Applying Refunds

Knowledge Base → Invoicing → Refunds

Mition handles refunds for any payment method, whether or not you use Stripe or Xero. Issuing a refund records a credit against the original invoice. If your payments run through an automatic gateway, the money is returned to the customer for you; otherwise you return it yourself and mark it off. If you use Xero, the credit is created there automatically too — but Xero is not required.

How a refund works (all organisations)

A refund never changes the original paid invoice. Instead Mition raises a separate credit linked to the original invoice, reversing the same line items, GL codes, tax and tracking. The original invoice stays as it was; the credit carries the money-back. This keeps a clean audit trail and lets you refund a whole payment, part of it, or specific line items.

Issuing a refund

1. Open the payment and click Refund.
2. The amount defaults to a full refund. Adjust it, or tick Refund by line item to refund only specific lines (e.g. one ticket on a multi-item invoice).
3. Submit.

What happens to the money then depends on how the payment was taken (below).

Returning the money

• Automatic gateways (e.g. Stripe): Mition sends the refund back to the customer automatically when you submit. Funds typically reach them within a few business days.
• Manual methods (cash, cheque, bank transfer, EFT, or any non-automatic gateway): Mition records an open credit — it does not move any money. You return the funds to the customer yourself (however you normally would), then mark the credit as refunded to settle it. The open credit stays visible as "owed to the customer" until you do, so it isn't forgotten.

Partial and line-item refunds

You can refund the whole payment, a partial amount, or specific line items. With Refund by line item, only the lines you choose are credited (each against its own GL code) — the rest of the invoice is untouched.

Refunds for multi-invoice payments

If a single payment covered several invoices, that's supported. The refund screen lists each funded invoice/line separately, so you can refund one of them, several, or a partial amount on any — each gets its own credit, the others are left alone, and you can't refund more than was actually paid.

Refunds for subscriptions and events — cancel first

Always cancel the subscription, or remove the event ticket(s), before issuing the refund. Refunding the money does not cancel a subscription or revoke an event ticket — those are separate actions. If you refund first, the customer keeps their access.

Recommended order:

1. Cancel the subscription, or for an event remove the ticket(s) (as an admin). This removes the customer's role / ticket.
2. Refund the money:With Auto Manage Credits ON (Admin Settings → Payment Gateway → Auto Manage Credits), step 1 automatically raises a credit for the customer — return the money via Refund this credit.
   With it OFF, you'll get a reminder to refund manually — do it via the payment's Refund screen.
   

Doing it in this order ensures access is revoked, the amount owing is correct, and the refund/credit lines up with the cancellation.

The Auto-Manage Credits setting

Auto-Manage Credits is optional is on by default and can be disabled , and can be enabled in Admin Settings → Payment Gateway → Auto-Manage Credits.

This setting controls what happens when a paid subscription or event ticket is cancelled:

• On (default): Mition automatically raises an open credit for the customer at the point of cancellation — the role/ticket is removed and the amount owed back is recorded as a credit. Staff then return the money via Refund this credit.
• Off : no credit is created automatically. Instead, Mition shows a reminder that the paid item needs refunding, and staff issue the refund manually via the payment's Refund screen.

It doesn't change anything else — the Refund screen, partial and line-item refunds, and (for Xero users) credit-note syncing all behave the same whether it's on or off. The setting only decides whether cancellation automatically creates the credit for you, versus prompting staff to do it manually.

If you use Xero

Refund credits are created in Xero automatically as credit notes — matched to the original invoice's customer, GL codes and tracking. For automatic gateways the credit note is also settled for you, so it reconciles against your bank feed. (Xero labels every credit-note refund a "Cash Refund" — that's just its transaction type; the actual account it posts to is your real one, so reconciliation matches.)

If you do not use Xero

Everything above still applies — the refund/credit is simply recorded in Mition only. It shows on the invoice, in the customer's account, and in your refund reporting, ready for whatever bookkeeping or export process you use. There's nothing extra to do for Xero.

Handled manually

A few things are intentionally left to staff, on every setup:

• Using a credit to pay another invoice — there's no automatic allocation. Refund the credit (money out) and record a payment (money in) on the other invoice.
• Editing a paid invoice's line items — not possible once paid; raise a credit instead.
• (Xero users) allocating a credit inside Xero — if done in Xero it won't sync back to Mition, so the two will drift. Handle credits in Mition.

Reconciliation

• Automatic gateway + Xero: largely hands-off — credits and settlements are created for you; just confirm payouts/refunds match during normal bank reconciliation.
• Manual methods, or no Xero: record the refund in your own accounting as you return the money; Mition keeps the credit and reporting in sync on its side.

For more information regarding Xero refunds view:
Xero Integration | Mition Knowledge Base