JoFotara credit notes: how to reverse an invoice without breaking your records

In short: An invoice JoFotara has accepted is never deleted or edited. You correct it with a credit note, which the portal calls a return invoice, linked to the original and carrying the reason and the quantity returned at the original price and tax. If the right amount is higher than the invoice, you issue a new invoice for the difference.

Before JoFotara, a return was simple: give the money back and cross out the invoice. Today an invoice that has reached the national e-invoicing system is a record you cannot delete. The fix is a new document, sent to the system and linked to the original invoice. This guide explains what that document is, what it carries, how to issue it from the portal or your cashier app, what to do when the right amount is higher or a discount comes after the invoice, and why returns sometimes get rejected.

Why an invoice in the system is never deleted

Once JoFotara accepts an invoice, it records it and gives it an electronic number and a QR code, and the customer may already have scanned it. Deleting it in your app does not delete it from the system. It only puts your records out of line with the tax department's. So corrections are made by adding, not deleting: a sale happened, then a return happened, and each has its own document and its own effect on tax.

On the portal this document is called a return invoice, the portal asks for the reason for issuing the note when you create one, and the invoice dashboard counts notes issued next to invoices. In other words, a JoFotara return invoice works as a credit note: a document that reduces what an earlier invoice recorded.

Can an invoice be edited or cancelled?

An invoice cannot be edited once the system accepts it, and there is no cancel button. The deciding questions are whether the invoice reached the system, and whether the right amount is lower or higher than what it says. Every case falls into one of three.

Cancelling a whole invoice means a credit note for all of its items. Agree with your accountant on how to handle exchanges and special cases, and use the same method on every shift.

What about a debit note?

In accounting, a debit note raises the amount of an earlier invoice. The published technical guide for connecting to JoFotara, though, defines only two document types: the invoice, code 388, and the credit note, meaning the return invoice, code 381. It has no debit note.

So if you need to raise the amount of an invoice already issued, the practical route is a new invoice for the difference to the same customer, or a return of the original followed by a complete, correct invoice. Ask your accountant which suits your case.

A discount after the invoice was issued

A discount you give at the counter before payment is part of the invoice itself: tax is worked out on the discounted price and no note is needed.

A discount agreed after the invoice was issued and reached the system, such as a discount for a business customer on goods already delivered, lowers the value of a recorded invoice, and that is done with a credit note linked to it, not by editing it. Because returns on the portal work by item and quantity, the clearest way is to return the lines concerned and issue a new invoice at the discounted price. Ask your accountant how the discount should appear in your case.

Easiest of all is to give the discount before the invoice is issued whenever you can, so nothing needs correcting afterwards.

What a return note carries

• A reference to the original invoice: its electronic number in the system. There is no free-floating return that is not tied to an invoice.
• The reason for the return: a required field. The portal asks for the reason before it lets you issue, and connected apps send the reason with the note.
• The items and quantities returned: taken from the original invoice's own lines, and never more than was sold.
• The same unit price as the original invoice: a return gives back what was actually paid, not today's shelf price.
• The tax on the returned part: at the same rate the invoice was issued with.
• Its own QR code: issued by the system once it accepts the note, like any invoice.

Returning an invoice on the portal: the steps

If you issue invoices by hand on the JoFotara portal, the published portal guide describes a return like this.

1. Sign in with the sub-user you issue invoices with.
2. On the home screen, open invoice creation, then choose return invoice.
3. Enter the electronic number of the invoice you are returning and press search.
4. Type the reason for issuing the note.
5. Press the edit button next to the returned item, enter the quantity being returned and save the change.
6. Check the total, then press issue.

If the invoice came from your cashier app

The portal guide states that returns on the portal are available for invoices issued through the portal. An invoice your cashier app sent through the API connection is returned from that same app: you open the original invoice there, choose the items and quantities coming back, and the app sends the return note to JoFotara linked to it.

That is why you should ask before choosing an app: does it issue the return from the original invoice and send it by itself? An app that does not leaves you with sent invoices you can only correct the hard way.

Why a return sometimes gets rejected

• No reason given: the note went out without a return reason, and the system answers Reason for note is required. Write a reason on every return.
• The price does not match the original: the unit price on the return differs from the original invoice, and the message reads The unit price must match the unit price in the original invoice. A return is built from the original invoice, never from today's shelf price.
• The item does not match its line on the invoice: the return has to point to the item as it appeared on the original, not to a similar product.
• More than was sold: returning three pieces from an invoice with two, or several partial returns that add up to more than the original.
• The original is not in the system: it was never sent because of an outage or a rejection. Send the original first, then the return.

A return does not end at JoFotara

Every return touches three things in your shop: the cash drawer, because money left it or went back to a card; your stock, because the item went back on the shelf or was written off; and your sales reports, because today's sales just went down. An app that sends the note but does not update all three leaves you with figures that disagree at month end.

Returns are also one of the easiest ways to take money out of the drawer without right: a genuine invoice, then a fake return once the customer has left. Keep the right to issue returns with people you trust, and review returns every day, not every month. Many credit notes from one employee are a sign worth asking about: a repeated mistake, or something worse.

An example: a customer buys headphones for 29.000 JOD and a charger for 7.500 JOD from an electronics shop in Irbid, then brings the charger back two days later. The shop issues a 7.500 JOD credit note linked to the original invoice, never more than that invoice: the headphones stay sold, the charger goes back into stock, and the day's sales drop by its value.

How Ghalleh issues a return

In Ghalleh a return starts from the original invoice. You look it up, choose the items and quantities coming back, and pick the reason from a short list: damaged goods, wrong item, expired, customer changed their mind, exchange. Ghalleh sends the return note to JoFotara linked to the original invoice, at the price and tax the item was sold at, and the QR prints on the return receipt. If the device is offline, Ghalleh keeps the return and sends it automatically after the original once the connection returns.

You decide which employees may issue returns, and if you choose, your phone gets a notification whenever an employee issues a refund or a big discount.

Ghalleh is available now on Google Play, and the Windows version is on the download page, with a 14-day free trial with every feature and no card. During your trial, make a small sale, return it, and see both under view invoices on the portal.

Everything about JoFotara on one page: the JoFotara e-invoicing guide.

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