Refunds

Refunds holds the money you pay back to customers who are in credit. A customer is in credit on an invoice when more was paid and credited than the invoice came to. A refund is paid out now, with a payment voucher number, or saved to pay later.

Who can do this

• Owners, admins and members can save a refund to pay later and delete one that is still to be paid.
• Only owners and admins can pay a refund out now, mark a waiting one as paid, or void one. A member who chooses Pay out now is told: "Only an owner or admin can record this as paid. Save it as scheduled or pending instead."
• Viewers can only look. In the demo workspace nothing can be changed.

Before you start

You need a posted invoice whose customer is in credit on it: more paid and credited than the invoice came to. The refund goes against that invoice, or against one of its issued credit notes. A credit note on an invoice that is not yet paid only lowers what is still owed; it leaves nothing to refund. See Credit notes.

Steps

Record a refund

1. Open Refunds under Sales in the Finance menu.
2. Click New Refund. You can also choose Refund on an invoice's row in Invoices, or on an issued credit note's row in Credit Notes. Both show only while the customer is in credit.
3. Choose what it is for under Refund for: an invoice or a credit note.
4. Enter the Amount refunded and choose a Reason: Order cancelled, Damaged goods, Wrong item, Overpayment or Other.
5. Choose the account it is Paid from, the Date paid out (or Planned date when paying later), the Method and any Reference and Notes.
6. Under When, choose Pay out now or Pay later.
7. Click Record refund, or Save to pay later.

A refund on an invoice in another currency is always paid out now. Paid out of a ringgit account, the form then asks for the Ringgit paid out: what left the account, in RM. Paid out of an account in that currency, it asks for the exchange rate instead.

Mark as paid, delete or void

From the row menu:

• Mark as paid on a refund that is To be paid.
• Delete on a refund that is still to be paid. Nothing has been paid out, so the customer stays in credit.
• Void on a refund that was paid out. Confirm with Void refund. The customer is in credit by that amount on the invoice again. It stays in the list as Void. This cannot be undone.

Common problems

• "There is nothing to refund." A refund pays out what a customer is in credit on a posted invoice, less any refund already waiting to be paid out.
• "That is more than the customer is in credit, or more than is left of the credit note."
• "This refund can no longer be paid out: its invoice is no longer posted, or its credit note is no longer issued. Delete it."
• "This refund no longer fits in what the customer is in credit, … so it cannot be paid out. Delete it. …" The credit has gone since the refund was saved, often because a payment was voided.
• "This date is in a closed period: the books are locked to …" See Accounting settings.
• "Only an owner or admin can post, pay or void. Ask one of them to do this." Members still see Mark as paid and Void in the row menus, but only an owner or admin can use them.

Related

• Credit notes
• Payment vouchers