Understanding Your Instant Returns Invoice

instant return invoices are issued as line item csv exports and include detailed transaction level breakdowns each row represents a financial movement related to an instant refund or instant exchange below is a walkthrough of each column and what it means download the sample invoice here invoice header information each row in the csv includes the following invoice level fields invoice number the unique identifier for the invoice all rows belonging to the same billing period will share this number example inv 137978 invoice date the date the invoice was generated due date the date payment is due (or the date the direct debit was processed, depending on agreement) line item breakdown each invoice consists of individual line items that reflect specific financial actions the key column to review is description the description column outlines what the charge relates to common entries include refund advance transaction fee each description typically includes customer name order number context of the transaction for example refund advance; name joel aaron; order number xxxx transaction fee; name joel aaron; order number xxxx this makes it easy to trace each charge back to the specific return and customer refund advance a line item labelled refund advance represents the amount refundid fronted to the customer for an approved instant refund or instant exchange this is the principal amount being recouped from you relevant columns for this line include quantity (usually 1) unit amount (incl gst) subtotal (excl gst) gst total (incl gst) currency for refund advances gst is typically 0 00 the total (incl gst) reflects the full refund amount paid to the customer transaction fee a line item labelled transaction fee represents the service or processing fee associated with that specific instant return this fee is broken down clearly across unit amount (incl gst) subtotal (excl gst) gst total (incl gst) unlike refund advances, transaction fees will generally include gst where applicable this ensures finance teams can clearly see the net fee amount the gst component the gross total charged financial columns explained quantity typically 1 per transaction unit amount (incl gst) the per unit charge including gst for refund advances, this equals the refund value for fees, this equals the total fee including gst subtotal (excl gst) the net amount before gst gst the gst component (if applicable) refund advances generally show 0 00 gst transaction fees may include gst depending on region total (incl gst) the total amount being charged for that line item this is the actual amount included in invoice totals currency the currency the invoice is billed in this will match your store’s base currency payment status indicates whether the invoice has been paid processed via direct debit outstanding (depending on agreement) in the sample file, this shows as paid how to reconcile the invoice to reconcile an instant returns invoice sum all refund advance line items → this equals the total value refundid paid out to customers sum all transaction fee line items → this equals total service fees for the billing period add them together → this equals the total invoice amount because each line includes the order number in the description, finance teams can match refunds back to shopify orders match against internal return ids reconcile against reporting exports