Refund a Customer in QuickBooks Online

If a customer needs to make a return, receive a partial credit on an order, or makes an overpayment you'll need to issue a refund. This article discusses the most common scenarios and how to make sure they're applied in Acctivate.

QuickBooks Online offers a transaction called Refund Receipt. The refund receipt reduces your income accounts as well as creates a refund transaction in QuickBooks. Acctivate users should not use this transaction type as doing so has the potential to disrupt inventory quantities, sales margins, and customer balances in Acctivate.

If you're accepting a return or providing a partial credit for a previously invoiced and paid order, make sure to start by creating and invoicing a credit memo in Acctivate. If you're refunding an overpayment, go directly to step 2.
In QuickBooks, select New > Check in the top left of the screen. You should select the check option even if you're refunding a credit card.
Fill out the customer you're refunding and the bank account you're using for the refund at the top of the Check window.
In the Category details, choose the Accounts Receivable account and enter in the Amount of the refund. When you're finished and the totals match hit Save and Close.
Now, select New > Receive Payment.
Select the customer you're refunding.
You should see the check you created under Outstanding Transactions and the Credit Memo or Unapplied Payment under Credits. Make sure both are marked by the green checkmark. The amount received in the top right should show $0. Click Save and Close to complete the transaction.
In Acctivate, your Payment or Credit Memo should now show as applied.

Customer's using QuickBooks Payments should refund credit cards directly in the QuickBooks Merchant Center