[GNC] Business: return of goods to vendor with refund to credit card

[Adrien Monteleone]

I can't speak to your chosen solution, but to do this with a Credit Note:

1. Raise the Credit Note, assigning the line items to their proper 
Expense accounts. This will result in Credit entries (right column) in 
those affected Expense accounts, where normally Expenses are Debits(left 
column)

2. Post it to A/P. This will result in a Debit entry (left column) in 
the A/P account, where normally, you see Credit entries (right column).

e.g., a typical posted Credit Note from a Vendor will result in:

Dr. Liabilities:Accounts Payable
   Cr. Expenses:stuff

3. 'Pay' the Credit Note with your Credit Card account. This is the 
transaction which is the actual refund to your card. If you have already 
entered this refund manually, simply right-click it and 'Assign as 
Payment' searching for the Vendor and selecting the Credit Note to clear 
it. This will result in a Credit entry (right column) in the A/P 
account, with a Debit entry (left column) in the Credit Card account.

e.g., a typical refund on a Credit Card against a Vendor Credit Note 
will result in:

Dr. Liabilities:Credit Card
   Cr. Liabilities:Accounts Payable

----
I personally only use Debit/Credit labels because I find them consistent 
and easier to understand than the various 'slang' terminology of the 
informal labels. (which don't always make sense in every situation) 
Regardless of the terms used for the column headings, the left/right 
nature does not change. (hence why I specified which they should be)

Regards,
Adrien

On 12/7/23 1:21 PM, Eric Chapman wrote:
> Story: I bought some items locally in September. I returned a portion of 
> them in November and the vendor was willing to issue a refund for the 
> items I decided I did not need. The refund was made to my credit card.
> 
> I tried to use a "Credit Note", but could not figure out how to make it 
> work. Is is just the same as an invoice, except that it automatically 
> puts the amount in the "Refund" field? What other differences are there?
> 
> When I checked my vendor report for that vendor, I had mismatches and 
> amounts in the aging columns.
> 
> Therefore I just deleted the "Credit Note" and input the return/refund 
> as if it were a bill (invoice from vendor). I put in negative amounts. 
> Worked fine. I clicked "Pay" and "paid" the negative amount to the 
> credit card. Everything looks correct to me.
> 
> Is there a reason why this methodology is not good? Any other advice?