--- title: "Issue a refund" description: "Refund a paid invoice in full or in part. The refunded amount reopens on the invoice, the family is notified, and you void it if nothing is owed." type: guide updated: 2026-10-11 canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/billing/issue-a-refund roles: ["super_admin"] platforms: [web, ios, android] --- The simplest place to refund is the invoice. Open the paid invoice, and the refund action is at the bottom of its detail panel. After a refund, the refunded amount shows on the invoice as owing again, and the family is told about the refund. If they don't owe that money, void the invoice. Only **owners (super admins)** can complete a refund. A center admin who tries gets a permission error. You can also refund from the payment itself: **Invoices & Finances → Finances → Payments**, open the payment, then **Begin refund**. The invoice and the family's notice update the same way. The payments video shows that path (from 2:51). ## Issue the refund 1. Go to **Invoices & Finances → Invoices**. 2. Find the invoice and open it. On the web, the refund action appears on invoices that are **Paid** and have money recorded against them. 3. Click the button at the bottom of the detail panel. - It reads **Refund Payment** when the family paid online. The money goes back to their card or bank. - It reads **Record Refund** when the payment was entered by hand (cash, check, or bank transfer). There is no online charge to reverse, so this only writes the refund down in NestliCare. You hand the money back yourself. 4. Leave the **Refund amount** blank to refund the payment in full, or type an amount for a partial refund. Type the amount you are giving back, not the amount you are keeping. 5. Confirm. In the iOS and Android apps, tap the **Admin** tab, then **Invoices** under **Invoices & Finances**, open the invoice, and tap **Refund payment**. The apps also offer it on partly paid invoices. ## What happens to the invoice The refunded amount **reopens on the invoice as a balance due**: - After a **partial refund**, the invoice shows **Partially paid** with the refunded amount owing. - After a **full refund**, it goes back to **Unpaid** with the whole amount owing. Auto-pay never charges a refunded invoice again. The family can pay the reopened balance themselves in the app if they owe it. **If the family doesn't owe the money** (you refunded an over-billing, or they left), void the invoice afterwards with **Void Invoice**. Voiding tells the family the invoice was cancelled. On the payment itself, a full refund marks it **Refunded**. A partial refund keeps it as a payment, with the refunded part recorded against it. You can refund the same payment more than once, up to what's left of it. ## What the family sees The family gets a push notification, a bell notification, and an email saying their payment was refunded, for both online refunds and ones you record by hand. ## When the money lands - **Card payments:** usually 5 to 10 business days, back on the original card. - **Bank payments:** usually a few business days, back to the original account. Manual refunds land whenever you hand over the cash or check. Nothing moves automatically. ## What it costs you - The payment processor keeps its processing fee on a refunded charge. A refunded $200 card payment sends the family $200 and leaves the processing fee as a cost to you. - NestliCare's share is returned proportionally, so we do not keep our fee on money you gave back. ## Refunding extra money kept as credit If a family overpaid and you kept the extra as a [credit](/owners/billing/family-credits), you can refund that credit from the family's credits panel. Only the unused part can be refunded; whatever already came off an invoice can't be handed back twice. ## Troubleshooting **I can see the refund button but it fails.** Refunds are owner-only. Center admins can open the invoice and see the action, but the server refuses it. Ask an owner to issue it. **There is no refund action on this invoice.** On the web it's only shown on invoices marked Paid with a recorded payment. For a partly paid invoice, use the iOS or Android app. A draft or unpaid invoice has nothing to refund; void it instead if it should not have existed. **"Refund exceeds the remaining refundable amount."** You typed more than what's left to refund on that payment. Earlier partial refunds count toward it. **"This payment has already been fully refunded."** There's nothing left on that payment to give back. **I refunded the wrong payment.** A refund can't be undone. The invoice now shows the refunded amount as owing, so the family can pay it again in the app. Tell them what happened. **The family's balance looks higher after a refund.** That's expected: the refunded amount is owed again on the invoice. If they don't owe it, void the invoice. Related: [Handle a failed charge](/owners/billing/handle-a-failed-charge), [Create and send an invoice](/owners/billing/generate-and-send-an-invoice), [Export a financial report](/owners/billing/export-a-financial-report).