# Refunds and reversals These documents adjust **payments already recorded** as receipts. There are three, and each one undoes something different: | Document | What it records | Linked to | Issued by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | **Refund note** | Money returned to the guest | The receipt it refunds | Your team, or Lavanda for automatic refunds | | **Refund reversal note** | A refund that never reached the guest | The refund note it cancels | Lavanda when the provider fails a refund, or your team for manually recorded payments | | **Payment reversal note** | A payment that was voided or taken back, for example after a lost dispute | The receipt it reverses | Lavanda when a dispute is lost, or your team | ## Refund note - **Meaning** — Money was returned to the guest after payment succeeded. - **Flow** — Issued as soon as the refund is raised, and linked to the receipt that was refunded. The receipt becomes Partially refunded or Refunded. - **When** — Partial or full refund on card, Direct Debit, bank transfer or another payment method. - **Refund status** — For refunds made through Stripe, Lavanda tracks the outcome: pending, succeeded or failed. Manually recorded refunds have no refund status. ## Refund reversal note - **Meaning** — A refund was recorded, but the money never reached the guest. The refund reversal note cancels the refund note in full and puts the amount back on the receipt. - **Flow** — Issued, allocated in full to the refund note it reverses. It is final: it can't be edited, deleted, unallocated or reversed. - **When** — Either of the following: - **Automatically**, when Stripe reports that a refund it had accepted has failed (for example the card was lost, stolen, expired or cancelled, or the bank declined it). This covers card, pay by bank, MB Way, and BACS and SEPA Direct Debit refunds. Direct Debit refunds can fail days after they are raised. No action is needed. The refund reversal note carries the reason *Unable to refund back to source*, the provider's failure reason, and the date the failure was reported. The refund note, and the refund's row under **Booking → Financials → Payments & refunds**, are tagged **Refund failed** with the provider's error. - **By your team**, for refunds of **manually recorded payments** (bank transfer, cash, cheque, point of sale) when the payout bounced or was recorded in error. Open the refund note and choose **Reverse refund**, then pick a reason: *Unable to refund back to source* or *Raised in error*. A reason is required. ### What happens when a refund is reversed 1. The refund reversal note is issued for the full amount of the refund note. A refund note can have only one refund reversal note. If a refund was split across several refund notes, each one is reversed on its own. 2. The refund note is marked **Reversed** and shows "Reversed by RRN-…". In the booking's receipts view, the refund reversal note sits under the refund note it reverses. 3. The receipt gets the amount back as open balance and steps back from Refunded to Partially refunded or Issued. A reversed refund no longer counts towards the receipt's refunded total. 4. Your team decides what happens to that balance: refund it again, allocate it to an invoice, or move it to another booking. Nothing is retried automatically. To see every refund that still needs action, filter the payments list by **Refund failed**. The refund reversal note has its own PDF, titled "Refund reversal note - RRN-…". It shows the refund note it reverses and the reason. The reversed refund note's PDF shows "Reversed by: RRN-…". ### Example A guest paid 1,000 by card. You refund 300, so a refund note for 300 is issued and the receipt shows Partially refunded. Three days later Stripe reports that the refund failed because the card was cancelled. Lavanda issues a refund reversal note for 300 against that refund note. The receipt is back to Issued with 300 of open balance, and the refund is tagged **Refund failed**. Your team then refunds the 300 another way, or allocates it to the guest's next invoice. ### Rules to know - **Refunds made through Stripe can't be reversed by hand.** Only Stripe can tell Lavanda that the money didn't arrive. **Reverse refund** isn't shown on those refund notes, on refund notes that have already been reversed, or on refund notes that aren't issued yet. - **Permission** — Reversing a refund by hand needs the same permission as issuing a refund. - **Duplicates** — If Stripe reports the same failure more than once, only one refund reversal note is issued. - **Numbering** — Refund reversal notes have their own numbering series per workspace (prefix `RRN`). - **Tax** — Like receipts and refund notes, refund reversal notes are payment documents and aren't submitted to tax authorities. - **Accounting** — A refund reversal note posts the mirror image of its refund note: debit Bank / Cash, credit Accounts Receivable (or Deposits, where the refund was of a deposit). - **Availability** — Refund reversals are enabled per workspace by Lavanda. Stripe refunds that failed before refund reversals were switched on for your workspace aren't reversed retrospectively. ## Payment reversal note - **Meaning** — The payment was voided or never completed. For example, a card payment taken back after the guest's bank won a dispute (a lost dispute, or chargeback), a Direct Debit reclaimed through an indemnity claim, or a payment recorded in error. - **Flow** — Issued, linked to the receipt that was reversed. The receipt becomes Reversed, and its allocations to invoices are removed, so those invoices are owed again. - **When** — Automatically when a dispute is lost, or by your team with a reason: *Chargeback*, *Indemnity claim* or *Raised in error*. ## Refund reversal note or payment reversal note? - A **payment reversal note** undoes a *payment*: the money never stayed with you. - A **refund reversal note** undoes a *refund*: the money never reached the guest, so it is back on the receipt. ## How this affects your picture - The **receipt** remains the record that payment was attempted or received. - The **refund note** or **payment reversal note** explains what happened next. - A **refund reversal note** explains that a refund didn't go through. The receipt's open balance and status change with it. - **Invoice balances** may change if allocations are unwound or adjusted; always refresh the invoice after these events. ## Simple rule - Refund = money back to guest. - Refund reversal = the refund didn't reach the guest, so the money is back on the receipt. - Payment reversal = payment undone, not a refund in the commercial sense. ## See also - [Moving payments between bookings](/finance-and-accounting/payments/moving-payments/) — reassign a payment to the correct booking instead of reversing and re-recording it. - [Receipts](/finance-and-accounting/document-types/receipts/) — the document every refund and reversal adjusts. - [Allocations](/finance-and-accounting/allocations/) — how refund and reversal documents link to receipts.