Refunds, reallocating & unallocating payments

Receipts can be refunded, and the payments on them can be unallocated, reallocated to a different invoice, or moved to a different person. These tools fix the most common finance issues — wrong invoice, wrong amount, wrong person.

Refund a receipt

1. Open the contact's profile and go to Financial → Receipts.
2. Click the Receipt number.
3. Click Refund.
4. SwiftFox asks Are you sure you want to refund this receipt? What you see next depends on the payment method:
   • Supported payment gateway (for example a card payment) — the confirmation includes a Request bank to refund switch. Leave it on and SwiftFox asks the payment gateway to return the money and marks the receipt Refunded. Turn it off and SwiftFox only marks the receipt Refunded: the bank is not contacted, no money is returned, and you must return the money separately if that has not already happened.
   • Unsupported method (cash, BPAY, payroll, or any method the payment gateway can't refund) — there is no switch. SwiftFox marks the receipt Refunded only; you must return the funds manually.
5. Confirm the refund.

The switch starts in the position set by Request bank to refund by default under Settings → Finance & usage → Financial settings → Refunds. It is on by default. Turn the setting off if your organisation normally returns money outside SwiftFox and only wants receipts marked as refunded; you can still change the switch on each refund.

When you reopen a refunded receipt, a badge records how the refund was handled: Bank refund requested (the payment gateway accepted the request; this does not confirm the money has arrived), Recorded only (marked as refunded without a bank refund request), Manual refund required (the payment gateway did not process the request) or Refund method unknown (refunds made before this was recorded).

The refund creates a corresponding negative receipt and unallocates the payment from any invoices it was applied to, so the invoice balance updates. If the receipt was linked to a subscription, arrears and paid amounts are reverted to reflect the refund.

Unallocate a payment

Unallocating removes the link between a payment and an invoice so the money becomes available to apply elsewhere.

1. Open the contact's profile and click the Financial tab.
2. Click the receipt that contains the payment.
3. On the payment line under Item, open the three-dots (⋮) menu.
4. Click Unallocate.
5. Enter the amount to unallocate (or the full amount).
6. Click Confirm.

The payment now shows as unallocated on the receipt.

Reallocate a payment to a different invoice

Once a payment is unallocated you can apply it to another invoice on the same person.

1. Open the receipt.
2. Once the payment is unallocated, use the three-dots (⋮) menu on the payment line and choose Allocate (also shown as Allocate to Invoice).
3. Select the destination invoice from the list.
4. Enter the amount to allocate — you can split across multiple invoices.
5. Click Save.

Reallocation is the correct way to fix Paid To Date errors. Move payments from a future invoice back to the earliest unpaid invoice and Paid To Date recalculates automatically.

Link a receipt to a subscription

Instead of allocating a receipt to a single invoice, you can link it to one of the person's active subscriptions so it pays that subscription down automatically. Reach this from the receipt drawer, in the dropdown beside the Allocate to Invoice button.

1. Open the receipt.
2. Open the dropdown beside the Allocate to Invoice button and choose Link to Subscription.
3. Select the subscription to link the receipt to.

Once linked, SwiftFox automatically allocates the receipt's unallocated amount to that subscription's outstanding invoices. If the receipt doesn't cover them all, the remainder stays unallocated on the receipt; and any future invoices generated from that subscription are automatically paid from the remaining unallocated amount. The receipt therefore stays tied to the subscription and keeps covering new invoices as they are raised, until the unallocated amount is used up.

Change the owner of a receipt

If a payment was applied to the wrong person, you can change the receipt owner — but only after fully unallocating the payment from any invoices.

1. Open the receipt.
2. Use the three-dots (⋮) menu on the payment line to Unallocate all allocations.
3. From the same menu, click Change Receipt Owner.
4. Search for and select the correct person.
5. Click Save.

The receipt is now on the new person; reallocate it to the appropriate invoice.

What can and can't be reallocated

• Receipts created after go-live can be unallocated and reallocated regardless of payment method — including Stripe credit card payments.
• Pre-migration subscription receipts are locked from unallocation, reallocation and owner change.
• Changing receipt owner is only available for receipts not linked to a pre-migration subscription.