You may need to issue a credit for various reasons such as cancellations, refunds, or adjustments. Adding a credit note ensures your financial records remain accurate, your customers are clearly informed, and balances are correctly updated.

Add a credit note to a customer

Use this when the credit note is not tied to a specific job or invoice.

Go to the Customer record.
Click Quick links > Invoices.
Select Add new credit note.
Fill out the credit note details:
- Enter a short description (e.g. "Labour reduction").
- Adjust the credit note date if necessary.
- Choose a breakdown style: No breakdown, Breakdown by category, or Full breakdown.
Click Save to finalise and apply the credit note.

Add a credit note against an invoice

Use this when the credit is tied to a specific invoice or job.

Use the search bar to enter the invoice number or job number and select the correct result.
Click Quick Links in the top-right of the invoice page.
Under the Financial section, select Raise credit note.
Fill out the credit note details:
- Add a short description (e.g. "Boiler install refund").
- Add any additional customer-facing notes.
- Adjust the credit note date (defaults to current date).
- Select a breakdown style: No breakdown, Breakdown by category, Full breakdown, or Full breakdown by category.
In the Breakdown/Items section, enter the item(s) you are crediting. Use Enter to move across fields quickly; for dropdowns use arrow keys and Enter to select.
Click Save. The credit note will be issued and listed against the invoice record. You can then download or email it to the customer.

The credit note will be pre-filled with invoice items by default. This is helpful when crediting the full amount.

Refund a credit note

Commusoft allows you to refund a full or partial amount from a credit note.

Use the search bar to locate the customer associated with the credit note.
Open their profile and scroll to the History section.
Find the credit note you want to refund and click View.
Click Quick links in the top right-hand corner.
Select Refund remaining credit.
Fill in the following details:
- Description: Provide a brief reason for the refund.
- Date: Adjust the date of the refund if needed.
- Amount: Enter the amount to refund. This can be the full or partial credit value.
Choose the refund method (e.g., credit card, direct debit).
Click Receive credit to finalise the refund.
Return to the History section to confirm: if the full amount was refunded the balance will show £0.00; if a partial refund was made the balance will reflect the remaining credit.

Walkthrough

Correcting an invoice is not the same as changing it. Editing or deleting an issued invoice breaks the audit trail and leaves the customer holding a document your account no longer recognizes. A credit note leaves the original invoice exactly as it was charged and records the correction beside it.

📋 Before you start, you need:

An issued invoice that needs correcting
A payment recorded against that invoice, if you are refunding the money
Payment methods set up, if you are refunding the money

By the end you will be able to raise a credit note against an invoice, take the route that pre-fills the original items, and refund the credit instead of leaving it on the account.

Watch a video

▶️ Raising a credit note

Practise this

Before you open the screen, write down what you expect to happen to a customer's balance when a credit note is raised against an invoice they have already paid in full: where the money sits, and what has to happen for it to reach them. Then open a paid invoice in your account and look at what Quick Links offers, without raising anything.

Check what you know

An invoice has gone out with the wrong amount on it. Why does Claire raise a credit note rather than editing or deleting the original invoice?

Because the original invoice is the record of what the customer was actually charged, and the customer is holding a copy of it. Editing or deleting it breaks the audit trail and leaves them with a document your account no longer recognizes. A credit note leaves the original untouched and records the correction alongside it, so both appear in the customer's History and the account balance shows the net of the two.

Claire is crediting an overcharge on one specific invoice and wants the credit note to arrive with the invoice line items already filled in. Which route should she take, and what does the other one do?

She takes the invoice route: open the invoice or job, Quick Links, then Raise credit note under Financial. That pre-fills the items from the original invoice and she adjusts the ones being partly credited. The customer profile route, Quick Links then Add new credit note, starts empty and is for a general credit on the account that does not relate to a particular invoice.

Summary

Claire corrected Dr Spencer's overcharged heat pump installation invoice from the invoice itself. She opened Quick Links, chose Raise credit note, adjusted the pre-filled items, and then refunded the credit from his History.

💡 Key takeaways

Invoice route: Raise credit note pre-fills the original items, for crediting a specific invoice.
Customer route: Add new credit note starts empty, for a general credit on the account.
Refund: Refund remaining credit returns the money when the customer has already paid, instead of leaving it on the account.

You'll know it's right when the customer's History shows the original invoice unchanged with the credit note beside it, and the balance reads the net of the two.