Refunding invoices in Maxio allows you to reverse or adjust customer payments directly within the platform’s billing interface. This guide walks you through the full refund process—from selecting the appropriate refund type (to a payment profile or as an external refund) to deciding whether to credit or rebill the invoice. You’ll also learn how to handle special cases like prepayments and consolidated invoices. Understanding these options ensures accurate financial records, smooth customer experiences, and proper revenue tracking.
Initiating a Refund
To initiate a refund in Maxio, users can refund an Invoice payment directly through Advanced Billing. This guide covers refund types (including external refunds and refunds to payment profiles), how to process partial refunds for consolidated invoices, and when to choose credit or rebill options. Understanding these workflows helps avoid errors and ensures accurate revenue accounting.
To initiate a refund, open the paid Invoice and, from the More Options drop-down, select Refund Invoice.
Choosing a Refund Type
You can select from available refund methods depending on your setup:
- Refund Payment to Payment Profile
Refunds the payment directly to the stored payment method. - Record 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 refund the 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. - Refund and Rebill the Invoice, keeping the balance due for future collection.
The original payment is refunded and a new invoice with the amount due is created so you can collect payment again. That is, the refunded amount is still owed by the Customer and is collected at a later date.
Enter the refund amount, a memo, and select either to credit or rebill
If the reopened Invoice is set to automatic payment collection, it will be automatically charged again during the next processing cycle. If automatic collection is not desired, the invoice should be updated to use remittance payment collection instead.
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
Use Refund and Rebill when a payment was made incorrectly and you want the amount to remain collectible.
After Refund and Rebill, the same Invoice is updated with a Credit Note (CN) for the refund and a Debit Note (DB) to restore the amount due. You’ll see both entries in invoice history/summary.
If an Invoice still has an unpaid balance, its status may remain Open. For subscriptions with automatic collection, Advanced Billing will try to charge the outstanding amount during its regular billing and collection runs, as long as a valid payment method is on file.
In some cases, this collection attempt can happen before the next renewal date if the Invoice is eligible for scheduled collections (for example, it is open and due). Instead of waiting until renewal day, the system may follow the normal collection schedule.
If the automatic payment attempt is not successful, the Invoice balance stays open until it is paid, credited, or otherwise resolved.
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.
Issuing a Refund for Invoices
- Refunds in Invoice Architecture can be done by navigating to the Invoice that needs to be refunded.
- Once in the desired Invoice, select More Options and click on Refund Invoice.
- Pop-up prompts will walk you through the rest of the refund process.
- You will be able to choose if the refund is applied back to the Payment Profile via a gateway or externally via cash or check.
- Additionally, you can choose whether the Invoice balance is forgiven or remains due.
Click the Invoice option to locate the Invoice to be refunded.
Open the desired Invoice.
Select Refund Invoice.
Select the payment to refund.
Select if the refund will go back to the Payment Profile or be made externally.
Select if the Invoice balance will be forgiven (Refund and credit the Invoice) or still owed (Refund and Rebill the Invoice).
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
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