---
title: "Xero JAX and overdue invoices: what it handles"
description: "Xero JAX answers who owes you and sends invoices on request. Payment follow-ups are in early access. Here is what JAX does with overdue invoices."
url: https://www.paidnice.com/blog/xero-jax-overdue-invoices
---

# Xero JAX and overdue invoices: what it handles

By Denym BirdCo-founder & CEO of Paidnice
6 min read · Updated Oct 2, 2026

## Summary

Xero JAX is Xero's AI assistant. For overdue invoices it answers who owes you, creates and sends invoices when you ask, and has payment follow-ups in early access that build a chasing schedule for each contact. Xero's own invoice reminders run separately, as up to five emails per organisation.

- **What JAX does:** JAX answers questions such as which unpaid invoices you have and can create, approve and send an invoice, within the permissions of the person who asks.
- **Payment follow-ups:** Xero's release notes list payment follow-ups as early access: turn them on for a contact and JAX builds a chase schedule you can review, edit and approve.
- **What Paidnice adds:** Paidnice puts every overdue invoice on a policy for each customer group, reads the reply, logs the promised date on the invoice and, on policies with Skip when payment promised on, holds reminders until it passes.

Contents▾

You open JAX in Xero and ask which unpaid invoices you have. The list comes back, and it is rarely short: Xero's own figures show [UK small businesses waited an average of 29.1 days to be paid and were paid 8.3 days late](https://blog.xero.com/product-updates/supplier-days-to-pay-detail-report/) in the June quarter. Here is what JAX does with each of those overdue invoices, and what Paidnice adds.

## What is Xero JAX?

**Xero JAX (Just Ask Xero) is Xero's AI finance partner: a chat window inside Xero that answers questions about your business and completes tasks within your own user permissions.**

Xero Central describes JAX as help with tasks such as creating invoices and quotes, plus answers about your numbers, and notes that [JAX is in beta](https://central.xero.com/0/article/About-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX). It is available in web Xero and the Xero Accounting app to subscribers and users with the administrator or standard user role, and it can only retrieve data or take actions that your role allows.

## Can Xero JAX chase overdue invoices?

**JAX can list your unpaid invoices and send an invoice when you ask, and Xero's release notes describe payment follow-ups, in early access, that build a chase schedule for each contact.**

- **Ask.** Xero's example prompts for JAX include ["What unpaid invoices do I have?" and "How much does [contact] owe me?"](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Use-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX).
- **Send.** JAX can [create, edit, approve and send an invoice](https://central.xero.com/0/article/About-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX), using the permissions of the user who asks. ["Send the approved invoice to [contact]"](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Use-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX) is one of Xero's own examples.
- **Follow up.** [Xero's release notes for JAX](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Release-notes-for-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX) list payment follow-ups as early access. You turn them on for a contact, JAX suggests who to chase and when to email, writes the messages from that contact's payment history, and you can review, edit and approve each follow-up.

## What do Xero's own invoice reminders do?

**Xero's invoice reminders email customers before and after an invoice is due, with up to five reminders per Xero organisation and three set up by default when you first turn them on.**

According to [Xero Central's page on invoice reminders](https://central.xero.com/0/article/How-invoice-reminders-work), each reminder goes to the contact's primary person and anyone with Include in emails ticked. You can stop reminders for certain customers or for specific invoices, for example one you have already spoken to the customer about.

One set of reminder rules covers the whole organisation. The full walkthrough is in [Xero invoice reminders explained](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/xero-invoice-reminders-explained), and [how the jobs split between Xero and an app](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/xero-reminders-vs-credit-control-app) covers where reminders stop and a credit control tool starts.

## What does Paidnice add for overdue invoices on Xero?

**Paidnice connects to your Xero organisation and runs the follow-up around each invoice: a policy for each customer group, reading the reply, pausing while a promise or query is open, and escalation to a person.**

| Overdue invoice job | What Xero describes | What Paidnice does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Find the overdue invoices | JAX answers prompts such as ["What unpaid invoices do I have?" and "How much does [contact] owe me?"](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Use-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX) | Reads the same invoices and contacts from your Xero organisation and puts each overdue invoice on a policy |
| Send the reminder | [Invoice reminders](https://central.xero.com/0/article/How-invoice-reminders-work): up to five per organisation, one set of rules. [JAX payment follow-ups](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Release-notes-for-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX) (early access): a schedule per contact that you review, edit and approve | Email and SMS reminders, with WhatsApp as a channel, on a policy for each customer group. A policy runs on schedule (Active) or holds each action for your approval (Draft) |
| Read the reply | A reply to a reminder [goes to the email address of the user who turned reminders on](https://central.xero.com/0/article/How-invoice-reminders-work) | Replies land in the contact's conversation. Paidnice reads the reply, logs a promised date on the invoice and drafts the answer |
| Pause while something is agreed | You can [stop reminders for certain customers or invoices](https://central.xero.com/0/article/How-invoice-reminders-work) | Customers promise a date or query the invoice in the customer portal. Policies set to skip hold reminders until the date passes or the query is resolved |

