Refund receipts

A refund receipt records money you pay back to a customer against a credit you already owe them. The credit usually comes from a posted Credit note — for example a customer returns goods or you agree a price correction, and the customer wants cash back instead of a credit on future invoices. The refund pays out of a cash or bank account and uses up part or all of that credit note's remaining balance.

This page covers the customer credit refund: the money leaves your bank or cash account and the customer's receivable moves back toward zero. To return an unused customer advance, use Refund Advance on the advance instead (see Customer advance payments). To see how credit notes, refunds, applied credit and advances fit together on one customer, read Customer credit and balances.

Where to find it

• Sidebar: Sales → Payments & Credits → Refund Receipts.
• URL: /ar/refund-receipts; new refund at /ar/refund-receipts/create; a single refund at /ar/refund-receipts/{id}.
• Search: type a refund number in the top-bar search; refund receipts are included in record search.

You only see the menu item when your plan includes credit notes (or recording offline payments) and your role has Refund receipts → View.

The refund list

The list page is titled Refund Receipts with the subtitle "Refund payouts against customer credits". The first page of refunds is included when the page opens, so an organization with refunds never sees a false empty list.

Top-right: the custom-view switcher and New Refund Receipt.

Filters (applied as you type or choose):

Columns:

The row menu has View, and for drafts also Edit and Delete. You can save custom views (which columns, filters and sort) and export the list: the Excel export carries the same columns, including Linked Credit and Credit Remaining, and it needs the Refund receipts → View permission.

Statuses and what they mean

Before you start

You need a posted credit note for the customer with credit remaining. Create and post the Credit note first. A refund cannot be saved without choosing a posted credit note: the credit note is required, and you will see "Linked credit note must be a posted note for the selected customer." if the note is a draft, void or belongs to another customer.

You also need an active cash or bank account to pay from, and the customer must be active (archived customers cannot receive a new refund).

Create a refund receipt

1. Click New Refund Receipt.

2. Fill in the form:

   Field	Required	Notes
   Date	Yes	The payout date. It must fall in an open accounting period to post. Defaults to today.
   Refund Number	—	Auto-generated on save; shown read-only.
   Side	—	Fixed to Sales; shown read-only.
   Customer	Yes	Select Customer. Must be the customer on the credit note.
   Link to Credit Note (optional)	Yes, in practice	The list shows the customer's most recent posted credit notes with a credit status (Unapplied, Partially Applied or Fully Applied), 50 at most. "Use this to tie the payout to an unapplied credit note instead of creating a new credit." The label says optional, but the refund cannot be saved without a linked credit note.
   Bank / Cash Account	Yes	The account the money leaves from. Only active, postable cash and bank asset accounts are listed ("Control accounts stay hidden; only cash/bank assets are available."). Anything else is refused with "Choose an active, postable cash or bank account."
   Refund Amount	Yes	Greater than 0.00 (minimum 0.01) and not more than the credit note's remaining credit. Otherwise "Amount exceeds available credit on the linked credit note."

   When the linked credit note is in a foreign currency, an information box shows that currency and the credit note's date: the refund is in the credit note's currency (see Foreign-currency credits).

3. Click Save Draft or Save & Post, or Cancel.

Double-clicks and retries are safe

Each form carries a hidden submission reference. If you click Save twice, press back and submit again, or your connection drops and you resend, SolaCount recognizes it as the same submission and returns the refund it already created instead of creating a second one. If the same reference is reused with different details (a different amount, account, date or credit note) you see "This refund submission reference already belongs to different details." — reload the form and start again.

While a refund is being created, the credit note is locked, so two users refunding the same note at the same moment cannot together pay out more than the credit holds. With Save & Post the lock is held until the posting has finished, which means an over-credit draft can never be left behind by a competing submission.

If Save & Post cannot post (for example the period is closed), the refund is still saved as a draft and you see a warning that explains why. Fix the cause and post it from the refund's page.

