Customer Refund

The customer refund process is used when a customer has a credit balance on their account and they request a check to receive their money.  The credit balance may be from an overpayment or from a credit memo.

Process

The customer already has a credit balance on their account, either from a Payment/Overpayment or a Credit Memo. 

1. Navigate to the Payment or Credit Memo that created the credit balance on the account. 

2. Enter a Customer Refund by using the action menu (ellipsis) on the Payment/Credit Memo that is creating the credit balance on the account. This will display the available processing options.

3. Acumatica will open a Customer Refund form pre-filled with the information from the original document.  Complete the Refund details:  
   • Set the correct Cash Account (it is recommended to select the bank account from which the refund will be issued).  NOTE: The refund will default to the cash account that the original payment was applied to. 
   • Verify or edit the Application Date, Payment Reference and Amount.
   • Edit Payment Method if applicable.  NOTE:  If the selected refund payment method is ACH, step 4 will be the final action needed in Acumatica.  Step 5 is only necessary if the payment method is CHECK or if the ACH refund will be issued via a batch payment in AP.

4. Release the Refund to complete the application, resulting in a zero balance on the customer account. **This is the final step required if the refund payment method is ACH.

5. Extend the Customer as a Vendor - NOTE: This step is only required if the refund payment method above is CHECK (where a check needs to be printed for the actual refund) or if the ACH refund will be processed through a batch payment in AP. 

This action creates a vendor profile for the customer, allowing a refund to be issued via check or batch ACH.

Navigation:  Receivables > Customer Profile > Action Menu > Extend as Vendor

6. Create a Cash Purchase using the Vendor created in step 5.      
   • Navigation:  Payables > Cash Purchases > New
   • In the Document Details section, add a line and code it to the same Cash Account from which the check will be issued.  Note: Although this cash account is typically not used for direct coding, this situation is the exception.

7. Save, Print/Process and then Process Payment/Print Check as you would normally print any other check.

To help understand this process, see below for an example of related GL entries for steps listed above along with the associated bank reconciliations.  The cash account credited in the AR transaction will reconcile to the same GL account debited in the AP transaction.  The Cash Purchase will clear once has check actually cleared the bank.