Processing Refunds in Bill4Time

The most common reason that clients reach out for refunds, is when they have overpaid you. The cleanest and easiest way to handle those over-payments is by applying these funds to their next unpaid invoice. Please click HERE for further instructions.  

If the client won't accept the arrangement above and wishes to be refunded instead, there are a few ways this can be approached. 

HANDLING REFUNDS IN BILL4TIME
Bill4Time does not currently have a built-in refund feature. The best way to achieve refunds will vary - depending on whether your client still has ongoing billing with you, where the funds are located, and what the desired outcome is.

• If they have remaining funds in their trust account:
  You should create a disbursement to refund the rest. Please click here for more information regarding disbursements.
  
  
• If they have remaining funds in their regular accounting: 
  You should create a "debit" adjustment to refund the rest. Follow these steps to create a debit adjustment:
  
  1. Click on Accounting in the Navigation bar
  2. Click on the blue Balance Adjustment button
  3. Enter your Client and Matter
  4. In the Note description field, enter the refund details
  5. When you are done, click the Save button 

Please note: Debit adjustments will not apply to invoices/payments the same way that credit adjustments do. If you do perform a debit adjust to zero out their balance, you would continue to see that portion of their original payment show up as an "unapplied payment" on accounting reports.

If you are concerned about retaining accurate report data, it may be best to edit the original payment to remove the refunded amount, instead of using a debit adjustment. This will help ensure that the client doesn't have any unapplied funds that could accidentally be applied to another invoice.

PROVIDING A RECEIPT/RECORD FOR REFUNDS
If your client is expecting a physical record or receipt for this refund, you can provide them with a statement once the debit adjustment or disbursement has been processed. Please click here for instructions for creating statements.