Overview
This article will cover how to create a refund.
A refund is a transaction that indicates that money was returned to the customer. Refunds can only be created against payments that have an amount unallocated, however payments can be reversed and refunded. See Payment Reversals and Voiding a Payment.
Refunds can either be performed via the Finance > Accounts Receivable > Refund page, or via View Payment.
Performing a refund is simply recording that the refund occurred within Cumulus. Refunds are not part of our Automated Payments module at this time.
The customer’s account balance is adjusted immediately and the refund will appear in the customer’s next invoice.
Refund or Void
Refunds and payment voids are very similar transactions within Cumulus, however they mean different things in the outside world.
- A refund is used to indicate that they had received a payment from a customer and the funds had then been returned to the customer.
- A payment void is used to indicate that the payment was recorded incorrectly, either due to system or human error, and never actually occurred.
How to Refund a Payment
Navigate to the Finance > Accounts Receivable > Refund page.
Use the fields at the top of the page to search for the relevant customer. Once the customer has been located, click the Refund link that corresponds with the customer in question.
Enter the total for the refund in the Total (Inc Tax) field.
The user then needs to choose what payments the refund will be applied against and for how much. This can be achieved by filling in the amount next to Allocated Amount for each payment, or by using the Auto-Allocate checkbox.
If the user chooses to allocate the amount of the refund over the available ledger journals manually, please be aware of the following:
- The entire amount, as specified in Total (Inc Tax), must be allocated against payments in the Allocated Amount field
- It is not possible to allocate more than what is shown in the Amount Available to Refund field.
If the service provider is configured to direct payment traffic through Multiple Payment Gateways, then an additional field will be available:
- Payment Gateway Map: Select the Payment Gateway Map to process this refund with.
The Refund page also has the following additional optional fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer Reference | Use this to provide a description that will be presented on the following invoice for the refund. |
| Refund Type | Use this to specify the refund type. This is used for internal reporting purposes. |
| Transaction Date | By default, the refund transaction date will be as of the date the Refund page was loaded, but this can be back dated as required. |
| Refund Note | Use this to provide an internal note for the refund. This is used for internal reporting purposes. |
| Refund Payment Method | Use this field to indicate the method by which the refund was returned to the customer. |
| Payment Gateway Map | Choose a Payment Gateway Map to source the refund from. |
Users with Xero Integration
Users with the Xero Integration module enabled must perform a cash refund in Xero if the payment being refunded in Emersion has been pushed to Xero as an unallocated Overpayment. The Xero integration will not automatically synchronise these activities.
If a refund is not performed in both systems, the customer's account will not reconcile.