Resident Refunds

When residents move out, it is possible that their payer overpaid for their last invoice. Refunds allow us to document and send this overpayment balance back to the payer.

This guide explains the steps to adjust an invoice if it was already paid in full.

• In almost all cases, it is best to create a prorated credit on the invoice for charge amounts for which the payer is not responsible. If anyone has seen the invoice already, creating a credit is the best option.
• Less commonly, if you have made a mistake on an invoice that was just generated and no one has seen it or paid it, you can prorate the charges on the invoice.
• The unapplied balance of the payment is what should be refunded. Refunding credits is possible, but should only be done if your company policy specifically states to refund credits.

If you need to process a refund for an ACH charge you ran using ALISPay, read the following article for more information: ALIS Pay: Voids and refunds.

How to process a refund

1. Create a prorated credit and adjust the applied payment. This will maintain the most accurate GL records in most scenarios. If appropriate, you could prorate the charge(s) instead.
   • Click Options>Edit for the invoice to get to the invoice editor page.
   • Carefully consider which charge amounts should be reduced on the invoice.
     • If the resident is moving out before the end of their lease agreement, it is likely that their care services may be decreased from the cost of the whole month to only the amount of time they are physically staying at the community during the month.
   • For the charge amount(s) you need to credit, click the letters "CR".
     • In the Apply Credit pane, select the Prorated option in the Amount Calculation section, and then update the Credit Service Period to reflect the days of the month for which the resident is not financially responsible for this service.
       • This will calculate the proration of the credit amount based on the total amount charged each month.
     • The Issued On date should not need to be edited. Since you are issuing the credit today, today's date is appropriate.
     • Add a Description and Internal Note if needed.
     • The last section of the pane will give options to adjust the payment. You can choose to unapply the overpayment balance, which is most likely the best option. You can also unapply the whole payment if needed.
     • Click Save.
       
2. Process the unapplied payment balance as a refund.
   • Go back to the Billing section on the resident profile.
   • Click the +Refund button in the Refunds section.
   • Update the Issued On date to represent the date of refund issued. Under "Refund check sent?", click Yes if the refund check was sent.
     • If you processed the refund for an ACH payment in CardPointe, you should set this to Yes.
   • ALIS will automatically recognize any unapplied payments or credits here. Click the checkbox next to the balance to refund the exact amount overpaid.
   • Add an internal note if you want to comment on where the check is to be mailed, or any other pertinent details.
   • Click Save.
     
   • If the GL period remains open and the resident's billing unlocked, you can edit or delete the refund. At any time you can mark the refund check sent and generate and send a receipt using the Options button.

Refund check sent status

It is important to verify the correct status for all refunds. There are distinct GL export transactions for Refund Issued versus Check Sent.

• When the refund is created, the balance moves from prepayments to refunds payable. When imported to the GL, refunds that remain in the Refund Issued status are represented as a balance in the refunds payable account.
• Refunds with the Check Sent status are cleared from from the refunds payable account in preparation for your accounting team to move the balance to accounts payable, which is not captured within ALIS.

This status can be observed on the Refunds report explained in the next section.

Reports

In your Billing reports, there is a specific report for Refunds. It is useful to review this each month to see details of refunds issued during the period, and reviewing this is an easy way to catch errors that might be associated with refunds.

A summary at the bottom of the report will display the total amount refunded during the filtered period, and show if any refunds were issued but have yet to be sent.

GL Settings

With an integration to your accounting team's GL software, it is essential that the correct account is linked to your refunds issued from ALIS. Find your setting for this in Billing Settings>Private tab>Payables section. 

Related articles:

Billing for Resident Move-Outs

Monthly Billing with ALIS

ALIS Pay: Voids and refunds

How to Set a Resident Payer