Credit Memo
A Credit Memo issues the customer an account credit — it reduces what they owe you, or gives them a balance to use on a future purchase. It's independent of inventory: issuing a Credit Memo never puts anything back into stock. If the item is also physically coming back, that's handled separately by a Restock or Repair.
Where to Access
Service → Credit Memo (list / Add New). You don't need an RMA to create one — you can also start a Credit Memo directly from:
- An Invoice, from its row action menu
- A Shipment
- An open RMA, once its line is Received (or earlier, while still Awaiting Return)
- A Customer's transaction history
How Posting Works
Posting a Credit Memo is entirely native to ianaiERP — it isn't dependent on any external accounting connection, and it happens as soon as you save, not on some later sync. In plain terms, it:
- Reduces the revenue you recorded for the original sale (reversing the income side).
- Reduces what the customer owes you (their Accounts Receivable balance).
- Reverses any tax that was originally charged, the same way it was applied.
A Credit Memo doesn't post anything if none of its lines can actually be posted (for example, a line with neither an item nor an account selected) — make sure every line has one or the other.
Header Fields
- Date/Time, Customer (required)
- Location – defaults for item rows, if needed.
- Credit Memo Number (auto-numbered or entered manually).
- Sales Rep, Ref Number
- Department / Project Code – if your company tracks these.
- Custom Fields – e.g., Width/Height/Area, if your tenant uses them.
- Billing/Shipping Address – prints on the document.
Line Fields
Each line credits either an Item or a general ledger account directly — useful for a charge or allowance that isn't tied to a specific item, like a restocking fee.
- Item or Account – the credited SKU, or the account to post against.
- Description, Quantity / UOM, Unit Price / Amount / Tax
- Class – if enabled.
- Bill – marks the line as billable, so it can be passed through and billed to a customer later.
- Customer – for that pass-through billing use case.
Header Summary
- Remaining Credit – how much of this memo's total hasn't been applied to an invoice yet. This starts equal to the memo's total and goes down automatically as you apply it.
Credit Memo has no status of its own — no approval flow, no lifecycle to progress through. The one exception: once a Credit Memo has been included in a bank deposit, it's locked and can no longer be edited or deleted.
Applying a Credit
You don't apply a credit "in your accounting system" — it's a step inside ianaiERP, on the Payment screen, where you select the Credit Memo alongside the invoice you want it applied to.
You often won't need to do this manually: when a new Invoice is created for a customer who has open, unapplied credit memos, ianaiERP automatically applies the oldest ones to it first. The one exception is if your company has an active QuickBooks Online sync connection — in that case, this automatic step is skipped and left to QuickBooks instead.
Where Billable Lines Come From
If you see billable rows available to add to a Credit Memo, they originate from Bills, Expenses, Credit Card Credits, or Vendor Credits marked billable to a customer — not from Restocks or anything return-specific. Once a billable row has been used on a Credit Memo (or an Invoice), it's locked from further editing; deleting the Credit Memo releases it again so it can be used elsewhere.
Vendor Credit
Vendor Credit — a credit you receive from a vendor, on the purchasing side — uses this exact same screen and record type, just for Accounts Payable instead of Accounts Receivable. If you come across "Vendor Credit" while working with credit memos, that's why the two are so similar; see Miscellaneous for where Vendor Credit is managed.
Printing and Sending
A Credit Memo can be printed or downloaded as a PDF. Unlike an Invoice, there's no built-in "email to customer" button — print or download it and send it yourself if the customer needs a copy.
Common Problems
- "The credit memo didn't post to accounting." Check that every line has either an Item or an Account selected — a line with neither is skipped entirely and won't post.
- "I can't edit or delete this Credit Memo." It's likely already included in a bank deposit, which locks it.
- "The credit didn't apply automatically to a new invoice." Automatic application only happens if the customer has open credit memos and your company doesn't have an active QuickBooks Online sync connection — with QBO connected, application is handled there instead.
- "I issued a Credit Memo but the customer's item is still marked as out of stock." Expected — a Credit Memo never touches inventory. Use Restock or Repair separately if the item is physically coming back.
Best Practices
- Use the Item/Account line choice to record restocking fees or return freight cleanly as their own lines, rather than folding them into the item's own credited amount.
- Check Remaining Credit before assuming a memo has been fully used.
- Let automatic application handle straightforward cases; use the Payment screen directly when a credit needs to go to a specific invoice out of order.