yourself. See How to Use AI Compliance for Contracts and Payments.

Generate payment letters

For one payment

Click the three dots next to the payment.
Choose the document you need (see the list below).
To include attachments, select them when prompted.

Payment Certificate, Payment Schedule and Payment Recommendation – your payment letters. They share the same layout (see below). The Certificate and Schedule show a Certified Date, and the Recommendation shows a Date Approved.
Final Payment Certificate – identical to the Payment Certificate, except that "Final" is added to the title. It is there for contracts that require a final payment certificate, such as in Victoria.
Payment Report – a downloadable PDF that summarises the payment's values for each contract. It shows the contract, vendor, payment month and period, then every contract line item and variation with its approved contract value, total to date, previous total, this payment and remaining amount, plus sub-totals and a total (excluding tax). It's for information and isn't a legal document.

What's in a payment letter. The first page summarises the payment: the consultant and client, project, contract, payment claim, purchase order and invoice number, the dates and payment period, the submitted and approved amounts, and the total including tax. A second page lists every contract line item and variation with its approved contract value, total to date, previous total, this payment and remaining amount, followed by sub-totals and a total excluding tax.

The three-dot menu also has Edit Payment and Delete Payment.

For several payments

Tick the checkbox next to each payment.
Click Letters and choose Final Payment Certificate, Payment Certificate, Payment Schedule or Payment Recommendation.
Select any attachments you want to include.
Mastt creates all the documents in a single ZIP file.

Payment Reports and MC Combined reports download in the background, so you can keep working while they're prepared.

Customise your letters

On the Additional Fields tab, toggle on Customise your letter's text to add a message that appears on the payment certificate. The text supports rich formatting (bold, italics, lists and more).
Set fonts, including the numbers font, under Project Settings > Brand.
Your workspace can have a default brand preset for payment letters. In Workspace settings > Workspace Details, click Edit Workspace Brand Preset. A project with its own branding overrides the workspace default.

See How to Customise Brand Colours for Letters.

Show a Difference Report page

Turn on the Difference Report to add a page to your payment letters. It lists the line items where the submitted and approved amounts differ, with the reason for each.

You can set it in two places:

Where	What it does
Workspace settings > Workspace Details > Difference Report	Turns the Difference Report on or off by default for every project in your workspace
Project Settings > Brand > Difference Report	Turns it on or off for one project. A project follows the workspace setting unless you change it here.

Look for the Show Difference Report page on Payment letters toggle.

Delete a payment

Click the three dots next to the payment and select Delete Payment. Payments can be deleted in any order.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to try
I can't find a variation to pay against	Check its status is In Principle or Approved.
Retention isn't what I expected	It applies to contract line items and isn't applied automatically to variations.
Date Approved or Month Paid is greyed out	These fill in automatically. Set the status to Approved or Paid.
An error appears when I submit	Read the message. It describes what needs fixing.
My AI upload didn't work	Check the file is under 50MB and 1,000 pages.

Need help?

Contact Mastt Support for additional assistance.