The refund page

Open a refund from the list. The header card shows the customer, the refund number, and a strip with Date, Status, Linked Credit, Credit Remaining, Bank/Cash, Amount and Journal Entry. For a foreign-currency credit, a multi-currency card shows the currency, the rate used and the base-currency total of the payout. Below are Supporting Documents, the discussion thread and the related journals.

Top-right actions depend on status and on your permissions:

• Edit (drafts) — the same form; the amount is checked again against the credit note's current remaining credit.
• Post (drafts) — confirm "Post this refund receipt? A journal entry will be created."
• Delete (drafts) — confirm "Delete this refund receipt?" Only drafts can be deleted.
• Void (posted) — confirm "Void this refund receipt? A reversing entry will be created and the credit note balance will be restored. This cannot be undone."
• PDF — see The PDF.
• A period banner (Period closed or Period locked (audit-final)) warns you when the refund's date is in a closed or locked period.

Post

Posting checks that the credit note is posted, belongs to the same customer, still has enough credit ("Amount exceeds available credit."), that the bank account is a cash or bank account, and that the date is in an open period. Posting the same refund twice is harmless: a second attempt returns the already-posted refund and creates no second payout or journal.

The linked credit note's Credit Remaining and status update the moment the refund is posted: Refunded when the refund uses up all the credit and none of it was applied to an invoice, Fully Applied when nothing remains after a mix of applications and refunds, and Partially Applied when some credit is left.

If approvals cover customer refunds, posting and voiding need a current approval (see Workflow approvals).

Void

Voiding posts a reversing entry and restores the credit. The credit note's status is worked out again at once: a note that was Refunded returns to Unapplied when nothing else was applied or refunded, or to Partially Applied when other applications or refunds remain. It is blocked when the refund's date is in a closed or locked period or when the payout is matched in a bank reconciliation. Only the Void action reverses a posted refund — a posted refund cannot be deleted.

What posting does to your books

For a refund in your base currency the journal is:

VAT is not touched: the credit note already reversed the revenue and the output VAT when it was posted. The refund only settles the money. Together the credit note and the refund bring the customer's receivable back to where it was before the sale, and your bank balance falls by the cash paid.

On the customer's statement a posted refund appears as a Refund row that increases the customer's balance (it cancels part of the credit they held), and a voided refund appears as a Refund reversal row. A refund is never applied to an invoice and never changes an invoice's balance or A/R aging; only applying credit does that. In the customer's profile the Total Refunded card includes posted refunds, and the Document balance card adds it back, so a fully refunded credit leaves the customer at zero. See Customers and Customer statements and sales reports.

Worked examples (UAE, 5% VAT)

Example 1: refund the whole credit

Al Noor Trading LLC returned one office chair sold on invoice INV-1042 for AED 750 + AED 37.50 VAT. You posted credit note CN-00031 for AED 787.50 and the customer wants the cash back.

1. New Refund Receipt: Customer Al Noor Trading LLC, Link to Credit Note CN-00031, Bank / Cash Account Bank – Emirates NBD, Refund Amount 787.50, Date today.
2. Save & Post.

Result: Credit Remaining on CN-00031 is 0.00, the refund is Posted, the customer's receivable for this return is back to zero, and the bank balance drops by AED 787.50. No VAT line is posted.

Example 2: refund part of the credit and apply the rest

A discount of 10% was missed on a large order. The credit note CN-00032 is AED 1,050.00 (AED 1,000.00 + AED 50.00 VAT). The customer asks for AED 300 back in cash and wants the other AED 750 to reduce invoice INV-1060.

1. Refund Receipt for 300.00 against CN-00032, posted.

CN-00032 now shows Credit Remaining 750.00 and the status Partially Applied.

2. On CN-00032 click Apply Credit and apply AED 750.00 to INV-1060. This creates no journal entry; INV-1060's balance due falls by AED 750.00 (see Credit notes).

If you tried a second refund of AED 800 against CN-00032 you would see "Amount exceeds available credit on the linked credit note." because only AED 750.00 is left.

