Positive gift amount on a refunded deposit-report row

How do I tell a reversal from a refund in a deposit report?

Check the gift’s Deposited At column and its refund date. Do not decide from the gift date or the date the customer requested a refund.

• Matching deposit and refund dates: reversal. For a fully refunded gift with matching deposit and refund dates, the gift does not count as either a positive or a negative in the deposit total. Its effect on that deposit is zero. Do not add the original amount as money still owed to the school or subtract it again as an additional deduction.
• Previously deposited gift refunded later: refund. The original positive amount was already included in an earlier deposit. In the deposit report accounting for its refund, the refunded amount counts only as a negative and lowers the total deposit amount. An older refund date does not make the original gift a new positive deposit; check which deposit includes the refund recovery.

A row can still display the original gift amount even when it contributes zero or a negative amount to the deposit being reconciled. A positive amount shown on the row is not, by itself, another bank deposit due to the school.

Example: an $80 event payment and an $80 refund

If the full $80 payment has matching deposit and refund dates, treat it as a reversal with zero effect on that deposit. If the $80 was deposited previously and is refunded later, the refund reduces the deposit that includes the refund by $80; do not also count the original $80 as new money in that deposit.

Do not conclude that a missing $80 bank credit was canceled out simply because a customer mentions an $80 refund on the same day. First check the actual payment, Deposited At, refund date, and deposit records. Matching amounts alone do not establish what happened to a particular bank transfer.

Which report should I check?

Open Banking & Deposits / Deposit Reports and download the relevant deposit report. Use the Events deposit report for event registration payments and the Online Giving deposit report for gifts. Match the deposit/payment IDs, processor account, and report period to the bank statement.

Report headers vary. Gift reports can show Deposited At, refunded_at, and refund-recovery fields. Events reports use datetime_of_deposit, datetime_of_refund, amount, and refund_amount. These fields do not all represent the same event: the Events refund timestamp records when the refund was created, while its deposit association identifies which deposit accounts for it. If the dates or deposit associations are unclear, ask Support to reconcile the record rather than guessing from the date alone.

The zero-effect example assumes a full refund. For a partial refund, compare the actual payment and refund amounts; do not assume the entire payment cancels out. Disputes, chargebacks, and failed bank transfers have separate adjustment records and should not automatically be classified using this gift-refund example.