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When a customer has already paid and you now owe them money back, you handle it in two steps. For example, the scope of the job shrank after they paid, you agreed to a discount after the fact, or they paid more than the work cost.
  1. Add a credit note. This lowers what the invoice charges. On an invoice that’s already paid, it takes the balance below zero and the invoice status changes to Refund Due.
  2. Record the refund. This brings the balance back to zero, and the invoice returns to Paid.
Recording a refund in Menaia does not send any money. Return the funds to the customer yourself, by check, cash, bank transfer, or your card terminal, then record the refund here so your records match. Payments taken online through Stripe work differently. See Stripe payments below.

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Who can refund

Refunds are part of billing, so only Admins can add credits and record refunds, and only on invoices in branches they belong to. Invoicing also has to be turned on for your workspace.

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Why the credit note comes first

A refund pays back money the sale no longer covers. Menaia only lets you refund what an invoice owes the customer, and an invoice only owes the customer money after a credit note has lowered it below what they’ve paid. If you try to refund first, the refund option stays off and explains why: “This invoice does not owe the customer anything. Record a credit note for the amount being returned first.” Here’s how the numbers move on a 5,000invoicethatthecustomerpaidinfull,whenyouagreetogive5,000 invoice that the customer paid in full, when you agree to give 500 back:

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Step 1: Add a credit note

1

Open the invoice

Go to Invoices and open the invoice the customer paid. You can credit an invoice that’s Paid, as well as one that still has a balance.
2

Choose Add Credit

Click the actions menu (the three-dots button) in the top-right of the invoice and choose Add Credit.
3

Enter the amount you're giving back

In the Add Credit Note window, choose Fixed Amount ($) and enter the amount you plan to refund. Then pick a Reason and add Notes. Both are required.
4

Apply the credit

Click Apply Credit. The invoice’s status badge changes to Refund Due, and the balance line on the invoice reads Refund Due with the amount you owe back.
A credit can’t be more than the invoice total, less any credits already on it. For more on credit types, reasons, and editing or voiding a credit, see Add a credit.
To find every invoice that owes money back, click the Refund Due card at the top of the Invoices page. It filters the list to those invoices.

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Step 2: Record the refund

There are two ways to record the refund. Use Refund Invoice when you just want to settle what the invoice owes back. Use Refund Payment when you want to choose which payment the money comes from, or set the refund date yourself.

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Refund the invoice

1

Open the invoice

Open the invoice that shows the Refund Due status.
2

Choose Refund Invoice

Click the actions menu (the three-dots button) and choose Refund Invoice. This option only appears while the invoice is Refund Due.
3

Fill in the refund

The Refund Invoice window tells you how much the invoice owes the customer. Enter the Refund Amount, up to that amount. Optionally choose a Refund Method to record how you sent the money back, and add Notes about why.
4

Record it

Click Record Refund. The refund is dated today in your branch’s time zone.
If the invoice has more than one payment, Menaia takes the refund from the oldest payment first and records one refund for each payment it draws from. The confirmation tells you how many payments it was recorded across.

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Refund a specific payment

You can start from the invoice or from the payment.
  • From the invoice: in Transaction History, click the More options (three-dots) button on the payment and choose Refund Payment.
  • From the Payments page: open the payment, click its actions menu (the three-dots button), and choose Refund Payment. If the payment was split across several invoices and more than one of them owes money back, pick the invoice from the list. Each entry shows the invoice number and the most you can refund on it.
Then fill in the Record Refund window:
1

Enter the Refund Amount

You can refund up to the smaller of two amounts: what’s left of this payment, and what the invoice owes the customer. The field shows the most you can enter.
2

Check the Refund Date

It starts on today’s date. Change it if you sent the money back on a different day.
3

Add the method and notes

Optionally choose a Refund Method and add Internal Notes for your team. The customer doesn’t see the notes.
4

Record it

Click Record Refund. You see a Refund recorded confirmation.
Partial refunds are fine. Enter any amount up to the limit and the payment’s status becomes Partially Refunded. Once everything on it has been refunded, it becomes Refunded. You can see both statuses as tabs on the Payments page.

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What changes after a refund

  • Transaction History on the invoice shows a new Refund row with a negative amount. The project’s Financial Summary lists it under Transactions too.
  • The invoice balance goes up by the amount refunded. When it’s back to zero, the invoice status returns to Paid. If you refunded less than the credit, it stays Refund Due for the rest.
  • The payment’s status changes to Partially Refunded or Refunded.
  • A payment with a refund recorded against it can no longer be edited or deleted, because the refund depends on it.
  • The refund is logged in the billing ledger.

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In QuickBooks

If your workspace syncs payments to QuickBooks, each refund you record goes to QuickBooks as an Expense. Its payment type is Check or Credit Card when the refund method you picked is one of those. Any other method, or no method, is sent as Cash. The expense is then linked to the invoice’s credit memo, so QuickBooks stops showing that credit as available to use again.
Pick a Refund Method when you record the refund. It’s what decides how the refund is booked in QuickBooks.
See Integrations for how QuickBooks sync is set up.

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Stripe payments

A payment the customer made online through Stripe can’t be refunded from inside Menaia, because the money has to go back through Stripe. On those payments, Refund Payment is turned off with the message “Stripe payments are refunded from the Stripe dashboard.” To refund a Stripe payment:
  1. Add a credit note to the invoice first, as in Step 1, so the invoice’s total matches what the customer ends up paying.
  2. Issue the refund from your Stripe Dashboard. The payment’s row menu in Transaction History links to it.
  3. Menaia records the refund automatically when Stripe reports it. It appears in Transaction History like any other refund, and the invoice goes back to Paid.
If you refund in Stripe without adding a credit first, the refund still comes through, but it raises the balance so the invoice moves back to Partially Paid or Open, as if the customer owes that money again. Refund Invoice only draws from payments recorded by hand. If most of the invoice was paid through Stripe, you may see “Only $X of this invoice’s payments can still be refunded. Stripe payments must be refunded from the Stripe dashboard.” Refund that part in Stripe instead. A refund made through Stripe can only be cancelled in Stripe.

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Why can’t I refund?