How Do I Refund or Partially Refund a Payment on a Client Invoice?

There will be times when you might need to issue a refund or a partial refund on a client's invoice. This article will help you based on the type of refund you are looking to do! Keep in mind, your payment processor might have a role in this and some steps might need to be taken outside of the software. 

Important to note: Planning Pod does not collect or move money between you and your clients. We only track what happens! 

My client made a cash/check payment and I need to refund this in full

• If your client paid you via check or cash, then you most likely manually added this payment to their invoice. To issue a full refund, you'll want to make sure you've refunded their money outside the system. Then you'll go into the Planning Pod invoice to manually track the refund:
  • • In the invoice, click "Add Payment" then "Manually Add Payment".
    • In the "amount" add the refunded payment and made sure to add a negative "-" sign first. 
    • In the "reference" field, add "refund" and anything else that will be helpful for your team.
    • Hit "save". The invoice will update with the negative amount and show in red. 

My client made a debit/credit/ACH payment and I need to refund this in full.

• If your client paid you via card or ACH and you need to refund in full- you can do this in the invoice:
  • • Click into the client's invoice.
    • Scroll to the middle of the invoice, where you see the column of payments and look for the online payment that needs refunded. 
    • Click on the "Actions" button, then select "Refund". Then click "Refund Now".
    • This will trigger your *payment processor to refund this payment to the card that was used. 
    • Your Planning Pod invoice will update to reflect the refund.

My client made a cash/check payment and I need to refund part of the payment.

• If your client made a payment on an invoice via cash/check and you need to issue a partial refund, you can quickly take care of this! To issue a partial refund, you'll want to make sure you've refunded their money outside the system. Then you'll go into the Planning Pod invoice to manually track the refund:
  • • In the invoice, click "Add Payment" then "Manually Add Payment".
    • In the "amount" add the refunded payment and made sure to add a negative "-" sign first. 
    • In the "reference" field, add "refund" and anything else that will be helpful for your team.
    • Hit "save". The invoice will update with the negative amount and show in red. 

My client made a debit/credit/ACH payment and I need to refund part of the payment.

• If your client overpaid an invoice via card and you need to issue a partial refund, then you'll need to first initiate the partial refund in your Payment Processor. The Planning Pod invoice only allows you to initiate full refunds. 
  • • Go to your payment processor to process your partial refund.
    • Go back to the Planning Pod invoice to track this refund. To do so:
      • • In the invoice, click "Add Payment" then "Manually Add Payment".
        • In the "amount" add the refunded payment and made sure to add a negative "-" sign.
        • In the "reference" field, add "refund" and anything else that will be helpful.
        • Hit "save". The invoice will update with the negative amount and show in red. 

* Keep in mind: all payment processors have a window of time where they will allow a refund this way. You will need to reach out to your payment processor to learn that window of time.

**Authorize.net will not allow for card refunds as they are a gateway to your payment processor. You will have to go through your payment processor to initiate a refund, then manually track the refund in the invoice.