Create Credit Note

Overview

The Create Credit Note step issues a credit note when a return is processed. A credit note is the return receipt, or refund document, for a return: it lists the returned lines and the amounts that are paid back, as negative amounts. When the order has receipts, the credit note names the receipts it credits.

Omnium stores a credit note as an invoice with isCreditNote set to true. Your webshop or customer portal reads the credit notes of an order and downloads each one as a PDF through the Invoices API, the same way as receipts.

The step runs in the return workflow, not in the order workflow. Add it to the return status the return gets when it is processed, usually Completed.

Identifier

Configuration Properties

This step has no configurable properties. The credit note number comes from the number series of the market or tenant, see Credit note number series.

Behavior

Set Up Credit Notes for Returns

1. Add Create credit note to the return status the return gets when it is processed, in Configuration → Settings → Orders → Return settings, on the Return statuses tab. If your tenant has no return statuses of its own, the default Completed status already has the step. See Return Workflow Steps.
2. Configure a CreditNoteNumberOptions number series for the market or tenant. The UI calls it Credit note number.
3. To email the credit note, select the Credit notes attachment on the return notification, see Emailing the credit note.

The step applies to returns that are processed after you add it. A return that was processed earlier gets no credit note.

What It Does

1. Takes the credit note number from the credit note number series
2. Issues the credit note with the returned lines and the amounts of the return
3. Lists the receipts that hold the returned lines in creditedInvoiceIds, the oldest receipt first. Invoices of the order are not listed.
4. Records the credit note ID on the return in the external ID OmniumCreditNoteId
5. Sends the credit note with the Invoice email notification, when the tenant has one that applies to the order

The step does not check whether the return already has a credit note. A return that runs the step two times gets two credit notes, and the return keeps the ID of the last one. Add the step to one return status only.

What the Credit Note Contains

The credit note PDF has the title COPY OF CREDIT NOTE, translated to the market language (KOPI AV KREDITNOTA in Norwegian). When IsInvoiceOriginal is on in the order settings, the title is CREDIT NOTE (KREDITNOTA in Norwegian). To change the layout, choose an invoice template for the market.

Emailing the Credit Note

There are two ways to email a credit note to the customer. Use one of them, or the customer gets the credit note two times.

Attach it to the return notification. Select the Credit notes attachment on the return notification the customer gets when the return is processed. The email then carries the credit note PDF of the return it is about. The return notification builds its email when the Notification step runs, so place Create Credit Note before Notification, in the same return status or in a status the return passes through earlier. The default Completed status already has them in this order. Do not turn on Run after order is saved for Create Credit Note unless Notification has it too: the steps with it turned off run first, whatever their position in the list. An email for a return without a credit note has no credit note attached.

Send it as an invoice email. When the tenant has an Invoice email notification, the step sends the credit note PDF in its own email as soon as the credit note is issued. The step uses the first active Invoice email whose market and order type filters match the order. The same notification also sends the invoices that the Create Invoice step issues, but not receipts.

Credit Note Number Series

The step takes the credit note number from the CreditNoteNumberOptions number series of the order's market or tenant. Without a credit note series it uses the InvoiceNumberOptions series. When neither series is configured, the credit note gets a GUID as its number, so configure a series when the credit note must have a sequential number. See Number Options.

Prerequisites

• The step is in the return status the return gets when it is processed
• The return has lines

Side Effects

• Creates one invoice with isCreditNote set to true
• Sets the external ID OmniumCreditNoteId on the return to the credit note ID
• Sends the Invoice email notification, when one applies to the order

Business Cases

When to Use

• Return receipts in the webshop: Show the customer a credit note for each return, next to the receipts of the order
• Refund documentation: Give the customer and your accounting a document for the amount that is paid back
• VAT reporting: Reverse the VAT of the returned lines with a numbered document

Example Scenarios

Scenario 1: Return of one line from a receipt The customer got receipt K-10234 for a shipment with two lines and returns one of them for 499.00. When the return is completed, the step issues credit note KN-2041 for -499.00, and the credit note names K-10234 as the receipt it credits.

Scenario 2: Credit note in the return confirmation The Completed return status has Create Credit Note before Notification, and the return notification has the Credit notes attachment selected. When the return is completed, the customer gets one email that confirms the return and carries the credit note PDF.

Error Handling

An error stops the return workflow, so the steps after Create Credit Note in the same status do not run, and the return keeps its previous status. Processing the return again issues another credit note.

Related Steps

• Credit Return - Pays the return amount back to the customer
• Notification - Sends the return notification that can carry the credit note
• Create Receipts - Issues the receipts a credit note credits
• Export Payments - Sends payment data to external systems