Is it possible to process partial supplier refunds for returned products in QBO Simple Start?

Hey @garyevans1991,

You’ll need to record a bank deposit when receiving a refund from your supplier. Let me guide you through the steps.

To achieve this, here’s how:

1. Click on the Gear icon.
2. Choose Bank Deposit.
3. Enter the supplier name in the Received from column.
4. Enter Account and Amount.
5. Click on Save and Close.

You can refer to this article for more information: How Do I Handle Supplier Credits and Refunds?

We also have our Help Articles page in case you want to learn more processes in QuickBooks.

Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I’d be happy to help you.

So instead of putting the transaction as income I create a new bank deposit. Do i then need to match that to the transaction in my bank feed?

Hi Gary,

The Bank Deposit is to represent the refund from the supplier going into your bank account.

This is gonna sound stupid.

So in my chart of accounts it's showing 2 transactions for the refund. The one that my bank feed pulled and then the new one I've just created

One shows a negative amount, one shows as positive? Is that correct or have I done something wrong

Hi garyevans1991

It may be that you have selected your bank account in the category section when you have added the transaction in from the banking screen.

If you can PM us on Facebook or DM on Twitter with a screen shot of the transaction we will be able to confirm this for you.

I think that's where I've went wrong. Which category should I select?

Hey garyevans1991,

On the manual bank deposit you created, you will need to select your Creditors account on the 'add funds to this deposit' line on the bank deposit.

The amount that was refunded to your bank will need to be matched rather than added, you can see the full steps to record a supplier refund on the steps below:

1. Create a supplier credit (+ icon -> supplier credit​)

2. Choose the correct date and supplier, put in the amount, choose VAT

3. Then click on the + icon again, and choose Bank Deposit, to show that the money went into your bank account

4. Choose the correct bank account on the top left corner, choose the date when the money actually hit your account

5. For Received from choose the correct supplier, for the account choose Creditors, put the amount in, choose no VAT

6. On the Supplier's page create cheque 

7. Tick the deposit against the supplier credit (this shows QuickBooks, that the supplier credit has been used, and money was received from the supplier),save and close

8. Match the deposit against the transaction on your banking screen

When I click Suppliers Credit it takes me to the upgrade account page. I'm assuming that's an extra feature?

Although when I signed up for QBO I asked if the simple start package supported supplier refunds and I was assured it did

Thanks for the update, @garyevans1991.

You’re right about the feature. Simple Start can only track income, expenses, and manage accounts receivable. The ability to record bills and supplier credit is only available in QuickBooks Online Essentials and Plus.

If you decide to get a higher version of QBO to create these types of transactions, I recommend visiting the website for more details about the different prices and discounts. Simply hit the green Buy now & save button to get started. 

The other option is to log in to your account and upgrade by going to the Account and Settings. Here’s how:

1. From the Gear icon, select Account and Settings.
2. Select the Billing and Subscription tab and go to QuickBooks section.
3. Click Upgrade next to your subscription plan.
4. Choose the plan you want by hitting Upgrade. (See screenshots)
5. Enter your payment information and save the changes. 

After upgrading the subscription, you can start tracking all vendor transactions. For reference, check out these articles: 

• Use Purchase order.
• Enter and pay bills.
• Handle supplier credits and refunds.

Let me know what else you need. I’m always here to help. Have a good one!
 

Just to add to this discussion, as we've just discovered this after 30 to 40 minutes with one of your support reps.

I find it shocking that Quickbooks is able to market SimpleStart as even a basic package if it lacks this fundamental feature. You're seriously saying that you cannot account for a partial or total refund of an expense paid to a supplier without upgrading to the next plan up?

It's exactly the same as if we had to refund one of our own customers (a feature you do allow on Simple Start) - it's incredibly basic and fundamental to bookkeeping for any level of business. You shouldn't be offering a basic plan without this functionality.

Unbelievable. And the reason why we're now looking for alternative software. Not because of the price increase - as we'd have been happy to pay a bit more for the basic plan if it included this functionality in the first instance - but the tactics used with effectively forcing people to upgrade.

Here's the answer to handling a refund from a supplier in QB Simple Start, where the refund has come through as a bank transaction. This also adjusts the GST properly.

I am NOT an accountant, so I am happy for any accountants to correct me if I am wrong, but it all worked just fine.

I guess it is not in Intuit's interest to give us the easy answer when there is an upgrade available.

Create a NEW Journal entry.

In the first line select the Account you added the expense to originally. eg. Repairs and Maintenance, add the amount of the refund as a CREDIT, add a description and select the supplier in the Name column. Make sure GST on Purchases is selected.

On the second line, in Account, select the Bank account that shows the refund. Then the amount in the DEBIT column and a description.
You can add a memo down the bottom so it shows in the GST details report easily.
Select Save and New.

Next open up banking where the refund amount is, you should see a '1 record found' in the Category or Match column. simply select Match as the Action and that is it.

To confirm, go to Reports -> GST Details. You will find the entry in the purchases section, with the taxable amount and GST adding up to the refund amount as a negative $ entry.

You can also go to Accounts -> the account you selected and open it, you will see a negative entry in there for the refund.

I dont underestand the step after on Supplier page create cheque.

Becuase if I create a cheque and tick the supplier credit I get error no bill to match the credit but the credit is being used to refund the bank...

Somehow I replied to the wrong post.

FML its done it again. I give up.

Thank you for detailing how to do this simply. It's frankly even easier than the method they tell you to do if you are paying the extra and appears to work fine.

Why on earth I can't just take a pic of the refund receipt and mark it as a negative expense I'll never know

It appears QBO Simple Start can now process a refund that appears in your bank statement.

Just process it like a purchase except it is a credit/refund with a negative amount and it seems to work fine.

It looks like Intuit fixed the problem.

the only difference I can see is in the account list. the transaction type using a Journal entry shows 'journal' and just processing it from the bank account, it shows as a 'Deposit' transaction type. Neither way shows a negative entry on the 'Supplier' details, I thought that was a bit odd.

I just processed the partial refund directly via the bank feed.

I categorised the transaction as Deposit, with the same supplier and expense category selected.

QB Simple Start appeared to record this correctly and reduced the relevant expense category by the correct amount. 

Did I go wrong?