Paidnice also puts late fees on the Xero ledger, sends statements, and hands the case to a person through [escalations](https://www.paidnice.com/escalations) when reminders alone have not brought payment. A query raised in the portal is held open until someone resolves it, which is the same path described in [how to handle a disputed invoice](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/handle-disputed-invoice). The setup is covered on [credit control for Xero](https://www.paidnice.com/xero/credit-control).

## What happens when a customer replies to a reminder?

**With Xero's invoice reminders, the reply to a reminder goes to the email address of the user who turned reminders on, you can change that address, and the next step is yours.**

The reply is where the useful information turns up: the date they intend to pay, the PO number that was missing, or the reason they are holding the invoice. Someone has to read it, record it and answer it, and you can [change where Xero sends the reply](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/xero-reminder-reply-to-address) to choose whose inbox it lands in.

With Paidnice, the reply lands on the contact's conversation and the reading is done for you. You choose how much to approve: an Active policy sends on schedule, a Draft policy holds each action for you, and Safe Mode holds every send.

💡 Paidnice insight

Paidnice reads the reply, logs the promised date against the invoice and drafts the response. A draft waits for your approval unless you have pre-approved that type of reply. Policies with "Skip when payment promised" switched on then wait until the promised date before the next reminder goes.

The longer guide to [what to do when a customer replies to a payment reminder](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/customer-reply-payment-reminder) covers each reply type, and [what to do when a promise to pay is broken](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/broken-promise-to-pay) covers the date that passes.

## Do you need Paidnice if you use JAX?

**JAX and Paidnice work side by side: JAX answers questions and handles invoices inside Xero, and Paidnice follows up the overdue ones from the same Xero organisation and writes the result back.**

Paidnice covers the whole overdue journey, from the first reminder through promises, queries, fees, statements and escalation, and shows every email sent and which user sent it.

💡 Paidnice insight

A promised date recorded in Paidnice can set the invoice's [expected payment date](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Add-an-expected-payment-date-to-an-unpaid-invoice) in Xero, and a payment made in the customer portal is recorded against the invoice in Xero.

For the wider question of [what AI handles in accounts receivable](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/can-ai-do-accounts-receivable), and [whether AI replaces the credit controller](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/will-ai-replace-credit-controllers), the answer is the same: the AI reads and drafts, and a person approves, or pre-approves, what goes out. If you also use Claude on your ledger, [Claude skills for Xero](https://www.paidnice.com/blog/claude-skills-for-xero) covers that side.

**Paidnice follows up overdue invoices from your Xero organisation, reads the replies and writes the promised date, payments and late fees back to Xero.** See it on your own ledger: [book a call](https://www.paidnice.com/book-a-demo).

## Questions about Xero JAX and overdue invoices

JAX answers questions and handles invoices inside Xero; [payment follow-ups are in early access](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Release-notes-for-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX), and what you see depends on your plan and region.

How do I turn on JAX in Xero?

Xero says [JAX chat is available to all subscribers and users](https://www.xero.com/uk/ai-in-accounting/jax/), and [JAX is available to the administrator and standard user roles](https://central.xero.com/0/article/About-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX), in web Xero and the Xero Accounting app. You do not need to set anything up: open JAX from the navigation bar and ask a question. The features available depend on your plan and region.

Does JAX run in the background?

[Xero says JAX only does something when you open it and ask a question](https://www.xero.com/uk/ai-in-accounting/jax/), and it will not run in the background unless you ask. Payment follow-ups are a separate setting you turn on for a contact, and [Xero's release notes](https://central.xero.com/0/article/Release-notes-for-Just-Ask-Xero-JAX) list them as early access.

Is it safe to let AI email my customers?

Xero says you can review, edit and approve JAX follow-ups. In Paidnice, reply drafts wait for approval unless you pre-approve that type of reply, Safe Mode holds every send, and Paidnice shows every email sent and which user sent it. The [AI credit control](https://www.paidnice.com/credit-control-ai) page explains the controls.

Written by

#### Denym Bird

Co-founder & CEO of Paidnice

Denym is a software entrepreneur and writes about accounts receivables management for small business.

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