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Creating a Manual Refund in QuickBooks to Match Dockwa's Sync

If a refund failed to sync to QuickBooks automatically, you can enter it yourself so your books stay current while the underlying issue gets fixed.

Before you start: get the reference number, date, and amount for this refund from your Dockwa Sync Details page. These values come from Dockwa's records and need to match exactly — don't estimate or reformat them.

Dockwa records a refund in QuickBooks as an Expense or Check — not a Refund Receipt — with the customer entered as the Payee, and the amount coded to your Accounts Receivable account so it actually reduces the customer's balance.

Steps

  1. Navigate to the Expense transactions page in QuickBooks. Go to New transaction > Choose Expense or Check. Use Expense for a cash or credit card refund. Use Check for a refund paid by check or by bank/ACH transfer.

  2. Set the Payee. Select the Vendor whose name matches the customer being refunded. Check your Vendor list first — it likely already exists from other refunds processed for this account. Only add a new Vendor (using the same name as the customer) if one doesn't already exist.

  3. Set the Payment account. Choose the bank account your business uses for this type of refund (check with your Dockwa contact if you're unsure which account applies).

  4. Set the Payment date. Use the date Dockwa provides — this is the date the refund actually happened, which may not be today's date.

  5. Enter the Ref no. (Expense) or Check no. (Check). Type in the exact reference number Dockwa provides (e.g. ABC12345D7.1r). Matching this exactly keeps the record traceable back to Dockwa.

  6. Fill in the line item:

    • Category: your Accounts Receivable account (not a bank or expense account) — this is what actually reduces the customer's balance.

    • Customer: the customer's actual customer record (not the Vendor you selected as Payee).

    • Amount: the refund amount Dockwa provides.

  7. Write the memo. Use whichever fits the refund:

    • Cash → Cash

    • Check → Check {check number}

    • Manual ACH → Manual ACH Confirmation: {confirmation number}

    • Anything else → External Transaction: {notes}

  8. Save.

If this refund should be applied against a credit memo rather than standing on its own, see "Applying a Credit Memo to an Open Invoice in QuickBooks."

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