# Merge duplicate clients
Source: https://norman.finance/de/en/help-center/merge-clients
Updated: 2026-11-12

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The same client is sometimes in your list twice, for example as "Hansen Design GmbH" and as "HANSEN DESIGN". Merge the two: one client stays, it takes over from the other, and the other leaves the list.

You find your clients in the web app under [Revenue → Clients](https://app.norman.finance/clients).

## Find duplicates

Below your clients, Norman shows **Possible duplicates** when clients share a VAT number or a name. Capital letters, punctuation and the legal form do not count for the name.

If the clients in a row are different companies, click **Not a duplicate**. The row leaves the list and does not come back. The clients, their bookings and their invoices stay unchanged.

## Merge clients

There are three ways:

1. **From the possible duplicates:** click **Merge** in the row.
2. **From the table view:** select two or more clients with the box at the start of the row and click **Merge 2 clients**. The number shows how many you selected.
3. **From one client:** open the client and click **Merge into another client** at the bottom.

Then pick the client to keep and confirm. For each client you see the customer number, VAT number, country, type and the number of bookings and invoices. Norman preselects the client with the most bookings. A merge cannot be undone.

## What the client you keep takes

- the bookings, draft invoices, recurring invoices and rules of the other clients
- their names as further names, so that Norman assigns new payments and documents to the client you keep
- the address, contact person, email and phone number, if its own are still empty

Its own name, VAT number, country and type stay as they are.

## What stays with the old client

Norman does not change finalized bookings, bookings in a closed year or issued invoices. A merge skips them, and Norman tells you how many it skipped. These records stay with their client, so this client stays in your list and keeps its customer number. Everything else moves to the client you keep.

## Why Norman sometimes refuses a merge

The VAT return and the EU sales list read the country, the type and the VAT number of the client. If two clients differ in one of these, a merge would change VAT figures. Norman then refuses the merge and names the client. Make the three details the same on both clients, then merge again.

A client without bookings and without drafts has nothing that can change a figure. You can merge it at any time.

## What happens to the customer number (Debitor)

The number of a merged client is free again. The next new client gets the lowest free number, so no gaps remain.

There is one exception: bookings that your tax advisor already has in a DATEV file. They stay on the old number, so nothing changes in those months. Norman gives this number to no other client.

Vendors work the same way: read [Merge duplicate vendors](/de/en/help-center/merge-vendors).