[Account Owner] Refunding Clients
Account Owners and their Admin users are able to issue refunds! Advisors with billing permissions/login access cannot refund clients from their account.
In This Article:
Refunding Payments in AdvicePay
Refunds can be made directly through AdvicePay for any payment that 1) has completed processing at the client's bank/credit card company, and 2) has been made within the last 90 days. When you issue a refund, the money will be deducted from the Transfer bank account you have on file!
To refund a client's payment:
1. Find the paid invoice by visiting Invoices > View Details or Subscriptions > View Details > Payments > View Details. Then click the Refund link next to the Paid status:
2. Enter the Refund Amount (minimum = $1), Custom Message to the client (optional), and Notes (optional -- this will display on the PDF invoice).
3. Click Refund Payment.
It will take approximately 5-10 days for the money to be reflected back on the client's statement. 💥
Note: Please know that once a refund is initiated, we're unable to stop, edit, or reverse it! Refunds for the total amount do return all transaction fees.
For partial refunds only on ACH charges, Stripe (our underlying payment process) will not refund any of their portion of transaction fees (AdvicePay does prorate their portion). That being said, Stripe will prorate their portion of the transaction fees for partial refunds on credit card charges.
After a refund, both you and your client will see the invoice status marked as Refunded/Partial Refund. By hovering the cursor over any Partial Refund status, you can quickly see the amount refunded.
The invoice PDF will also update to show the date the refund was issued + the refund amount:
Tip: Refunds on an invoice -- whether for a partial or full amount -- can only take place once! When the refund action is unavailable because it is still processing, past the 90 day mark, has already been (partially/fully) refunded, or was manually marked as paid, you will not see the Refund link. 👍
Once refunds are processed, you'll see a record of it on your Transfers screen and in your transaction report.
When you refund a client, they will immediately be sent an automatic email to notify them. The email header will be Refund From (Firm Name here) with the below email:
Marking Invoices as Refunded (when Refunded Outside AdvicePay)
If a payment on a one-time or subscription invoice is over 90 days old, was manually marked as paid, or was paid via Online Check Deposit and you have issued a refund on it outside of AdvicePay, you can maintain accurate records by marking it as refunded.
Keep in mind that this doesn't return any funds to the client through AdvicePay, but you'll see a record of it on your Transfers screen and in your transaction report.
1. Find the paid invoice by visiting Invoices in the left sidebar or the client's profile page. For subscription invoices, you can also find them via Subscriptions > View Subscription > Payments.
2. Click the button for your desired invoice. If that invoice can be marked as refunded, the Mark As Refunded option will be available in the drop down:
3. Enter the Refund Amount, Refund Date, and Notes (optional -- this will display on the PDF invoice):
4. Click Mark Refunded
Tip: Marking an invoice as refunded -- whether for a partial or full amount -- can only take place once!