Refunds

Money someone pays you back isn’t income: it lowers what an expense cost you. A friend who sends you their share of a dinner you paid for, a flatmate who pays you back half the rent, a shop that refunds a return. Link that money to the expense it pays back and the expense’s category shows only what you really paid, while the money coming in stops counting as income. You’ll find the Refunds section on every transaction’s page, under Transactions (/transactions).

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How a refund is counted

• It lowers the expense instead of counting as income. The linked amount counts as negative spending in the expense’s category, whatever category the incoming money has. An €80.00 dinner in Restaurants with €20.00 paid back counts €60.00 in restaurants, and the €20.00 doesn’t appear under income.
• It counts in the expense’s month. A December dinner paid back in January lowers December’s restaurant spending, and January doesn’t gain income it never had.
• Account balances don’t change. Linking a refund only changes how the two transactions are counted.
• Budgets count it the same way. The refund comes off the budget for the expense’s category, in the cycle the expense fell in. See Budgets.

Lists still show each transaction on its own date and with its own amount. An expense with a refund carries the ↺ mark (Refunded), and the refund shows where it counts, for example Refund · Restaurants. On the expense’s page, the Refunds section sums up how much has come back (for example, All paid back), and each refund says how much it covered (Paid back €20.00).

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Add a refund to an expense

One expense can have several refunds: for a dinner for four, use Add another refund to add one for each friend who paid you back. And one refund can cover several expenses: if a friend sent you the money for dinner and the cinema in one go, link it to the first expense, then, on the refund’s page, choose Use the rest on another expense.

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Mark incoming money as a refund

You can also start from the money you received. Open it and choose Mark as a refund. The list shows expenses in the same currency up to a week after the money came in, and Search expenses looks across every date. If the expense isn’t in guito (you paid with a card from another bank, for example), choose The expense isn’t listed and pick the Expense category. The money then lowers spending in that category, in the month it arrived.

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Refunds paid in cash

When someone hands you their share in notes and coins, or pays it into an account that isn’t in guito, there’s no incoming transaction to pick. Open the expense, choose Add refund and then Received in cash, just below the search box. Enter the amount and the date and, if you like, Who paid you back?. Where did the money go? is set to No account by default: the refund only lowers what the expense cost, and no balance changes. If you keep that cash in one of your manual accounts, such as a wallet, pick it instead and the amount is added to that account’s balance as a new transaction. Only manual accounts in the expense’s currency are offered, and Create account… sets one up without leaving the form. If the person later sends you the money by bank transfer, linking that transfer to the expense offers to Replace the cash refund from them (with their name, the amount and the date). It comes ticked when the amounts match, so the same money is only counted once. If the expense has no room for both, the cash refund has to be replaced.

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Automatic shop refunds

Money that comes in under Purchase refunds is linked automatically to your latest earlier purchase at the same store, in the same currency, made up to 120 days before and with room for the whole refund. From then on it counts in the category and month of that store purchase, and its line in the Refunds section says automatic.

• With no matching purchase, it counts as income. If the purchase was older, at another store or under a different name, the refund’s page offers Mark as a refund so you can pick it yourself.
• Only this category. No other income category is ever linked automatically: wages from a shop you work at stay wages.
• Once removed, it stays manual. If you remove an automatic refund, that money counts as income from then on and is never linked automatically again. You can still link it yourself with Mark as a refund.

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Remove a refund

In the Refunds section, open the ⋯ menu next to the refund and choose Remove refund. In the app, press and hold the line or swipe it to the left. Both transactions go back to how they were. A cash refund that added the amount to an account is removed with Remove and delete: the transaction it created in that account is deleted along with it.

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What can’t be a refund

• Transactions in different currencies. The refund and the expense must be in the same currency.
• Transfers between your own accounts. Moving your own money around doesn’t pay back an expense.
• Split transactions. Incoming money that has been split can’t be a refund, and a refund can’t be split. A split expense can still be paid back: the refund is shared across its parts in proportion to each.

While an expense has refunds, it can’t be moved to Transfers or change currency, and its amount can’t drop below what’s been paid back. Remove the refunds first. If you exclude an expense from cash flow, the refunds linked to it are excluded too.

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Frequently asked questions

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Related pages