Example 3: void a refund sent from the wrong bank account

You posted RF-00009 from Bank – Mashreq but paid from Bank – Emirates NBD.

1. Open RF-00009 and click Void, confirm.
2. A reversing entry posts, the credit returns to the credit note, and the refund is Void. If RF-00009 had refunded the whole note, the credit note goes straight back from Refunded to Unapplied.
3. Create a new refund from the right account.

The statement shows RF-00009 as Refund, then Refund reversal; the net effect on the customer is zero.

Foreign-currency credits

A refund is always in the currency of its credit note. The money is paid at the exchange rate of the refund date, while the receivable is relieved at the amount originally recorded when the credit note was posted. Any difference is booked to your realized exchange gain or loss account, so the customer's balance falls by exactly the credit's original base value.

Example: credit note CN-00040 is for USD 1,000 and was carried at AED 3,672.50 (rate 3.6725). On the refund date the rate is 3.6730, so the bank pays out AED 3,673.00.

Net receivable relieved: AED 3,672.50. The bank leg keeps its USD quantity. If your realized gain/loss accounts are not configured, posting is refused and asks you to configure an active, postable exchange gain/loss account. If an older partial refund on the same credit note was posted before this rule existed and its carrying value cannot be reconciled, further refunds against that note stop with "A prior foreign-currency refund needs an auditable carrying-value review before further settlement." — ask your accountant to review it. The full treatment is in Settling foreign-currency credits.

The PDF

PDF on the refund page prints the refund with your default refund template (see PDF templates). A refund against a credit note shows a small table of the source credit — the credit note number, its date and the refunded amount — instead of an item list, so the recipient can see what the refund settles. Statuses and labels print in the language you are using.

Refunding a cash sale (limited availability)

A separate form, Refund a cash sale, refunds quantities from a posted Sales receipt at their original prices and VAT. It exists for organizations connected to SolaStock whose administrator has switched on the cash-sale handoff; it is off by default, so most organizations never see the button on a sales receipt. When it is available:

• You choose a date, the cash or bank account, and a Quantity to refund per sale line (never more than was sold, reduced by earlier refunds).
• Posting records a money refund only: "Posting records a money refund only; physical returns are separate." Goods returned are confirmed separately in the warehouse.
• Cash-sale refunds keep their original quantities and financial source, so they cannot be edited; to change one, Cancel the draft (it becomes Cancelled) and create a new one.

Cash-sale refunds are reported separately from credit refunds and never appear on the customer's receivable statement.

Permissions

Reversing a refund has its own permission. Organizations created before it existed inherit the permission they already used to reverse customer payments (Reverse customer payments), so nothing changes for them until an owner sets the new permission explicitly; an explicit setting always wins. The Sales role can prepare customers, quotes, orders, invoices, receipts and credit-note drafts but has no refund permissions; Owner, Manager and Accountant have all of the above by default. See Roles and permissions.

Tips and common problems

• "Amount exceeds available credit on the linked credit note." Look at Credit Remaining on the refund list or the credit note. Drafts do not use credit, so two drafts can each be valid alone but only one can be posted in full.
• The credit note is missing from the picker. Only posted notes with a credit status are listed, and only the 50 most recent. Check that the credit note is posted and belongs to the same customer, and that the status is not Void.
• Paid from the wrong account? Void the refund and create a new one; do not edit the bank account on a posted refund.
• Refund exists but the customer still owes you? A refund never reduces an invoice. Apply the remaining credit to the invoice from the credit note, or record a payment.
• Bank reconciliation does not match. Pick the account the money actually left from. A reconciled refund cannot be voided until the match is undone.
• Customer profile totals look different from the statement. The profile cards include draft documents; the statement and Customer Balance Summary use posted entries only. See Customers.

Related

• Credit notes · Customer credit and balances · Customer advance payments
• Customers · Customer statements and sales reports · Banking · Payments
• Multi-currency · Roles and permissions · Sales changes since 5 October 2026