Vendor Refund object
A Vendor Refund represents a transaction where a vendor returns value to a business. They are the counterpart to Customer Refunds. Each vendor refund has one or more Vendor Refund Allocations (targets) and zero or more Vendor Refund Payments.
Creating Vendor Refunds
There are two ways to create vendor refunds:
Simple Vendor Refunds
Use simple vendor refunds when you want to fully refund a single target (bill, bill line item, or bill payment) and the refund is fully paid. Layer automatically:
- Calculates the refund amount based on what can be refunded from the target
- Creates one allocation that perfectly cancels out the target
- Creates one refund payment that pays the refund in full
Itemized Vendor Refunds
Use itemized vendor refunds for more complex scenarios including:
- Refunding multiple targets in a single refund
- Partial refunds that don’t fully cancel out the target
- Unpaid refunds (refunds owed but not yet received)
- Custom allocation amounts or payment structures
With itemized vendor refunds, you specify all allocations and payments explicitly.
Vendor Refund Object
Attributes
Unique identifier for the vendor refund.
Unique ID of the vendor refund in your system for linking purposes. Idempotency key.
Amount refunded to the business in cents.
Status of the vendor refund.
Time when the vendor refund was completed.
Allocations associated with this vendor refund. See Vendor Refund Allocation Object for details.
Payments associated with this vendor refund. See Vendor Refund Payment Object for details.
Tags associated with the vendor refund.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the vendor refund.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the vendor refund.
Vendor Refund Allocation Object
A Vendor Refund Allocation represents one of the targets of a vendor refund. It can reference a specific bill, bill line item, bill payment, or vendor. For example, a vendor refund can apply to two separate bills if the bills are from the same vendor. The total of the amounts of the vendor refund allocations must add up to the refund amount.
Unique identifier for the vendor refund allocation.
ID of the bill this allocation is associated with.
Amount of the allocation in cents.
Line items that make up this allocation. See Vendor Refund Allocation Line Item Object for details.
External ID of the bill this allocation is associated with.
ID of the bill line item this allocation is associated with. If specified, must not refer to a different bill than bill_id or bill_external_id.
The external ID of the bill line item to refund. If specified alongside bill_line_item_id, they must refer to the same bill line item.
ID of the bill payment this allocation is associated with.
External ID of the bill payment this allocation is associated with.
Tags associated with the vendor refund allocation.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the vendor refund allocation.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the vendor refund allocation.
Vendor Refund Allocation Line Item Object
A Vendor Refund Allocation Line Item represents a specific line within a vendor refund allocation, allowing for detailed breakdowns of how the allocation amount is distributed across different ledger accounts.
External identifier for the line item.
Amount of the line item in cents.
The ledger account associated with this line item.
The prepayment account associated with this line item, if applicable.
Tags associated with the line item.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the line item.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the line item.
Vendor Refund Payment Object
A Vendor Refund Payment represents a money movement by which the vendor refund was received by the business. A vendor refund with zero payments represents a refund that is owed to the business but has not yet been received.
A vendor refund can have many payments so long as the total of their refunded_amounts does not exceed the total amount of the refund.
Vendor refund payments are matchable to bank transactions and are therefore the means by which vendor refunds are reconciled with bank accounts.
Unique identifier for the payment.
Unique ID of the payment in your system for linking purposes. Idempotency key.
Amount refunded to the business in cents.
Fee paid by the business to receive the refund payment (typically a payment processing fee).
Time when the payment was completed.
Method of the payment (e.g., CREDIT_CARD, ACH, etc.).
Processor used for the payment (e.g., STRIPE, SHOPIFY, etc.).
Tags associated with the vendor refund payment.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the vendor refund payment.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the vendor refund payment.
Simple Vendor Refund Creation Parameters
Use these parameters to create a simple vendor refund that fully refunds a single target and is fully paid.
Unique ID of the vendor refund in your system for linking purposes. Idempotency key.
When the vendor refund was completed and paid.
The ID of the bill to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
The external ID of the bill to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
The ID of the bill line item to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
The external ID of the bill line item to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
The ID of the bill payment to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
The external ID of the bill payment to refund. Cannot be used with other target identifiers.
Fee charged to the business for processing the refund in cents. Defaults to 0.
Method of the payment (e.g., CREDIT_CARD, ACH, etc.).
Processor used for the payment (e.g., STRIPE, SHOPIFY, etc.).
List of tags associated with this vendor refund.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the vendor refund.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the vendor refund.
Itemized Vendor Refund Creation Parameters
Use these parameters to create an itemized vendor refund with full control over allocations and payments.
Unique ID of the vendor refund in your system for linking purposes. Idempotency key.
The total amount of the vendor refund in cents. Must equal the sum of all allocation amounts.
When the vendor refund was completed.
The targets of the vendor refund. Each allocation specifies how much of the refund should be applied to a specific bill, line item, payment, or vendor.
The payment methods and amounts used to receive the vendor refund.
List of tags associated with this vendor refund.
Memo for any text you would like to associate with the vendor refund.
Arbitrary metadata you can include with the vendor refund.