---
title: "Issue a refund"
description: "Refund a paid invoice in full or in part, and understand what a refund does and does not change on the invoice."
type: guide
updated: 2026-08-10
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/billing/issue-a-refund
roles: ["super_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
Refunds are issued from the invoice, not from a payments page. Open the paid invoice, and the refund action is at the bottom of its detail panel.

Only **owners (super admins)** can complete a refund. A center admin who tries gets a permission error.

## Issue the refund

1. Go to **Billing & Payments → Invoices**.
2. Find the invoice and open it. The refund action only 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.

The payment's status changes to **Refunded**.

<Callout kind="warning" title="A refund does not reopen the invoice">
The invoice stays <strong>Paid</strong>, whether you refunded all of it or part of it. The refund is recorded on the payment, not on the invoice balance. If the family now owes you that money again, raise a new invoice for it. Do not expect the original to go back to Sent or Past due.
</Callout>

## When the money lands

- **Card payments:** around 5 to 10 business days, back on the original card.
- **Bank payments:** around 1 to 2 business days, back to the original account.
- NestliCare does not notify the parent. Their bank or card issuer shows the credit.

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.

## 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.** It is only shown on invoices marked Paid with a recorded payment. A draft, sent, past due, or partly paid invoice has nothing to refund. Void it instead if it should not have existed.

**"Refund amount exceeds the original payment amount."** You typed more than the family actually paid. Partial payments are refundable only up to what was received.

**Stripe says "balance_insufficient".** Your balance is lower than the refund because your last payout already moved the cash to your bank. Stripe takes it from your next payout. Nothing for you to do.

**I refunded the wrong payment.** A refund cannot be undone. Raise a new invoice on that family for the same amount and explain what happened.

**The family's balance still looks wrong after a partial refund.** That is the behaviour described in the callout above. The invoice does not re-open. Add the amount to their next invoice, or raise a separate one.

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).