Record a full or partial offline refund for an invoice.
Use this API to record refunds processed outside Chargebee (for example, directly through a payment gateway or via offline methods such as bank transfers or checks) so you can reconcile them in Chargebee.
Important: This API does not process actual refunds for online payments or return money to customers through the payment gateway. To process refunds for online payments and return money to customers, use the Refund an invoice API instead.
Prerequisites & Constraints
The invoice must have a refundable amount. (See Implementation Notes for details.)
Impacts
Credit note
Chargebee creates a refundable credit note with status set to refunded.
Transactions
Chargebee records the refunds by creating transactions of type refund and links them to the credit note. The refund transactions are recorded in the following order:
linked_paymentsfor offline transactions. This is recorded aslinked_refunds[]in the credit note.linked_taxes_withheld(if available). This is recorded aslinked_tax_withheld_refunds[]in the credit note.linked_paymentsfor online transactions (after offline payments and taxes withheld are exhausted). This is recorded aslinked_refunds[]in the credit note.
Example
Consider an invoice with the following payments and tax withheld:
- Offline payments: $30
- Online payments: $20
- Tax withheld: $5
When you record a refund of $40, Chargebee allocates the refund as follows:
- Refund against offline payments: $30
- Refund against tax withheld: $5
- Refund against online payments: $5
Implementation Notes
Before calling this API, perform the following checks:
- The invoice must have a refundable amount. Specifically, the sum of
issued_credit_notes[].amountfor refundable credit notes must be less than the sum of: - Ensure the
transaction[date]is on or after the invoice date and not in the future. - Include the
transaction[amount]parameter to specify the refund amount. If you omit this parameter, the system records the entire refundable amount as refunded. - If reason codes are mandatory in Chargebee Billing, include the
credit_note[create_reason_code]parameter with a value from the configured list of codes.
Sample Request
URL Format
Input Parameters
The Customer Notes to be filled in the Credit Notes created to capture this refund detail.