Credit, refunds and transactions

Transactions

Every money movement is one row in the transactions ledger. Its type is:

• Payment: money received
• Refund: money returned
• Credit applied: account credit used on an invoice
• Expense entries recorded through the Finance & Expenses plugin

Billings > Transactions shows all of them. Billings > Payments is the same ledger filtered to payments. There is no separate payments table, so the numbers always agree.

Account credit

A client can hold a credit balance. It is used to pay invoices.

• Adjust credit by hand: Billing > Credits > Add Credit. Pick the client, choose to add or deduct, enter the amount and the reason. It is an adjustment (goodwill, a correction, a refund to credit), not a payment, so it needs no transaction ID; the reason and the staff member who made it are kept in the credit history. A deduction cannot take the balance below zero, and an addition respects the Maximum Balance. To record money that has really arrived, use Add Funds instead.
• Client Add Funds: the client opens Add Funds in their area, sees the payment instructions of the method they choose (for example your bank details), pays, and then tells you about the payment: the amount, the payment method, the transaction ID or reference, the date of payment and an optional note. All of it is required except the note, and the same payment cannot be reported twice. This is not an invoice, because adding credit is not a sale: WHBMP records a deposit that waits for you to check the payment. You see it on Billing > Transactions as Add funds, Reported by the client, to be checked, with the details filled in. Check them against your bank or gateway, correct them if needed and press Confirm payment. Only then is the credit added, and a Funds added (method, transaction ID) line appears in the client's credit history. Deposits are never invoices, never get an invoice number or tax, and are not counted as revenue.
• Staff Add Funds: Add Funds on a client's page records money that has already arrived. It needs the amount, the payment method, the transaction ID and the date of payment (and takes an optional note), and adds the credit at once. The same applies to Add to Client's Credit Balance when you add a transaction by hand: credit is never added without a payment method and a transaction ID.
• Use credit on an invoice: on the invoice page apply credit (part or all of the balance) or remove it again.
• Affiliate commissions can be paid out to credit.

Limits

In General Settings > Credit you set:

• Minimum Deposit: the smallest top-up,
• Maximum Deposit: the largest single top-up,
• Maximum Balance: the most credit a client can hold.

Refunds

Open a paid invoice and use Refund on the payment. Choose the amount (full or part). WHBMP adds a refund transaction and updates the invoice. Refunding does not send money back through a card gateway today. Return the money yourself (bank transfer or your gateway's dashboard) and record it here so your books agree. A fully refunded invoice shows the Refunded status.

You can instead refund to account credit, which keeps the money with you and is usable straight away.

Tips

• Always add a note or reference to manual credits and refunds.
• Reports > Daily Performance, Annual Revenue and Revenue Forecast read the same ledger.
• The Finance & Expenses plugin shows income, expenses and tax together. See Finance and Expenses.