Refunds

Overview

A refund records money coming back after a purchase or sale, without it ever pretending to be new income or a new expense. Beeswax has two kinds:

• Supplier Refund: money a supplier pays back to you. For example, a box of printing arrived misprinted and the printer returns part of the bill.
• Customer Refund: money you pay back to a customer. For example, you invoiced two days of work, only one went ahead, and you return the difference.

Refunds are the right way to record these situations. Recording a supplier refund as an Invoice (a common workaround) makes it look like a sale, which inflates your income, throws out your tax report, and lists the supplier as if they were a customer. A refund reverses the original on the same accounts and the same tax codes, so your reports simply show the cost (or the sale) reduced.

You'll recognise a refund by the ribbon across the top of its header, which reads Refund from Supplier or Refund to Customer. A supplier refund has a red header, like the expense it reverses; a customer refund has a green header, like the invoice it reverses. A refund made from an original document also shows a note, This refund reverses Expense 1001: select the document name to open the original.

Recording a Refund from a Supplier

The easiest way is from the original expense:

1. Open the paid (or part-paid) expense the refund relates to
2. Open the menu (⋯) at the top right of the document
3. Choose Record Refund
4. Confirm in the dialog. Beeswax creates a draft Supplier Refund with the supplier, the currency and every line copied from the expense

The draft starts as a full refund of the original. For a partial refund, change the line amounts or quantities (or remove lines) until the total matches what the supplier is returning. The lines keep the expense's accounts and tax codes.

If the supplier sent a credit note, enter its number in the Refund Paperwork panel (Credit Note No) and attach the file there.

Nothing reaches your books until you choose Finalise.

When the money arrives

A finalised refund has an amount due, just like a bill. When the money lands in your bank, choose Record Money Received in the Payments section. Beeswax records a payment for the full amount due, dated today, in your default bank account. If the date, the bank account or the amount is different, change it on the payment row. The refund then shows as Paid, ready to match against the bank line when you reconcile.

Recording a Refund to a Customer

It works the same way, in the other direction:

1. Open the paid (or part-paid) invoice the refund relates to
2. Open the menu (⋯) and choose Refund Customer
3. Confirm. A draft Customer Refund is created, prefilled from the invoice
4. Adjust the lines for a partial refund, then Finalise
5. When you've sent the money back to the customer, choose Record Money Paid in the Payments section, and check the date, bank account and amount

From the Bank Feed

If the refund turns up in your bank feed before you've recorded it, you can create it from the bank line: choose New Supplier Refund + Payment on money coming in, or New Customer Refund + Payment on money going out. Apply a Payment to a Supplier Refund (or Customer Refund) matches the line to a refund you've already finalised.

Beeswax may mark a bank line as a Possible refund, but it never books a refund for you: you confirm every one. See Bank Feed Allocations.

Finding Your Refunds

Each project's refunds are in its Money menu, marked with the refund icon: supplier refunds beside Expenses, and customer refunds beside Invoices, each with how many are refunded and how many are still unpaid. Select one to open that list.

Refunds without an original document

If the original purchase or sale was never recorded in Beeswax (for example, it predates your account), open the project's Supplier Refunds or Customer Refunds list and choose New Supplier Refund or New Customer Refund. You'll need to fill in the contact and lines yourself.

How Refunds Affect Your Reports

• Profit and Loss: a supplier refund reduces the expense category it's posted to (the cost simply shrinks). A customer refund reduces the income category. Refunds never appear as separate income or expenses.
• Tax report and Business Activity Statement: a supplier refund hands back the GST credit you claimed on the purchase, and a customer refund reduces the GST you owe on the sale. The amounts appear as negative lines in the tax report so the totals come out right, in the period the refund is dated.
• General Ledger: you'll see the money going out and coming back in on the same account, which makes the history easy to follow.
• Original document: once a refund is finalised, the original expense or invoice shows a Refunded $X of $Y note in its Payments section, with a View refund link.

Rules Worth Knowing

• A refund linked to an original document must use the same contact as that document
• You can record several partial refunds against one document, but together they can't come to more than its total
• A refund's total can't be negative
• Only a draft refund can be deleted. A finalised refund has posted to your books, so it is voided instead: Void is in the refund's document menu. A voided refund keeps its number and line items as the record, but leaves the ledger, tax reporting and the amount owed. A refund with a payment recorded against it can't be voided or deleted: remove the payment first
• Refunds come with every paid plan and the free trial; the Free plan doesn't include them

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a credit note?
No. Beeswax uses refunds instead of credit notes: they do the same bookkeeping job (reversing part or all of a purchase or sale) without the extra concept. If a supplier sends you a credit note along with returned money, record it as a Supplier Refund and put the credit note in its Refund Paperwork panel.

What if the supplier gives me a credit to use later instead of money back?
Record the refund when money actually changes hands. If a supplier is holding a credit against your future purchases, the simplest approach is to wait and record the next bill at its reduced (after-credit) amount.

The refund arrived months after the original expense. Is that OK?
Yes, that's the normal case. Date the refund when it actually happened. The tax report picks it up in the period the refund falls in, which is the correct treatment.

Can I refund an expense that's only partly paid?
Yes. Record Refund (and Refund Customer) appear on both paid and partly paid documents.