# Credit memos and refunds

> Credit a customer for a return or an error, then apply it to an invoice or refund it.

Section: Sales and receivables · Canonical: https://intubu.intuitivecapital-dai.com/docs/credit-memos

Sales → Credit memos.

A credit memo reverses revenue and, if it has inventory lines, puts stock back. It is the correct tool for a return, a billing error, or a goodwill allowance.

**Once issued, you can:**
- **Apply it** to one or more open invoices for that customer.
- **Refund it** — pay the money back, which posts against your bank account.
- **Leave it open** as a credit on account, where it shows on the customer's statement and the collections worklist.

**Do not confuse it with:**
- **Voiding** an invoice — for a document that should never have existed. See [Writing off a bad debt](https://intubu.intuitivecapital-dai.com/docs/write-off).
- **Writing off** a bad debt — the customer owes it but will not pay. That is a bad-debt expense, not a reduction of revenue.

The purchases-side equivalent is [Vendor credits](https://intubu.intuitivecapital-dai.com/docs/vendor-credits).