Handle returns, refunds, and repayments

Sometimes a purchase gets returned or a vendor issues a refund. When that happens, mark the expense as returned so the money stops counting against your budget. If the church had already paid the person back, Churchday keeps track of the amount they owe until it is repaid.

Before you begin

To return or undo a return on any expense, you need permission to approve expenses (usually a treasurer or admin). The person who submitted an expense can also return their own from their expense page.
Only Approved, Paid, or Logged (paid with a church card) expenses can be returned. Pending, rejected, or already-returned expenses cannot.

Mark an expense as returned

Open the expense. Go to the Expenses page and click the expense you want.
Click Return. The button sits in the top-right actions. On your own expense page it reads Return this expense instead.
Add a note (optional). Use it to explain what happened, for example "Refund issued to the card." You can leave it blank.
Click Mark as returned. The amount immediately stops counting against your budget, and the expense picks up a Returned badge. You will see a "Marked as returned" confirmation.

When a repayment is owed

If the church had already reimbursed the person out of pocket (they paid, then you paid them back) and the purchase is now refunded, that money belongs back with the church. When you mark this kind of expense returned, a Repayment owed note appears with the amount, and the expense shows an "Owes $X back" badge.

To clear it once the money has actually come back:

Click Mark repaid on the expense's detail page. The person who submitted it sees I've paid it back on their own page instead.
Check the box confirming the money was returned to the church.
Click Confirm. The badge switches to "Returned · Repaid" and the amount is settled.

Church-card refunds and returns on expenses you had not paid yet do not create a repayment, because no money changed hands between the church and the person.

Undo a return

If you marked something returned by mistake, you can reverse it. This is available only to people who can approve expenses.

Open the returned expense.
Click Undo return.
Click Undo return again to confirm. The amount counts against the budget again, and any repayment record for it is cleared. The expense keeps its original status and details.

Good to know

A returned expense is locked. You cannot edit its details or approve, reject, or mark it paid while it is returned. Undo the return first if you need to make a change.
Returned expenses keep their original status. A paid expense still shows Paid, with the Returned badge added alongside it.
When a member returns their own expense, your approvers get an email letting them know the money came back.