New Supplier Debit Note
A Supplier Debit Note reduces what you owe a supplier. Use it when you return goods, were overcharged, or agreed a credit after the bill was booked. It reverses the cost, takes the stock back out of your warehouse, and reduces the balance in Accounts Payable.
Where to find it
Go to Purchases > Debit Notes > New Direct Debit Note. To raise one against a specific bill instead, use Invoices To Debit Note.
The terminology mirrors the sales side. What a customer receives from you as a credit note, you issue to your supplier as a debit note — you are debiting their account because they owe you.
Before you start
- The supplier must exist and have a transaction history.
- The stock being returned must be available at the location it is going back from.
- The accounting period must be open for the debit note date.
- You need the
SA_SUPPLIERCREDITpermission.
Header field reference
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier | Yes | Who the debit note is against. |
| Date | Yes | The date the credit is recognised. Stock and ledger entries post on this date. |
| Due Date | No | Where the credit is expected to be settled by a date, record it here. |
| Reference | Yes | Your unique identifier for this document type. |
| Supplier's Reference | No | The supplier's credit note number, once they issue one. |
| Receive Into (Return From) | Yes | The warehouse the goods are leaving as they go back to the supplier. Stock is reduced here. |
| Deliver To | No | The address the goods are being returned to. |
| Workorder | No | Links the return to a production job where the material was bought for one. |
| Branch / Department | No | The organisational unit and internal division the credit belongs to. |
Receive Into works in reverse on a debit note. It is the location the returned stock is taken out of, not put into — check it points at the warehouse actually shipping the goods back.
Current Debit
The live balance with this supplier. Click the figure to see their full transaction and payment history before raising the credit.
Tax Included (Toggle)
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Yes | Prices entered are treated as including tax. |
| No | Tax is calculated and added on top of the price entered. |
Match this to how the original purchase was entered, so the reversal is the exact mirror of the cost it is undoing.
Barcode
Scan a product code to identify and add the returned item automatically.
Line Items
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Item Description | The item being returned. |
| Batch No / Exp Date | Batch and expiry for tracked items — return the batch you actually received. |
| Quantity | How many units are going back. |
| Price | The unit cost being credited, normally matching the original purchase. |
| Line Total | The line value being credited. |
GL Items
GL Items reverse non-inventory charges — a freight fee wrongly applied, an overcharged service, a duplicated professional fee. Use them where there is no stock to return but the bill still needs reducing.
Quick Entry for GL Items
- Go to Setup > Quick Entries, under the General Ledger section.
- Create an entry with Entry Type set to Supplier Invoice/Debit.
- It becomes available in the Quick Entry dropdown on this screen.
- Select it and enter the amount to fill the account splits automatically.
Total Details
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Sub-total | Returned items plus GL items before adjustments. |
| Discount(-) / Round Off(+) Amount | A flat adjustment so the credit matches what the supplier has agreed. |
| Tax | The input tax being reversed. |
| Amount Total | The total value of the debit note. |
Comments
Record why the credit is being raised — "goods damaged in transit", "short shipment", "price corrected per supplier email". This is the first field anyone reviewing the transaction will read.
Attachments
Attach photographs of returned goods, the return authorisation, or the supplier's correspondence agreeing the credit.
Custom Fields
Add your own inputs where the standard form does not capture something you need. Enable under Setup > Preferences > Show Add Custom Field on Forms.
Action Buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Update | Recalculates totals without committing. |
| Process Debit Note | Finalises the credit, moving stock and posting the ledger entries. |
General Ledger
| Account | Effect |
|---|---|
| Accounts Payable | Debited — reduces what you owe the supplier. |
| Inventory Account | Credited — stock value falls as goods leave. |
| Input Tax | Credited — reverses the tax originally reclaimed. |
| GL Item accounts | Credited — reverses any non-stock costs being credited. |
A debit note reduces the payable but settles nothing on its own. Until it is applied through Allocations, the original invoice still shows as outstanding in full.
Debit Note Report
For a consolidated view of returns and supplier credits, go to Reports > Purchases. Filter by date range and supplier, and export as PDF or Excel.
Related pages
- Supplier Debit Notes List — find debit notes
- Supplier Debit Note View — read one in detail
- Invoices To Debit Note — credit a specific invoice
- Allocations — apply the credit
- Purchase Invoices List — the bill being reduced