IN THIS ARTICLE:
Learn how issue partial refunds from the family ledger.

This article includes instructions for issuing Partial Refunds from the family ledger for customers using supported gateways. Instructions for handling full refunds can be found here.

• How Partial Refunds are Processed
• Issuing a Partial Refund
• Refund Manually to Another Payment Method
• Important Notes

How Partial Refunds are Processed

iClassPro supports issuing partial refunds directly from the family ledger for most transactions. This ability allows you to record partial refunds as they happen, rather than by having to adjust the ledger to reflect partial refunds as they occur. 

It also allows you to void payments when they are made in error, rather than recording them as a refund. All of this helps to improve accounting practices for your business.

However, eCheck refunds are only supported via alternative refund to cash or check for Payrix (formerly IntegraPay) (partially or in full). If you use Payrix (formerly IntegraPay) and need to issue an eCheck refund, the system will default to issuing it as a CASH refund. You can click the option to "Change" if you wish to refund via physical CHECK instead.

• See Refund Manually to Another Payment Method.

Issuing a Partial Refund

When you click the “Refund” button on the family ledger, the system will check to see several things: 

• What type of payment is it?
  • Credits are voided rather than refunded since no money actually changed hands
  • Cash/Check payments - may be refunded at any time after they are created
  • Credit Card/eCheck payments - can be refunded or voided depending on their gateway status (whether or not they have settled).
• Has the payment been already been voided/refunded in full?
• If not, how much of the payment is available to be refunded? 

When issuing a refund, the payment will be updated to add a line item for any refunds that have been issued. This may be one line item for a full refund, or several line items if several partial refunds are associated with the payment.

After clicking the refund button, the system will display one of four possible scenarios: 

• Transaction ID not found in the gateway - this means the payment cannot be found, so it cannot be voided/refunded.
• Payment has not yet settled - in this case, the transaction ID exists in the gateway, but the payment has not yet settled. In these cases, you will be asked whether you want to VOID the payment instead. (Note that a VOID completely cancels out the full payment -- if you voided the payment because it was for an incorrect amount, you will need to void it and then run a new payment for the correct amount.) VOIDED payments are indicated on the ledger by having the title struck through with a single line. (For example: Payment ).
• If the payment has settled, you will be presented with a list of any charges the payment is applied to (as well as any previous refunds) so you can issue a partial refund based on the line item. If it is unapplied, you will be offered the option to issue a full refund (in addition to the ability to issue a partial refund).
  
  Note that if the original payment was made more than 60-90 days ago, you may not be able to issue or void a refund. (This timeframe may vary depending on your particular payment gateway).

Refund screen for an unapplied payment or a payment that has no previous refunds.

Refund screen for a payment with previous refunds.

•  If the payment was a non-gateway transaction, such as cash or check -- you will be given a choice to either refund or void the payment. If you choose VOID, it voids the entire payment. If you choose REFUND, it will allow you to specify an amount to refund.
• If the payment was issued as a credit type, the system will only allow you to VOID the entire payment.  This option is selected automatically when you click the icon to refund the payment.

 
Non-gateway transaction refund screen

Refund Manually to Another Payment Method

iClassPro also allows users to manually choose to refund a previously approved payment to an alternate payment method.

NOTE: If the original Payment Type was CASH, the system will only allow you to refund to CASH.

To refund to an alternate payment method:

• After clicking the option to refund the payment, click “Change” to select an alternative payment method:
  • If the original Payment Type was CHECK/ECHECK/CREDIT CARD/EXTERNAL CREDIT CARD, then the only alternative payment methods allowed are CASH or CHECK.
• After selecting the Refund Type, the header will change to indicates that a refund is being issued to an alternative payment method.
• Click “Issue Refund” to proceed, or “Cancel” to exit the screen without completing the refund process:
  
• The system will display a “Are you sure you wish to refund this payment?” warning. Click “Yes” to accept or “No Thanks!” to exit the screen without completing the refund process:
  
• The refund is recorded on the ledger:
  

In some cases, refunding credit card transactions by cash or check could be against card brand rules, and is not recommended unless refunding back to the original credit card is not an option.

Important Notes

• You can no longer delete a REFUND from a ledger; you will need to VOID it instead. This is to keep the information in sync with the gateway (where refunds are displayed as separate transactions). If you VOID a refund, it shows on the reports as being voided, but it will no longer show as a partial refund attached to the original payment.
• If you DELETE a payment that has refunds attached, it will also delete the associated refunds from the ledger. 
• Partial refunds show on financial reports simply as a REFUND. There is no special note that it is a partial amount.