Refunding a customer unexpected results (with refund receipt)

Hi Alan62,

Welcome to the Community. Being able to correctly record your transactions is essential in order to keep your books balanced. QuickBooks is a great programme that offers the ability to simply track sale and expenses. I'd be glad to point you in the right direction to record the refund in your account.

When you delete an invoice and keep its payment, the payment is considered as a credit for this customer. I'd recommend that you don't delete the invoice. You'd need to recreate the invoice. The best way to complete this operation is to record the invoice, its payment and the refund receipt. When you create an invoice you need to choose the product/service and it cancels with the chosen product/service on the refund receipt. Also, the invoice payment is canceled with the refund receipt because you need to choose the bank account in both transactions. 

Let me know if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help.

Thanks for your response.  It is my understanding you are saying to do this when they order:

1. create Customer
2. create Invoice
3. create Payment

and when they cancel:

1. create a Refund Receipt (with the exact same Line items and bank account as on Invoice)

But when I look at the customer, the "Total" is not zero. That's a problem, isn't it?

Hi Alan62,

Welcome back!  QuickBooks Online is a dynamic program for all of your accounting needs.  I can see how recording your customer refund has become a little concerning when a negative balance is remaining.  Don't worry, I'll be happy to help you and get you back on track with your QuickBooks goals!

Follow these steps to balance the transaction:

1. From the left menu select Sales and then Customers

2. Open the Transaction List for the associated customer

3. Click on the Invoice to Edit 

4. In the top right, open the blue hyperlink for the Payment and then click on the Date to open the transaction

5. Select More from the bottom task bar and then Delete

That's it!

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach back out.  We'd be glad to assist!

... that doesn't sound right. After doing that:

• the customer's "total" is $0, but they have a "balance" of $113
• the "invoice" status is "Overdue"
• I would think the paper trail has a payment missing (since there was a debit and a credit to my bank account)

I appreciate you for getting back, Alan. I'm here to share with you some additional information on how to track your customer refund in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Once a customer cancelled their order and had made a payment to a transaction, you must enter the payment so the invoice won't show as overdue. Then, record a refund or a check to your customer.

1. Go to the +New icon, then select Cheque.
2. Select the customer's name under Payee, then the bank account where you deposited the payment under the Bank Account drop-down.
3. Fill in the necessary information, then pick an expense account to track the refund under the Category column. If you want this to apply the amount to the customer's future invoices, use Accounts Receivable under Category.
4. Enter the amount, then save the transaction.

Otherwise, you can issue a refund from the +New icon.

To learn more about returning customers' money or issuing a refund, open this link: Record a customer refund in QuickBooks Online.

Once settled, you're now ready to process your other customer entries in QBO. You may review the resources from here as your reference: Topics about your company's income and customers.

If you have any other follow-up questions about your refund transaction, let me know by adding a comment. I'm always here to help! Have a good one!

I will issue a refund (not a cheque). I find it odd that the "Total" shows -$100; to me that means that the customer's lifetime value is -$100, but in reality their lifetime value is $0.
Thanks.