How to Issue Customer Refund Check

Last reviewed: June 9, 2026

On this page

Use this workflow to issue a refund check for customer credit that should be paid back.

When to use this workflow

Use Customer Refund Checks when a customer's available credit should be refunded by check instead of applied to an invoice.

Do not issue a refund check if the customer credit is still being investigated, should be applied to an open invoice, or is marked Needs review.

Before you start

Confirm:

The customer credit is valid.
The customer does not want the credit applied to an invoice.
The refund amount is approved.
The customer is not marked Needs review, or the review has been completed.
The refund should be handled as a check through Banking.

Screen path

Dashboard > Finance > Banking > Customer Refund Checks

Steps

Open Customer Refund Checks.
Review the customer list.
Find the customer to refund.
Compare Refundable Balance and Accounting Balance.
If the customer shows Needs review, stop and investigate the credit before continuing.
Select the checkbox for the customer.
Review Check Amount.
Change Check Amount if the refund should be less than the full refundable balance.
Repeat for any other approved customer refund checks.
Select Issue Checks.
Confirm the success message.
Confirm the customer no longer appears for the refunded amount, or that only the remaining refundable balance appears.

What happens behind the scenes

When customers load, PAX compares customer credit balance to unlinked payment credit and shows the refundable amount.

When Issue Checks is selected, PAX sends one refund request for each selected customer.

For each refund, PAX:

Validates that the amount is positive.
Blocks amounts greater than the refundable balance.
Posts the return_issue_check GL transaction.
Creates a refund-check reference beginning with REFCHK.
Consumes unlinked customer credit rows in first-in, first-out order.
Splits or leaves remaining credit when the refund uses only part of an available credit row.
Updates the customer credit balance so refunded credit cannot be reused.

Troubleshooting

The customer is not listed

Likely cause: PAX does not see a refundable unlinked credit balance for that customer.

Safe fix: Review the customer's payment and credit history. If the credit should be applied to an invoice, use the customer payment workflow instead of refund checks.

Contact support if: Customer Detail shows refundable credit but the customer does not appear.

PAX blocks the check amount

Likely cause: The amount is zero, negative, or greater than the customer's refundable balance.

Safe fix: Enter an amount greater than zero and no more than Refundable Balance.

Contact support if: The displayed refundable balance is not correct.

I issued a refund check by mistake

Likely cause: The wrong customer was selected or the wrong amount was entered.

Safe fix: Do not create a new offsetting payment without review. Contact the finance owner or support so the correction preserves customer credit and accounting history.

Contact support if: The refund affected bank reconciliation, customer credit, or customer statement history.