The Refunds section tracks every refund issued to a customer — when it was issued, how much it was for, what method was used, and whether it has cleared. It also gives you a central place to issue new refunds from, regardless of what prompted the refund.

📸 Screenshot suggestion: The Refunds tab showing the register table with several rows visible, including at least one Issued and one Cleared status, with the status badges visible.

Every refund moves through a simple status lifecycle.

The Pending Refunds KPI card on the Receivables page shows the count and total of all refunds currently in Issued status. Once a refund clears, it drops off that count automatically.

A refund in CRO Billing can be created from three places, depending on what caused the need for the refund.

From a payment with unapplied funds If a customer overpaid and there are funds that have not been applied to any invoice, an amber notice appears on the Payment Distribution screen. From there you can select Issue Refund and the refund will be pre-filled with the customer name, the unapplied amount, and the original payment method.

From a credit memo with an open balance If an approved credit memo has a balance and the customer wants cash instead of a credit on their account, open the credit memo detail page. A notice will appear with an Issue Refund option. The refund will be pre-filled with the customer name, the credit memo amount, and the source reference.

From the Refunds toolbar You can also issue a refund directly from the Refunds tab using the Issue Refund button in the toolbar. Use this for situations not tied to a specific payment or credit memo, such as a billing dispute settlement or a goodwill adjustment.

📸 Screenshot suggestion: The Issue Refund modal showing the key fields — Customer, Method, On (date), Amount, Chk Num, Mailed On — and the Refund Items table below.

When you open the Issue Refund form, you will see the following fields.

The Refund Items table at the bottom lets you document what the refund is for at the line-item level. This is optional but useful for detailed recordkeeping. If the items total does not match the amount entered above, the system will flag the discrepancy before you submit and ask you which figure to use.

A customer says they have not received their refund check. Go to the Refunds tab and find the refund by customer name. Check the status and the Mailed On date. If it is still in Issued status and the mailed date was more than two weeks ago, you may need to void the refund and reissue.

A refund check has cleared the bank and you need to record it. Find the refund in the register. Click the three-dot menu on the right side of the row and select Mark as Cleared. Once cleared, this option will no longer appear — only Void will remain.

You issued a refund by mistake. Click the three-dot menu on the refund and select Void refund. A confirmation dialog will appear. The voided refund remains visible in the register for audit purposes.