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Credit Notes

How credit notes work today: statuses, approval and segregation of duties, the outstanding-balance cap, and the missing UI.

AccountantFinance ManagerSuper AdminLast reviewed 03 Aug 2026

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Invoicing & Payments

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Accounts Receivable

A credit note reduces what a customer owes on an invoice — the correction document for an overcharge, a cancellation or a partial refund. TravelFlow stores credit notes with a full approval workflow, but be aware of the current limitation described below before you plan a process around them.

No credit note screen yet. There is no Credit Notes page or menu item, and no button anywhere in the application creates, approves or applies a credit note. The only visible surface is the Credit Notes tab inside Accounting > Entities > Accounts Receivable, and that tab never loads data — it and the Credit Notes total stay empty even when credit notes exist. Credit notes can currently only be raised through the API. Log a support request if you need one issued.

When a Credit Note Applies

  • An invoice was issued for the wrong amount.
  • A booking was cancelled after the invoice went out.
  • A service was not delivered as billed and a partial credit is agreed.
  • A goodwill discount is granted after invoicing.

A credit note always references the original invoice; it is never a standalone document.

Statuses

A credit note moves through six possible states: draft, pending approval, approved, issued, applied and voided. Approval is only allowed from pending approval — any other status is rejected with “Cannot approve credit note with status ...”.

Only Finance Managers (Accountant Admin or Super Admin) may approve, issue, apply or void a credit note, and segregation of duties applies: you cannot approve a credit note you created yourself. A second Finance Manager must do it. Super Admin is the only exception, for very small teams. The creator is notified when their credit note is approved.

Amount Limits and Organisation Scope

A credit note cannot exceed the invoice's outstanding balance after any credit notes that are already pending approval, approved, issued or applied have been subtracted, so an invoice can never be over-credited. Credit notes are also scoped to your organisation: you cannot raise one against another organisation's invoice.

VAT is not derived from the source invoice. The VAT amount is whatever is supplied when the credit note is created, and defaults to zero, so confirm the VAT split explicitly when you request a credit note.

Refunds

There is no refund action on a credit note. A credit note reduces the balance owed; if money must actually go back to the customer, process that payment through your bank and record the movement as an expense or journal transaction so the ledger and the bank statement agree.

Alternative: to cancel an invoice completely, void the invoice instead. A void posts a reversing journal entry automatically and keeps the original document for audit. See the Invoicing and Payments article.