Credit Notes & Payment Vouchers
Credit Notes and Payment Vouchers are two linked documents that record a refund (and, for vouchers, other money-out events too):
- A Credit Note is the accounting adjustment โ a record that says "this amount is owed back," tied to the original invoice. It doesn't move money by itself.
- A Payment Voucher is proof that money actually left your bank or cash account โ issued the moment a refund, expense, or payroll payout is confirmed as paid.
Go to Finance โ Credit Notes or Finance โ Payment Vouchers (admin, or team with payment-management permission for Credit Notes).
๐ Credit Notes
A Credit Note is created automatically whenever an admin issues a Refund against a paid (or partially paid) invoice โ there's no separate "create credit note" button.
Issuing a refund (which creates the Credit Note)
- Open a paid invoice in Payments (or an instructor invoice)
- Click Refund Payment
- Enter the refund amount and select a reason:
- Student withdrew, Class cancelled, Duplicate charge, Billing error, Trial not continued, Goodwill, Other (student payments)
- Overpayment, Duplicate payment, Calculation error (instructor payments)
- Add notes โ optional, except when the reason is Other, where the field becomes Please explain and is required
- Confirm
A Credit Note is issued immediately with its own number, in Unpaid status. The invoice itself doesn't show as refunded yet โ that only happens once the Credit Note is paid out (see below). The member receives an email with the Credit Note PDF attached, including your notes.
Credit Note statuses
Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
Unpaid | Issued, but the refund hasn't actually been paid out yet |
Paid | The refund has been paid out โ see Payment Vouchers below |
Editing a Credit Note
From the credit note's View dialog:
- Notes โ always editable inline. Click the pencil icon, edit, and save
- Credit note number โ editable inline via the same pencil pattern, but only shown when custom document numbering๏ปฟ is enabled and the note is still Unpaid
Marking a Credit Note as paid
Once you've actually returned the money to the member (bank transfer, cash, etc.), find the Credit Note in the list and click Mark Paid. This:
- Flips the Credit Note to Paid
- Updates the original invoice's refunded amount (and marks it Refunded if fully refunded)
- Issues a Payment Voucher automatically, with a ledger entry for the payout
- Shows a confirmation: "Credit note marked as paid โ Payment Voucher issued"
๐งพ Payment Vouchers
A Payment Voucher is proof that money left your account. Vouchers are never created directly โ they're issued automatically from one of three triggers:
Trigger | When it fires |
|---|---|
Credit Note paid | Admin clicks Mark Paid on a Credit Note (refund payout) |
Expense paid | An expense in a category with voucher tracking enabled is marked paid |
Payroll paid | A payroll record is marked paid |
Each voucher records who it was paid to, the amount, payment method and reference, and (if it came from a Credit Note or another source document) a reference back to that source.
Once a voucher is issued, its amount, source, and issue date can never be changed โ a voucher is proof that money already left the bank. Only the payee name, payment method, reference, and notes can be edited afterward.
๐ข Numbering
Both documents use their own sequential number, similar to invoices and receipts โ configured from the Settings button on each page:
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Document Prefix | e.g. CN for Credit Notes, PV for Payment Vouchers โ supports {YEAR}, {SHORTYEAR}, {MONTH} tokens |
Number Padding | How many digits the number is padded to |
Reset Counter | Never / Every year / Every month (year/month options require the matching token in your prefix) |
Document Note | Free text shown at the bottom of every PDF |
Allow custom document numbering | When on, lets you manually set the next number |
The Payment Voucher counter is shared across all three trigger types โ refunds, expenses, and payroll all draw from the same PV sequence.
๐ PDF Downloads
Both Credit Notes and Payment Vouchers can be downloaded as PDF from their View dialog, or via the download icon on each row in the list.
๐ CSV Export
Click Export on either list page to download every row matching your current filters as a CSV โ useful for bulk reconciliation outside REMMU. Summary stat cards at the top of each page respect the active period filter too.
Credit note lists and exports show the payee's legal name, not their nickname โ matching what's printed on the actual document.
๐ How They Connect
Refund Payment (on a paid invoice)
โ
Credit Note issued โ status: Unpaid
โ admin clicks "Mark Paid"
Credit Note โ status: Paid
โ automatically
Payment Voucher issued + Ledger entry posted
โ
Original invoice shows Refunded