Skip to main content
April 4, 2022
Question

How to refund to customer for improper charge.

  • April 4, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

My apologies for a long post.

We use a 3rd party credit card processor for online sales. 

Normally I book a Sales receipt at time of purchase and store the funds in a credit card processor holding account. Weekly the processor deposits funds into our bank account minus the processing fees for all sales. I transfer the amount to match the deposit from the holding account to the bank and transfer the rest to the credit card processing account.

 

Recently we changed processors and a mistake was made. It has been rectified but I have a couple of transactions that got through before the mistake was found. The new processor charged the processing fee to the customer on top of the cost of the purchase. I immediately refunded the customer the mistakenly charged processing fees.

 

Now I don't know how to record this in QBO. I created a sales receipt for the full amount and charged the correct accounts for what was purchased. I recorded the processing fee in the credit card fee account. I stored all the funds in the credit card processor holding account.

After searching using google, I created an expense record for the customer and put the processing fee refund in Accounts receivable. The bank charged a transaction fee that I put in the bank fee account. I then created a receive payment record for the customer and selected the funds in account receivable. The receive payment record stored the funds refunded in the credit card processor holding account. When the processor deposits the funds, I will create a transfer of the purchase funds to the bank account when the processor deposits the funds.

 

I am left with 2 problems. 1. When I created the expense record to Accounts receivable QBO recorded the total cost (refund + transaction fee) in the customer record which makes their account wrong.

Second I am left with 2 copies of the processing fees in the credit card processor holding account. If the expense record had stored the processing fee as a payment this would all be fine.

 

What have I done wrong and how do I correct it.

 

Thanks in advance

 

John

1 reply

April 4, 2022

Hello John, 

 

Thanks for connecting with us here. It's great to learn you're taking advantage of the powerful features in QuickBooks so you can streamline your accounting. I'll be glad to point you in the right direction so you can get the resolution you need in a timely manner. 

 

Making sure you're recording your transactions properly is an essential step for maintaining clean books. To ensure accuracy in your books, I recommend reaching out to an accounting professional for expert advice on how to record the transactions. If you're not in contact with a professional, don't worry, you can search for one using this link here.

 

I'll leave this question open in the Community so other accountant users can share their advice. Otherwise, feel free to ask other questions, I've got your back.