Refund
In accounting, refund means returning cash already received.
- Layer
- Lexicon
- Defined in
- Lexicon
- Components
- 1
Authority
This definition follows ASC 606-10-32-10 — refund liability.
Every citation in this system, with the text we read and the date we checked it, is in US GAAP and where these rules come from.
Refund, in use
Quoted from the 2 documents that use the word — what it does to an interface, in the spec's own sentence.
Distinguished from a refund and a write-off in the UI copy and in the actions offered — they have different GL, tax, and business meanings.
Valuation allowances against assets (credit losses, inventory obsolescence) and estimated liabilities (warranty, refund liabilities for expected returns).
Schedules, accruals & roll-forwards — 8. Allowances and provisions
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
- Deferred revenue for SaaS startups, explainedAn annual prepayment is cash today and revenue over a year. How deferred revenue works under ASC 606, why it’s a liability, and the schedule behind it.
- How to reconcile Stripe payouts to your booksA Stripe payout is charges less fees, refunds and disputes, batched across days. How to book it gross, tie it to the bank, and keep revenue right.
- How sales tax is calculated: rates, sourcing, roundingHow sales tax is calculated: state plus local rates, origin vs destination sourcing, what’s taxable (SaaS varies) and rounding per line or per invoice.
What it is not called
Each of these is a real word for a different thing. Using it here is what makes a product read as though it was built by someone who has not done the work.
- credit
Components that render this
The concept is not documentation-only. These are the components that name it in their specification, grouped and stated exactly as the catalog states them.
10Receivables (AR)
Family specAlso in Receivables
Work with this concept
The calculators that compute it and the ledger payloads that carry it. A definition is where a reader starts; these are where they go next.
- Credit notes and refundsWhat object reduces an invoice, and what returns the cash?API
- Journal entry for a Stripe payoutBook charges gross: debit Stripe clearing and credit Revenue for every charge, debit Sales returns and allowances and credit Stripe clearing for refunds. When the payout lands, debit Cash for the payout and Merchant fees for the fees, and credit Stripe clearing — which should then be zero.Entry
- Journal entry for a customer refundTo refund a customer for an invoice already paid, issue a credit note — debit Sales returns and allowances, credit Accounts receivable — then pay the refund: debit Accounts receivable, credit Cash.Entry
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two cannot disagree.