Voiding and Refunding Payments with Business Central

Overview

A void cancels a card transaction before it settles; a refund returns money after settlement. Both start from the transaction in Benji Pays (Transactions, then the void/refund action). This article explains what Benji Pays does in Business Central in each case and what you may need to do yourself.

Voiding a payment

When you void, Benji Pays voids the transaction at the processor and then reverses the payment in Business Central. What it can do depends on the state of the original cash receipt journal lines:

• Journal not yet posted: the payment lines are deleted from the Cash Receipt Journal. Nothing was ever posted, so no reversal is needed.
• Journal posted, payment not applied: Benji Pays creates a reversal line (a positive customer line) in the same journal and posts it, so the customer balance returns to what it was. The External Document No. of the reversal is BENJI_VOID_[payment reference] and the description starts with Void -.
• Journal posted, payment applied to an invoice: Business Central will not let an applied payment be reversed through the API. You must unapply it first (see below).

The Review Business Central Void dialog

Whenever the original journal was already posted, Benji Pays shows Review Business Central Void so you can choose how to handle the processor void and the Business Central reversal before continuing. It previews the Document Number, Posting Date, Customer, Journal, External Document Number and the reversal line(s), then offers:

After a successful reversal the transaction shows a View in Business Central link to the reversal's Customer Ledger Entries.

If the payment was already applied in Business Central

You will see Payment Applied in Business Central: "This payment has been posted and applied to one or more invoices in Business Central. Please unapply the payment in Business Central, then retry the void." Follow the steps in the dialog:

1. Open the payment in Business Central. Go to Customer Ledger Entries (or use the Open in Business Central link) and find this payment.
2. Open detailed entries and unapply. Select the payment entry, then go to Entry > Detailed Ledger Entries. In the detailed entries list, click Unapply Entries. In the Unapply dialog, select ALL rows (Ctrl+A / Cmd+A), not just the first one, then click Unapply. Business Central only highlights one row by default, but every application entry must be selected or the payment will not be fully released.
3. Come back and re-check. Select I've Unapplied - Re-check Now. Benji Pays re-reads the ledger and, if the payment is now unapplied, continues with the void and reversal.

Alternatively, choose to skip Business Central and void only at the payment processor. Manual reconciliation will then be needed in Business Central.

If Benji Pays cannot find the original payment lines

If the lines were deleted or posted outside of Benji Pays, or the Finance reports API is not available in your environment, you will see "The original payment lines could not be found in the Business Central journal. They may have been posted or deleted outside of Benji. Verify the payment state in Business Central before continuing." or "Benji could not confirm the payment state in Business Central...". Open Customer Ledger Entries, check whether the payment exists and whether it has already been reversed, and then choose Post Reversal to GL, Create Draft Only, Void Only (No BC Entries) or Cancel Void accordingly.

If this happens every time, ask your administrator to install the API Reports - Finance extension; see Business Central Permissions and Prerequisites.

Refunding a payment

A refund returns money to the customer's card or bank account. 

Error correction refund without credit memo

Use this option if you are not refunding services or products, but need to refund a transaction, typically to correct a charge made in error when the original charge can no longer be voided. This is also the refund Business Central companies use today, because the credit memo option is turned off. Benji Pays refunds the processor transaction and records nothing in Business Central: "Non-Integrated refund, No transactions recorded in Business Central. Manually adjust transactions in Business Central if required."

Surcharges on refunds

If the original payment had a Benji Pays-managed surcharge, the refund dialog lets you include the surcharge in the refund. For gateways other than Benji Payments, Benji Pays adds a reversing G/L surcharge line in the journal. For Benji Payments the surcharge must be included in the refund and no Business Central surcharge line is created.

Automatic voids after a Benji Payments capture failure

With Benji Payments, a card payment can be authorised and recorded in Business Central, and then fail at capture. Benji Pays automatically voids the payment. If the journal was already posted and unapplied, it posts a reversal for you. If the payment was already applied in Business Central, it cannot, and company administrators receive an email and in-app notification headed Business Central Details with these steps:

1. Open Business Central and navigate to Customer Ledger Entries. Find and reverse or delete the payment journal entry for this transaction.
2. Confirm that the affected invoice(s) show an open balance in Business Central after the reversal.
3. Contact the customer to collect new payment information and re-process the payment.

The notification includes a deep link to the payment in Business Central.

After a void or refund

Benji Pays re-reads the affected invoice(s) from Business Central so the balance in Benji Pays matches. If you chose Void Only (No BC Entries) or an error-correction refund, remember that Business Central was intentionally not updated and manual accounting reconciliation is required.