Refund
A Refund pays the customer back in cash immediately, from a bank or cash account you choose. Unlike a Credit Memo, there's no balance left afterward to apply to a future invoice — the money is simply gone from that account and given back to the customer. Like a Credit Memo, a Refund is independent of inventory: it never puts anything back into stock on its own.
Where to Access
Service → Refund (list / Add New). You don't need an RMA to create one — a Refund can also be started directly from:
- An Invoice
- A Shipment
- An open RMA
- An account register
How Posting Works
Posting is native to ianaiERP and happens immediately when you save — there's no external accounting connection involved. In plain terms, a Refund reduces the balance of the deposit account you choose (the cash actually leaving that account), reduces the revenue originally recorded for the sale, and reverses any tax that was charged. It does not touch Accounts Receivable at all, since a refund isn't about what the customer owes — the money already left your account.
Fields
- Deposit Account (required) – which bank or cash account the refund is paid from. A Refund can't be saved without one.
- Refund Number (auto-numbered or entered manually).
- Customer, Payment Method – how the refund was actually paid out (e.g., by card, check).
- Lines: Item and Amount/Tax. A line needs an item — a line with only an account and no item is not saved.
Refund has no status of its own beyond active/archived, and no lifecycle to progress through. As with Credit Memo, once a Refund has been included in a bank deposit, it's locked and can no longer be edited or deleted.
There's no PDF or print option for a Refund — it's an internal accounting record, not a customer-facing document.
Common Problems
- "My refund line disappeared after I saved." A line needs an item selected — an account-only line with no item isn't kept.
- "I can't save the refund." Check that a Deposit Account is selected; it's required and the Refund won't save without it.
- "I can't edit or delete this Refund." It's likely already included in a bank deposit, which locks it.
- "Should I use a Refund or a Credit Memo?" Use a Refund when you're actually paying cash back out of a bank/cash account right now. Use a Credit Memo when you want to give the customer a balance to use later instead of paying cash immediately.
Best Practices
- Pick the Deposit Account that actually matches where the money is coming from, so your bank reconciliation stays accurate.
- Record the real Payment Method used, especially if you reconcile by payment type.
- Prefer a Credit Memo over a Refund when the customer is fine with store credit — it keeps cash in the business.