---
title: Credit Notes & Payment Vouchers
slug: credit-notes-and-payment-vouchers
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-07-22T23:29:32.287Z
---

**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 — 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 — issued the moment a refund, expense, or payroll payout is confirmed as paid.

Go to **Finance → Credit Notes** or **Finance → Payment Vouchers** (admin, or team with payment-management permission for Credit Notes).

***

## 📝 Credit Notes

A Credit Note is created automatically whenever an admin issues a **Refund** against a paid (or partially paid) invoice — there's no separate "create credit note" button.

### Issuing a refund (which creates the Credit Note)

1. Open a paid invoice in **Payments** (or an instructor invoice)
2. Click **Refund Payment**
3. 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)
4. Add notes — optional, except when the reason is **Other**, where the field becomes **Please explain** and is required
5. Confirm

A Credit Note is issued immediately with its own number, in **Unpaid** status. The invoice itself doesn't show as refunded yet — 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 — see Payment Vouchers below |

### Editing a Credit Note

From the credit note's **View** dialog:

- **Notes** — always editable inline. Click the pencil icon, edit, and save
- **Credit note number** — editable inline via the same pencil pattern, but only shown when [custom document numbering](docId\:hV0ua8QgZfseBecfvmnlK) 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 — Payment Voucher issued"*

***

## 🧾 Payment Vouchers

A Payment Voucher is proof that money left your account. Vouchers are never created directly — 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.

:::hint{type="warning"}
Once a voucher is issued, its amount, source, and issue date can never be changed — a voucher is proof that money already left the bank. Only the payee name, payment method, reference, and notes can be edited afterward.
:::

***

## 🔢 Numbering

Both documents use their own sequential number, similar to invoices and receipts — configured from the **Settings** button on each page:

| Setting                             | What it does                                                                                               |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Document Prefix**                 | e.g. `CN` for Credit Notes, `PV` for Payment Vouchers — 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 — refunds, expenses, and payroll all draw from the same `PV` sequence.

***

## 📄 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.

## 📊 CSV Export

Click **Export** on either list page to download every row matching your current filters as a CSV — useful for bulk reconciliation outside REMMU. Summary stat cards at the top of each page respect the active period filter too.

:::hint{type="info"}
Credit note lists and exports show the payee's legal name, not their nickname — matching what's printed on the actual document.
:::

***

## 🔄 How They Connect

```javascript
Refund Payment (on a paid invoice)
   ↓
Credit Note issued — status: Unpaid
   ↓ admin clicks "Mark Paid"
Credit Note — status: Paid
   ↓ automatically
Payment Voucher issued + Ledger entry posted
   ↓
Original invoice shows Refunded
```

→ See [Ledger](docId\:Ob8wkt_7rLMRxTi2T7kEQ) for how these payouts appear in your books, and [Expenses](docId\:hg_ul4EtSe9SOKztjWtsI) for the expense-triggered voucher flow