Initiating a Refund
To refund an invoice payment, open the paid invoice and, from the More Options drop-down, select Refund Invoice.
Start the refund process by selecting the Refund Invoice action
Choosing a Refund Type
You can choose between two types of refunds:
- Refund Payment to Payment Profile
Refunds the payment directly to the stored payment method. - External Refund
Records a refund that was processed outside of Advanced Billing.
The available refund options depend on the original payment method. For example, if the invoice was paid with an external payment, a direct refund to the payment profile is not possible.
Selecting the Payment to Refund
On the next screen, choose the payment to refund. Refunds apply to automatic and external payments, as well as prepayments. To refund a prepayment, you have two choices:
- If Prepaid Subscriptions is enabled, select Refund Payment to Payment Profile to collect prepayment using the credit card on file;
- Or, select Record External Refund for refunds recorded outside of Advanced Billing.
"Refund and Credit" or "Refund and Rebill"
Next, decide whether to:
- Credit the invoice for the refunded amount.
The refunded amount is no longer owed by the customer, and the invoice will remain marked as PAID.
or - Refund and rebill the invoice, keeping the balance due for future collection.
The refunded amount is still owed by the customer and will be collected at a later date.
Enter the refund amount, a memo, and select either to credit or rebill
When to Credit an Invoice
If the refunded amount should not have been paid, crediting the invoice is the best option (this is the default selection).
Once submitted, the invoice updates with a new Refunds total, and the refund appears in the invoice history.
When to Rebill an Invoice
If an invoice is refunded due to an incorrect payment method, rebilling ensures the remaining balance is collected later. In this case, the invoice will reflect applied credits and debits.
After submitting the refund and rebill, the invoice summary is updated with a new total, and an event in the invoice history links to the generated credits, which appear on the updated invoice summary as credits ("CN" for Credit Note) and debits ("DB" for Debit Note).
The system will then attempt to charge the invoice again during the next automatic subscription renewal.
How the credit note (CN) and the debit note (DB) are recorded on the Invoice
The Invoice History with Refund and Reissued Invoice
About Not Crediting the Invoice
Refund but do not credit is a legacy option that will be phased out over time in favor of the Refund and Rebill option.
Previously, the "Refund without crediting the invoice" option allowed an invoice to remain open after a refund. In this case, the system would attempt to charge the invoice again during the next automatic subscription renewal. This approach was useful in scenarios where a customer needed a refund to switch payment methods. By not crediting the invoice, the balance remained due, ensuring the customer still had to pay the full amount using a different payment method.
Refunding Consolidated Invoices
For payments on consolidated invoices, you can choose which segments to refund.
After selecting a payment, you can choose to refund the full amount or enter a partial amount. For consolidated invoices, partial refunds are distributed proportionally across invoice segments.
For example, if Invoice A is $15.00 and Invoice B is $5.00, a $10.00 refund (50% of the total) would be applied as follows:
- Invoice A: $7.50 refunded
- Invoice B: $2.50 refunded