Refund, Credit or Write Off an Invoice

For: Owners, office managers and bookkeepers · Permission: Approve invoice, plus Manage Billing (order page) or Manage Billing Hub (Billing Hub) · Time: ~4 minutes

Quick summary

1. Open the invoice's order, or find its row in the Billing Hub.
2. Pick the action that matches what happened: Refund, Credit a line or Write off.
3. Fill in the amount and reason, and read the What happens panel.
4. Confirm.

Before you start

• You need the Approve invoice permission, plus Manage Billing on the order page or Manage Billing Hub in the Billing Hub. Without them, the three actions don't appear.
• Refund shows whenever a payment can be given back, whatever the order's state. Credit a line and Write off show while money is owed.
• Using QuickBooks? Each dialog also shows a QuickBooks line. See If you use QuickBooks below.

Which action to use

You find all three in two places: the buttons on the order's Billing tab, and the row menu in the Billing Hub. A button or menu item that can't act is grayed out. The row menu says why, for example "Nothing is owed." or "No money was received."

Refund money the customer paid

1. Click Refund.
2. Under Refund from, pick the payment to give back. The drawer shows Can refund, the most you can give back, and what each payment has left.
3. Enter the Amount. It can't be more than the payment has left. For a reason that brings the bill down, it also can't be more than what is left of the bill. When the bill has less left than the payment, the hint under Amount reads, for example, "Up to $100.00, what is left of the bill."
4. Under Reason, pick a reason.
5. Add a Note if you want one.
6. Read the After this refund panel, then click the confirm button, which names the amount.

The drawer groups the reasons under The customer owes less (the invoice goes down) and The customer paid more than they owed (the invoice stays). Every reason except Customer was charged twice or overpaid brings the invoice total down. Customer was charged twice or overpaid leaves the invoice as it is, because the money was never counted against it.

If you go over what is left of the bill, a red message under Amount says how to split it, for example: "This bill has only $100.00 left to take off. Make this refund $100.00, then refund the other $20.00 as “Customer was charged twice or overpaid”." The refund button stays off until the amount fits. The After this refund panel says how far the invoice can come down. A bill with nothing left says so and tells you to refund the whole amount as Customer was charged twice or overpaid. An older bill that earlier refunds took below zero says so, with the real figure. If you refund more as Customer was charged twice or overpaid than MetaFleet shows as paid beyond the bill, the drawer asks Refund this anyway? first. Earlier refunds count against that figure.

A refund that brings the bill down shows everywhere the bill does: the invoice, its email, the Billing tab and the Billing Hub. When it takes the bill to $0.00, the Billing tab says Refunded in full: nothing is owed and the order reads Closed, refunded.

If you refund a payment as Customer was charged twice or overpaid and MetaFleet has no other payment for the invoice, the Billing tab says the amount is owed again. Record the payment when it comes in, or write it off.

A card or ACH payment goes back through Stripe. The drawer says Nothing to fill in. It reaches the customer in 5–10 business days.

On a Closed repair or tow order, the refund can turn into a second step:

1. When it asks: only when the refund leaves no money on the order and you start it from the order's own Billing tab. A part refund asks nothing, and neither does a refund from the Billing Hub.
2. The question: Mark this order as cancelled? It starts on No, keep it closed for Goodwill and on Yes, cancel it for the other reasons. Change the answer if you need to.
3. What cancelling does: a Closed order that is cancelled sends no technician alert and no customer message.
4. Who sees it: you need permission to cancel orders.

A payment you took another way, such as a check, asks How it was paid back, the Check or transfer # and the date the money left. The confirm button then reads Record, the amount and refund.

Credit a line

1. Click Credit a line.
2. Turn on each line you want to credit.
3. Enter the amount to credit on each switched-on line. Each amount has to be more than $0.00. On an invoice with a discount, the most you can credit on a line is what it billed after the discount, plus its tax. If you go over, the drawer says, for example, "Shop supplies has $48.00 left to credit."
4. Add a Note if you want one.
5. Check the Credit total, which includes the tax on those lines, then click the confirm button, which names the amount.

