Credit note CN-2026-058
Credit note
A printer credits four hundred misregistered paperbacks back to a publisher. The money is the small part; the value is that the document explains itself well enough that nobody has to ring about it.
The document, page by page
Every page as it renders and as it prints, with nothing summarised. Read the wording before you reuse it.
Section by section
What each section is for, so you can keep the ones you need and drop the rest.
- Printer letterhead
- Name, ABN, address and the accounts contact, on the first page only, since a credit note is filed behind its invoice.
- Issued, invoice, reason, total
- The four facts an accounts payable clerk needs before deciding which invoice this document belongs to.
- Issued to and original invoice
- The buyer entity and named contact beside the invoice number, date, total, purchase order and job name being corrected.
- Credited lines
- The three items coming off the invoice, each with quantity and unit price, so the credit can be checked against the original pricing.
- Subtotal and GST adjustment
- The credit before tax, the ten percent adjustment and the total, in the same shape the original invoice used.
- What went wrong
- The fault described in physical terms, how many copies it affected, and when it was caught in the process.
- What was agreed
- The date, the two people who agreed it, and the remedy, including the separate nil charge invoice for the reprint.
- What happened to the goods
- Return, collection and destruction dates, and an explicit statement that no affected copy was sold on.
- What we have changed
- The process change made so the same fault does not recur, which is what turns a credit note into a reason to stay.
- How the credit is applied
- Offset against the invoice by default, with the balance and due date restated, or refunded on request inside fourteen days.
- Activity statement note
- Names the document as an adjustment note and says which reporting period the tax correction belongs in.
Clauses in this document
What makes this document work
It attaches itself to one invoice
The invoice number, its date, its total and the purchase order are all repeated, and the note finishes by saying what is left owing on that invoice after the credit lands.
The reason is written as a story
Four numbered clauses say what went wrong, who agreed what and when, where the four hundred copies physically went, and what the press does differently now.
It tells the bookkeeper which period to adjust
The closing note names the document as an adjustment note and says the GST moves in the period the credit is issued, not the period of the original sale.
Questions people ask
What is a credit note for?
It cancels part or all of an invoice that has already been issued. Editing the original invoice would break the numbering an auditor follows, so the correction gets its own document and its own number.
What is an adjustment note?
The Australian name for a credit note that changes the GST on a taxable sale. Both the seller and the buyer correct the tax they reported, in the period the note is issued, which is why the note has to say so on its face.
Does a credit note have to be paid back in cash?
Usually not. The default here is that the credit reduces the balance on the invoice it came from. A cash refund is offered as an alternative if it is asked for within fourteen days.
Why is the reprint not on the credit note?
Because the reprint is new work the printer carries at its own cost, not a reduction in what the customer owes. The credit covers only the 400 faulty copies, their laminate and the return freight, $2,120 plus $212 GST. Section 2 records that the reprint was agreed on 15 August, so both sides can see the whole settlement without the reprint touching the invoice.
Should a credit note record what happened to the goods?
Yes, and this one has a section for it. A credit issued for misprinted stock is a different accounting event depending on whether the stock came back, was destroyed or was kept at a discount. Writing it down means the stock ledger and the credit agree, which is what an auditor is checking.
Why does the credit note say what the supplier has changed?
Because a credit fixes the money and nothing else. This note carries a short section on what has changed in the process, in this case the proofing step. It costs three lines, and it is the difference between a customer who accepts the credit and one who starts looking for another printer.
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Sources
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .