Summary

Overpayments and deposits can result in a credit balance on a business' account. In the Business Taxes module, you can refund these credit balances through the Refunds process.

Step by Step

1     Create a Refunds batch.

• Select the Refunds palette in BT> Refunds. This will expand the Refunds palette and display the steps in the refunds process.
• Select New from the Refunds batch number drop-down menu to create a new batch. This will open the New Batch window.
  • If there are open batches in the Refunds process, you can create a new batch without affecting the open batches.
• Enter a Batch Month and Batch Year. These fields default to the current calendar period and are used for reference only. The transaction date of the refund is set up in the Generate step and the fiscal period the transactions are posted to is determined by the Journal Entry Date entered when creating the GL Distribution Report (BT> Refunds> GL Distribution).
• Click the Generate icon   to populate the Batch Number field with the next available batch number. Batch numbers are limited to five digits and must be unique within the batch month of the batch year.
  • You can also manually create a new batch by entering a Batch Number and clicking the Save icon  .
• You can delete batches by selecting a batch and pressing DELETE.

2     Generate refunds.

• Open the Generate window (BT> Refunds> Generate).
• The Generate step is used to select which business accounts will be included in the Refunds batch. After the Refunds batch has been generated, the Edit step allows you to remove individual business accounts from the Refunds batch. Returning to the Generate step and regenerating the batch will overwrite the business accounts already included in the batch.
• The Settings section of the Generate window allows you to filter the businesses that are included in the batch.
• The Tax Type field is used to select which tax types will be included in the batch. By default all of the toggles are checked.
  • You can use the Select All or Deselect All icons to select or deselect all the displayed tax types.
  • Tax types are created and maintained in the Tax Type Selection window (BT> Maintenance> Tax Type).
• The Status field is used to select which statuses are included in the batch. By default all of the toggles are selected.
  • Statuses are created and maintained in the Status Maintenance window (BT> Maintenance> Status).
• Select a Transaction Type from the drop-down menu.
  • Only Credit Cash and Deposit transactions can be refunded.
• Click the Age From drop-down menu to select either Transaction Date or Post Date. This will determine which filter date you will age from.
  • The Age From Date will default to today's date.
• The Minimum Age Days field is used to limit the returns you would like to include in the batch by age days.
• The New Tran Date will default to the current date, but can be overridden. It is the date that will be associated with the refund adjustment to the business' return.
• The Minimum Amount field is used to limit the refunds included in the batch to a minimum amount. Specifying a minimum amount can prevent returns with only a negligible credit from being included in the batch.
• Click the Create icon to add specific businesses to the batch.
  • This will open the Business Selection window. Use the Search Criteria section to filter the displayed business. Select a business and click the Confirm icon to add that business to the Past Dues batch.
  • Selecting a business to include in the batch will override the filters above. If you add businesses to the Businesses section, only those businesses will be included in the batch.
• Click the Confirm icon when complete.

3     Edit the refunds included in the batch.

• Open the Edit Refunds window (BT> Refunds> Edit).
• The Edit Refunds window is used to add additional refunds, edit the amounts refunded to included returns, and remove unwanted return line items from the refunds batch.
  • Click the Create icon to add a refund to the batch.
    • This will launch the Refund Selection window, which displays the businesses eligible for a refund. When a business is selected, it will appear as a refunds adjustment on the Edit Refunds window.
    • The name and address fields to the right will populate with the details for the account holder associated with the business. If the selected refund needs to go to someone other than that account holder, click the Last Name field and either select a different account or create a new account for the refund. This allows users to generate special refunds for situations in which the refund payee is different than the business account holder, such as the overwithholding of occupational taxes.
  • Click the Expand button next to a return to display the refund details. The Amount column can be edited to create partial refunds.
  • Select a return line item and click the Delete icon to remove that item from the batch.
• The Errors tab will display any returns added to the batch that are part of an uncommitted batch. These returns will not be processed in the batch.
• Click the Save icon when complete. This will close the Edit Refunds window and return you to the refunds palette.

4     Print the Proof List.

• Open the Refunds Proof List window (BT> Refunds> Proof List).
• Select the Report Type you would like to print.
  • The Summary report the Transaction Date, Business Number, Business Name, Transaction Type, Adjustment Type, Transaction Description and Amount for each refund included in the batch. A Report Total is also provided.
  • The Detail report includes the information displayed in the Summary report as well as the Fee Code, Fee Description, Debit Account and Credit Account for each refund line item.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs).
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

5     Print the GL Distribution report.

• Open the GL Distribution Report window (BT> Refunds> GL Distribution).
• Enter the transaction date you want to appear in the General Ledger for this batch in the Journal Entry date field. This date will determine the fiscal period in which the invoices are recorded.
  • The Fiscal Period and Fiscal Year fields will populate based on the Journal Entry date selected.
• The refunds process will create the following journal entry:

• If the GL Accounts used in the refunds process belong to different funds, the system will use the Due To and Due From accounts set up on the SS Setup window to create a balanced journal entry.
• Select a Report Type from the drop-down menu.
  • The Summary report displays the Fund, Account, Description, Debit Amount and Credit Amount. A Fund Total and Report Total will also be provided.
  • The Detail report includes the information displayed in the Summary report as well as the Business Number, Transaction Type, Fee Code and Fee Description.
• Click the Print icon to process the report immediately or enter a date and time in the field next to the Print icon to schedule the report to generate at a later time. You can view the progress of the report on the Job Viewer window (SS> Utilities> Show Scheduled Jobs). 
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Print Preview to preview the report before printing.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet as unformatted data.
  • Click the Print icon drop-down menu and select Excel (Formatted) to export the report data to an Excel spreadsheet that includes much of the Springbrook formatting found on the printed version of the report.
  • Once the report is generated, you can also display the report using the View Reports window (SS> Utilities> View Report).

6     Commit the Refunds batch.

• The final step in the Refunds process is to commit the batch.
• Open the Commit Refunds window (BT> Refunds> Commit).
  • The Journal Entry date field will be populated with the date entered on the GL Distribution step. The journal entry date will determine the fiscal month and year that the journal entries will be posted to. Once the batch is committed, the information from the batch is sent to the Accounts Payable module as an uncommitted invoice, and a temporary vendor is created using the customer data.
  • The AP Settings section is used to specify the batch settings for the created invoice.
    • Click the AP Batch field label to select an existing uncommitted AP invoices batch that the refunds invoice will be added to. If you would rather add the refunds invoice to the next available AP batch, click the Generate icon. The AP Batch field will populate with the new batch number.
• Click the Confirm icon to commit the batch.