Issue a debit note and record a supplier refund
Return goods or claim a reduction against a posted bill, and record money coming back from the supplier.
A debit note is the purchasing mirror of a credit note. It reduces what you owe a supplier after a bill has been posted, and is always raised against one posted bill.
Issue a debit note
- Open the posted bill and click Issue Debit Note. (On the Debit Notes list, Issue from a Bill takes you to your bills.)
- Set the Debit Note Date and optional Notes (for example the reason for the return).
- Under Select Lines to Return, each bill line shows Original Qty, Already Returned, Remaining and Unit Price. Type a Return Qty per line. You cannot enter more than what remains.
- Click Create Debit Note (Draft).
At least one line must be selected: "Select at least one line to return."
Post the debit note
Open the draft and click Post Debit Note. A draft debit note can be posted or deleted, not edited. Posting:
- Debits Accounts Payable for the total, reducing what you owe the supplier.
- Credits Purchase Returns for the subtotal, and credits the tax receivable accounts to take back the tax you had claimed.
- For tracked items, takes the returned quantity out of stock.
Posting is refused if the returns would exceed what was bought, or if all debit notes against the bill together would be worth more than the bill: "Cannot post debit note: it would bring the total debited against bill ... to ..., more than the bill total of ...".
Record a refund from the supplier
A posted debit note shows Credit Remaining. When the supplier pays you back, click Record Refund, which opens Record Refund from Supplier. Enter the amount, date, Cash / Bank Account, mode and reference and click Record Refund. The button shows only while credit remains.
Void a debit note
Click Void on a posted debit note to reverse it and put the stock back. Voiding needs permission to delete in Purchases.
Good to know
- Debit notes are numbered DN-000001 by default.
- The bill's own Paid and Balance Due figures and the Payables Ageing report are not reduced by a debit note. The supplier's Ledger tab shows the true balance.
- To void a bill that has debit notes, void or delete the debit notes first.
- If your company requires approval for debit notes, the request goes to the Approvals page.