How to Fix Zoho Books API Error: Billing Address Exceeds Character Limit & Use Address API Correctly

Introduction

If you receive this error when creating invoices via Zoho Books API:

Please ensure that the “billing_address” has less than 100 characters.

This happens because Zoho expects an address ID instead of a full inline billing address in your invoice payload. Let’s fix this step-by-step.

Step 1: Understand Zoho Books Address Handling

• Inline billing addresses longer than 100 chars are not accepted.
• Create addresses via Address API linked to contacts.
• Use the returned address_id in your invoice data.

Step 2: Create an Address for a Contact

Send a POST request to:

POST https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/contacts/{contact_id}/addresses?organization_id=YOUR_ORG_ID

Example payload:

{
  "address": "123 Main St, Apartment 4B",
  "city": "New York",
  "state": "NY",
  "zip": "10001",
  "country": "USA",
  "fax": "",
  "phone": "123-456-7890"
}

Step 3: Get the Address ID from Response

The response includes:

{
  "code": 0,
  "message": "Address added successfully",
  "address": {
    "address_id": "987654321"
  }
}

Step 4: Use the Address ID in Invoice Creation

Use billing_address_id instead of billing_address in invoice JSON:

{
  "customer_id": "123456789",
  "billing_address_id": "987654321",
  ...
}

Step 5: Example Invoice Creation API Call

curl -X POST "https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/invoices?organization_id=YOUR_ORG_ID" \
-H "Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
  "customer_id": "123456789",
  "billing_address_id": "987654321",
  "invoice_number": "INV-1001",
  "date": "2025-06-07",
  "due_date": "2025-06-21",
  "line_items": [
    {
      "item_id": "987654321",
      "description": "Website development",
      "rate": 1000,
      "quantity": 1
    }
  ]
}'