The bill comes down by the credit total. The credit shows in Payment History, and the invoice's tax falls with it. A line that is already credited in full is grayed out, and a part-credited line shows how much is left. An invoice marked no charge has nothing to credit.

Write off a balance

1. Click Write off. The window is titled Write off invoice with the invoice number.
2. Check Amount to write off. It starts as the whole balance. Lower it to write off part. The rest stays due.
3. Pick a Reason.
4. Add a Note if you want one.
5. Read the What happens panel, then click the confirm button, which names the amount.

Shown with QuickBooks connected. Without it, the QuickBooks line is missing.

The reasons are Uncollectable: the customer won't pay, Customer out of business, Below collection threshold, Goodwill and Billing error: they never owed it.

Sent the wrong invoice? Whether to re-issue it or write it off as a billing error is covered in Send an Invoice and Check It in QuickBooks.

A full write-off sets the balance to $0.00, and the order reads Closed, written off. It leaves AR aging and is never counted as cash received. A part write-off leaves the order open with the rest still due. After a line credit, a write-off covers only what each line still owes. On a repair or tow order, a write-off sends the customer no Payment confirmation email or payment text. The same goes for a line credit or a full refund that closes the order.

Use the Billing Hub row menu

Each row on the Billing Hub's Service Orders list has a menu with Credit a line, Write off and Refund. They open the same dialogs as the order's Billing tab.

On a sent visit invoice the menu also has Void invoice. It voids the visit invoice (and in QuickBooks too, if you use it). It needs Approve invoice and Manage Billing Hub, like the other three actions. Click it, type the reason under Why are you voiding it?, then click Void invoice again to confirm. Keep invoice closes the window and changes nothing. Once the visit invoice has taken a payment, Void invoice is grayed out and the menu tells you to refund or write off instead. On a sent repair invoice that still owes, Void invoice is listed but grayed out and points you to Write off › Billing error.

On the order itself, Cancel Service Order shows on a Closed order only when it can be cancelled: it was fully refunded, closed with no charge, or written off with nothing paid.

If you use QuickBooks

When QuickBooks is connected, each dialog shows an extra QuickBooks line in the What happens panel, and the matching document goes to QuickBooks when you save. No QuickBooks tab? Contact MetaFleet support to turn QuickBooks on for your account.

• Refund: a refund receipt. Customer was charged twice or overpaid sends nothing, because QuickBooks never received that money. If a card payment isn't in QuickBooks yet, the refund receipt goes once the payment arrives.
• Credit a line: a credit memo through the item each line was invoiced on. MetaFleet applies it to the invoice.
• Write off: every reason except Billing error: they never owed it posts one credit memo to Written-off balances, applied to the invoice. The tax inside it is kept, so it can be claimed as bad debt. Ask your accountant how to treat it. Billing error: they never owed it sends a credit memo that reverses each original line through its own item and tax, and nothing posts to Written-off balances. Its tax comes out of that month’s Sales Tax Export report, because the sale was never owed.

Under each refund, credit and write-off, a QuickBooks line shows the document and its number. If QuickBooks refuses it, the line says so and gives a reason. Fix the cause and the document goes on the next retry. See Fix What Needs Attention in QuickBooks.

If QuickBooks holds nothing open on the invoice when a credit memo arrives, QuickBooks keeps the memo as the customer's credit. The order shows left as customer credit. Nothing is wrong.

For how each document posts to your accounts, see Payments, Refunds, Credits and Late Fees in QuickBooks. To choose the accounts, ask your accountant, then open Settings › Integrations, the QuickBooks tab, then its Settings tab and find Posting accounts.

Troubleshooting

FAQs

Can I undo a refund, credit or write-off?
No button reverses one. Contact MetaFleet support first. If you use QuickBooks, leave the QuickBooks side alone too.

Does a write-off count as a payment?
No. It is never counted as cash received.

Related articles

• Payments, Refunds, Credits and Late Fees in QuickBooks
• Send an Invoice and Check It in QuickBooks
• Fix What Needs Attention in QuickBooks
• Choose Where Your Money Posts in QuickBooks