Managing Discounts, Credits and Refunds

With Billings Pro, you can manage refunds, credits and discounts using negative slips and payments. Since Billings Pro does not handle the actual transactions, what is important is that your client balances are accurate and bookkeeping labelled correctly. Learn the different workflows for creating refunds, credits and discounts in Billings Pro.

Creating a negative valued slip

A slip with a negative value represents a payment from you back to your client. When you invoice a negative slip this will subtract the value of the slip from your client's account balance. You then add a payment with the adjusted total including payments that have a negative value.

1. Create a new working slip in your project
2. Change type to "Quantity'
3. Set the quantity to 1
4. Add the value you wish to pay back eg. -$100
5. Choose OK

Refunds

You perform a refund after a client has made a payment and you need to return these funds. To do this, you will create a negative slip, then invoice the slip and create a negative payment immediately.

How to use the refund workflow in Billings Pro

1. Create a negative slip within the original project
2. Describe the product or service you are refunding in the slip name
3. Check the completed checkbox and choose OK
4. Invoice the refund slip
5. Make a payment on the invoice matching the value of the refund

Now you can send the invoice with the refund to your client showing the return of funds

Create a refund label for slip categories and payments to keep track of refunds. You can do this by going to Billings Pro > Preferences > Labels.

Credits

You perform a credit when you want to have the cost of future service for a client reduced. This is can be an alternative to a refund if you are continuing to provide a client with your services. When making a credit, you will create a negative slip and apply it when you invoice your client at a later date.

How to use the credit workflow in Billings Pro:

1. Create a negative slip for the value of your credit
2. Describe the product or service you are crediting in the slip name and details
3. Choose OK
4. Continue working with your client.
5. When you are ready to invoice your client, locate the credit slip and click the "Done" pill next to its name
6. Invoice your client with the credit slip included

Now the credit you made will decrease the total of the invoice.

Create a credit label for slip categories and payments to keep track of refunds. You can do this by going to Billings Pro > Preferences > Labels.

Discounts

You perform a discount when you want to reduce the cost of a service you are currently providing. You can do this for special pricing, change in costs, or improve on a negative client experience. When creating a discount you can do it one of two ways: a separate slip or a modified price when creating the slip.

How to use the separate slip discount workflow in Billings Pro

This will show discounts as a separate line item without customizing your invoices. You will need to calculate the exact value of the discount.

1. Create a negative slip
2. Describe the product or service you are discounting in the slip name and details
3. Check the completed checkbox and choose OK
4. Include the discount slip when invoicing your client

Now the discount you made will decrease the total of the invoice and will appear on the invoice just like a credit.

How to use the discount field workflow

The discount field will decrease the value of a slip but will not show the amount discounted on the invoice. To show how much was discounted you will need to create a custom invoice. The invoices template editor is an advanced feature of Billings Pro and this article will not go into detail on how to customize your invoice.

1. Create a slip for your customer
2. In the discount field, enter the percentage to be discounted

Now your slip's total will be decreased by the amount in the discount field. The discount will not appear on the invoice and instead, you will see the adjusted value of the invoice.

If you wish to easily show your client the value of the discount it is recommended that you use a separate slip as described above. Alternatively, you can use the Billings Pro Template Editor. When creating a custom invoice, you can use the "discount" and/or "derivedDiscountTotal" tokens.

Returning Retainers

A retainer may be nonrefundable or refundable depending on your policies but with Billings Pro, you can easily show that you have returned these on your books.

Follow the steps to return the retainer

1. Go to your client and choose View > Account
2. Click on "Add Retainer"
3. Set the retainer amount to negative the value you are returning
   eg. -100 and choose OK

Now the retainer balance will be corrected.

Try creating a new label for the payments methods called Refund: Retainer. This way you are documenting all transactions for better bookkeeping.