How do I record a partial refund to an Airbnb guest?

SQM · ‎February 13, 2023

I use a generic "Airbnb Guest" as the customer for all of my invoices. I receive payment from Airbnb after the guest checks in, and I put that into an "undeposited funds" or holding account, until I actually receive my money in my checking account.

When I issue a partial refund to my guest during their stay, I am not sure how to document this. I have a product/service called "STR refund" but I was having issues with including that as part of the invoice, since the guest paid a different amount initially.

If I use the refund receipt method, I want to be able to apply the refund to a particular invoice and not have it just apply to the next guest. Any help? Thanks!

JessT · ‎February 13, 2023

Hi SQM,

Thank you for coming back to the thread. I like to step in and clarify how you can handle your partial refunds.

Recording a partial refund as a check or an expense with an A/R category works if you want to keep it as a credit and apply as payment to future invoices. In your case, a refund receipt is a better option since it only records the returned portion of the payment. Nothing stays as a credit in the customer's profile.

On the other hand, we cannot link a refund to a specific invoice, but you can add a memo to the refund receipt stating which invoice or payment it came from.

Let me guess, You wanted to get the net sales per invoice that's why you want to associate/offset the partial refund to the invoice. We're unable to achieve this on the transaction level, provided that you only use one customer for all transactions. You can run the Profit and Loss by Customer report to see overall net sales after refunds instead.

Go to Reports.
Search for Profit and Loss by Customer.
Change the date range and click Run Report.
Double click the Net Income amount to see the list of transactions.

Let me know if you have more questions about your refunds. I'm just around to help.

View solution in original post

AlcaeusF · ‎February 13, 2023

Hi @SQM,

Thank you for getting in touch with us here in the Community. I can guide you in recording a partial refund in QuickBooks Online.

Can you share with us the purpose of the partial refund to your guest? This way, we'll be able to identify if this is for an overpayment or refund for the rent.

We recommend using Cheque or Expense to record the refund. It'll reduce the bank's balance and offsets the customer's available credit, overpayment, or prepayment.

You'll need to use the Accounts Receivable account when you create the transaction. The process allows you to link the refund to the invoice payment.

Here's how:

Click the + New option.
Select Expense, Add expense or Cheque.
Choose the customer you want to refund from the Payee ▼ dropdown.
From the Payment account ▼ dropdown, select the bank account where you deposited the overpayment to.
On the first line of the Category column, select Accounts Receivable.
Enter how much you want to refund in the Amount field.
Fill out the other fields as you see fit, then select Save and close.

The next step is to link the refund to the invoice by receiving a payment. I know it's unusual, but the procedure will fix the balance and is the right way to record the refund in QuickBooks. For the detailed steps, check out this link (scroll down to Refund a customer's overpayment or credit): Record a customer refund or supplier refund in QuickBooks Online.

Also, some customers prefer getting a credit note they can use to reduce the balance on their next invoice. You can visit this link to learn how to handle this scenario in QuickBooks: Create and apply credit notes or delayed credits in QuickBooks Online.

Let us know if you need more assistance managing partial refunds to customers. Add more details by clicking the Reply option, and we'll be sure to get back to you. Take care.

SQM · ‎February 13, 2023

The partial refund purpose is not for an overpayment, but there was an issue with an item in the airbnb that wasn't working so the refund is just to make up for that inconvenience. So it ends up being a refund to the rent and the total amount that the guest will pay.

If I use Cheque or Expense, will I be able to link it back to this particular invoice? Since I use a generic "airbnb guest" as the customer, does it actually matter? It ends up in one bucket so perhaps it doesn't really matter.

MichelleBh · ‎February 13, 2023

Thank you for getting back quickly and adding additional information on the refund, @SQM.

Yes, you can link Checks and Expenses to the invoice as long as Accounts Receivable is used. Since it is a partial refund, I recommend creating a Credit Note. This allows the amount to be applied as an open invoice to the customer.