How to Refund a Payment on an Invoice

When a payer has overpaid, disputed a charge, or is owed money back, you can refund all or part of a payment directly from the invoice, without leaving URBI. This guide covers when to use each refund method, what happens afterward, and what a credit on account does to the payer's balance.

Who can do this: Any staff member, property manager, or board member with the process_refunds permission for the property.

Choose a refund method

Open the invoice, go to the payment you want to refund, and choose Process Refund. The methods available depend on how the payment was originally made.

• Reverse to card (Stripe). Available only when the payment was made by card. This sends the money back to the payer's card through Stripe. Use this when the payer wants the funds returned the same way they paid.
• Cash back (manual). Use this when you have already returned the money outside URBI, for example by check or e-transfer, and simply need the books to reflect it. This does not move any money through Stripe.
• Credit on account. Use this when you want to keep the money with the property instead of sending it back, applying it toward the payer's next charge. See "What credit on account does" below.

You can refund the full remaining amount on the payment or a partial amount, up to what is still refundable on that invoice.

A reason is always required

Every refund, regardless of method, requires you to enter a reason before you can submit it. This reason is written to the property's accounting audit log along with who processed the refund and when, so there is always a clear record of why money moved.

What credit on account does

Choosing Credit on account does not send money anywhere. Instead:

• The invoice reopens for the refunded amount (it is no longer treated as fully paid).
• The payer's account balance increases by the refunded amount, held as a credit.
• That credit is not automatically applied anywhere and the payer does not see an in-app credit balance. A staff member later applies the credit toward a future charge using the existing apply-credit action on the payer's billing account.

Use credit on account when the payer agrees (or you have agreed with them) that the amount should stay with the property rather than being returned, for example to offset an upcoming charge.

Where refunds appear afterward

• The invoice's Payments tab shows the refund against the original payment, along with the method used.
• The reversing entry appears in the property's general ledger like any other transaction, so your financial reports stay accurate immediately.
• The payer receives a notification (push and email) confirming the refund or the credit, except when a refund is reconciled automatically from a Stripe dashboard action (see below), which sends its own confirmation.

Refunds initiated outside URBI

If a card refund is issued directly from your Stripe dashboard rather than from URBI, the system automatically detects it and posts the matching entry in your books shortly afterward, so your general ledger stays correct without extra work on your part. If the automatic reconciliation cannot safely determine how to apply the refund, for example because the related billing period is closed, staff with access to the property receive a notification so the entry can be completed manually.

Good to know

• You cannot refund more than the remaining refundable amount on a payment; URBI enforces this both in the refund window and behind the scenes.
• A payment already fully refunded, or an invoice that has been voided or written off, cannot be refunded again.
• Every refund method posts a real, balanced entry to your general ledger, so your trial balance and financial reports stay in balance automatically.