ALIS Pay: Refunds and Voids

This guide outlines the steps for revert ACH charges you processed in ALIS, through either a refund or a void. A refund returns payment, while a void cancels an entire transaction on the same day it was made. 

For more information about processing ACH payments in ALIS, refer to these guides:

• ALIS Pay: Payment Gateway Reference Guide
• ALIS Pay: Monthly ACH Pulls

Process a Refund

Only ALIS Pay ACH payments that are unapplied to invoices and less than 120 days old are eligible for refunds. To process a full or partial refund in ALIS, you must first correct the invoice to balance billing. Whether you are able to process a full or partial refund in ALIS depends on the payment processor provider your community is integrated with for ACH payments.

If you are currently integrated with iStream for ACH, you have the option to process full or partial refunds. For our legacy customers using Fiserv for ACH or Credit Cards, you are only able to process full refunds. For questions about your payment gateway integration, contact your company administrator, Account Manager, or our ALIS Customer Success Team.

If you have not already unapplied the ALIS Pay payment and created the credit, you will need to complete these steps first before processing to refund. 

First, unapply the payment and create the credit: 

1. Navigate to the Invoices blue bar of the Billing section on the resident profile. Locate the invoice for which you need to process the refund.
2. Click Options > Edit on that invoice. This will automatically direct you to the invoice editor page.
3. In the Payments section of the invoice editor page, first unapply the payment by clicking the - Unapply button. (Note that while ALIS does allow you to create the credit first and unapply any resulting over payments in that same step, we recommend unapplying the payment before creating the credit as this tends to minimize confusion when recording the refund in next steps.)
4. Click the letters CR on the charge amount(s) to create a credit. 
   •  
     • 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. 
5.  In the Apply Credit pane that opens to the right, enter the credit details and click Save to add the credit to this invoice.
   •  
     • The Issued On date will default to today's date and should not need to be edited.
     • Under Amount Calculation section, select the 'Prorated' option. 
     • 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.
     • Add an optional Description and Internal Note if needed. 

Then, process the Refund: 

The steps to process a refund depend on which ALIS Pay integration your community uses.

For iStream Users:

1. Navigate back to the Billing section of the resident's profile, and expand the Refunds blue bar. Click the +Process a Refund button. 
2. In the Process a Refund pane that opens to the right, enter the refund details and click Submit.
   •  
     • The Issued On date will default to today's date and should not need to be edited.
     • You should see the unapplied gateway payment. Click the checkbox on the left of the payment for which you are processing the refund. For a partial refund, be sure to also adjust the amount to reflect the credit you just issued. 
     • Add a description in the required Internal Notes field.

Result: The refund will appear in the Refunds section with the status Refund Processed. From here, you can print or email the receipt and view the transaction on your GL Txns page. The only editable field after submission is the Internal Notes (via Options > Edit).

For CardPointe Users:

Step 1: Refund transaction in Cardpointe

1. Login to your CardPointe Portal at account.cardpointe.com.
2. Locate the transaction and click Refund.

Step 2: Contact ALIS to Delete Record

Once the refund has been completed in CardPointe, the corresponding payment record must be deleted in ALIS to ensure the resident's ledger is accurate. Deleting a transaction is restricted to ALIS team members. 

• Action Required: Please contact the ALIS Pay Team at alispay@go-alis.com, and we will remove the transaction from the resident's profile for you.

Process a Void

You are only able to void gateway payments until 8pm CT / 9pm EST on the same day they were processed. We recommend voiding the payment as soon as possible in case additional assistance from our team is needed at the point of voiding the payment. Note that voiding a payment cannot be undone, and this action will unapply the payment from any associated invoices. 

To process a void directly in ALIS you must also currently be integrated with iStream, our newest payment processing provider. For legacy customers still integrated with Fiserv for ACH, you will need to process the void in the Cardpointe portal first and then mark the corresponding payment as voided in ALIS.  For questions about your payment gateway integration, contact your company administrator, Account Manager, or our ALIS Customer Success Team.

For iStream Users:

1. Navigate to the Payments blue bar of the Billing section on the resident profile. Locate the gateway payment that you need to void.
2. Click Options > Edit next to the payment. 
3. In the pop-up that appears, review the void details and write a description in the required Internal Note field.
4. Once you have reviewed in full, click the x Void Payment button.

Result: Once submitted, ALIS communicates with the payment processor to reverse the transaction. The payment will appear in the Payments section marked as Void, displaying the date and internal note. From here, you can print or email the void receipt and view the transaction on your GL Txns page. The only editable fields after submission are the Description or Internal Note (via Options > Edit).

For CardPointe Users:

Step 1: Void transaction in Cardpointe 

1. Login to your CardPointe Portal at account.cardpointe.com.
2. Locate the transaction and click Void.

Step 2: Contact ALIS to Delete Record

Once the funds are voided in CardPointe, the corresponding payment record must be deleted in ALIS to ensure the resident's ledger is accurate. Deleting a transaction is restricted to ALIS team members. 

• Action Required: Please contact the ALIS Pay Team at alispay@go-alis.com, and we will remove the transaction from the resident's profile for you.

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 this practice can help your team catch any errors that might be associated with refunds. 

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 the Private tab > Payables section of your Billing Settings. For assistance with updating your Billing settings, contact your Account Manager or our ALIS Customer Success Team.

Related Articles:

• ALIS Pay: The Payment Gateway Guide
• ALIS Pay: Monthly ACH pulls
• Resident Refunds

For more assistance with Refunds or Voids,

Contact our ALIS Customer Success Team:

 888.404.ALIS (2547) or support@go-alis.com