Sales Returns and Allowances Recording Returns in Your Books

The two accounts involved in this entry are the “Sales Return account” and the “ABC Corporation” (Debtor’s) account. Unreal Corporation sold raw materials worth 10,000 on credit to ABC Corporation. However, at the time of delivery, ABC Corporation found goods worth 2,000 as unfit because they were damaged in transit.

The buyer may return the goods to the seller due to excessive purchases, defective goods, or any such reason. For recording this transaction, adjustments can be made to the Sales A/c or a separate Sale Return A/c can be created in the books of the business. Normally sales returns and allowances are two different kinds of transactions.

What Is a Contra Account & Why Is It Important?

For example, if a customer receives a 2 percent discount for paying a $100 invoice early, debit cash by $98, debit sales discounts by $2 and credit accounts receivable by $100. Sales allowances are reductions in the original selling price for defective creative invoice templates products that customers agree to keep. The accounting for a sales allowance is the same as a sales return. Return inwards or sales returns are shown in the trading account as an adjustment (reduction) from the total sales for an accounting period.

• Therefore, sales returns and allowances is considered a contra‐revenue account, which normally has a debit balance.
• This means that sales returns and allowances are deducted from sales or gross sales in the income statement.
• Expenses normally have debit balances that are increased with a debit entry.
• This will help ensure that all of your general ledger account balances are correct, and allow you to generate accurate financial statements that give you insight into your business finances.
• If the payment was made on June 1 for a future month (for example, July) the debit would go to the asset account Prepaid Rent.
• When the buyer of goods returns the goods purchased back to the seller, the transaction is referred to as purchases return.

A sales return is an item that was sold to a customer but was later returned to the business. This can be due to various reasons such as the item being defective, the customer not being satisfied with the item, or the customer returning the item for a refund. Revenues and gains are recorded in accounts such as Sales, Service Revenues, Interest Revenues (or Interest Income), and Gain on Sale of Assets. These accounts normally have credit balances that are increased with a credit entry.

Assets, Liabilities, Equity: Comparison

First, record a debit to the “sales returns and allowances” account in a journal entry for the amount of the refund or allowance. As shown above, this journal entry involves recording a debit of $3,500 in the sales returns and allowances as well as recording a credit in an accounts receivable account. If the product that was returned was not defective, it can be resold. Therefore, a journal entry will also need to be made to account for the goods returning to inventory and the cost of goods sold. This would involve recording a debit in the inventory account as well as recording a credit in the cost of goods sold (COGS) account.

Today, most bookkeepers and business owners use accounting software to record debits and credits. However, back when people kept their accounting records in paper ledgers, they would write out transactions, always placing debits on the left and credits on the right. When a customer returns something they paid for with credit, your Accounts Receivable account decreases. Reverse the original journal entry by crediting your Accounts Receivable account. Although you don’t lose physical cash, you lose the amount you were going to receive. A purchase return, or sales return, is when a customer brings back a product they bought from a business, either for a refund or exchange.

Journal Entry for a Sales Return

By having many revenue accounts and a huge number of expense accounts, a company will be able to report detailed information on revenues and expenses throughout the year. When the buyer of goods returns the goods purchased back to the seller, the transaction is referred to as purchases return. The buyer may return the goods to the seller (the creditor) due to excessive purchases, defective goods, or any such reason. For recording this transaction, adjustments can be made to the Purchase A/c or a separate Purchase Return A/c can be created in the books of the buyer. Accounting events related to goods being returned are documented in the final accounts as they have a monetary impact on the financial statements of a company. Depending on the terms and conditions of the transaction goods sold in credit may be returned.

• But instead of entering in your Cash account, you credit your Accounts Payable account.
• To illustrate, suppose that Lakeside Electronics issued the credit memorandum shown in the figure below to Champ’s TV Sales for the return of a defective 19-inch TV.
• A revenue account increases with credit and decreases with a debit.
• This increases (debit) Sales Returns and Allowances and decreases (credit) Cash.

Sometimes due to various reasons goods sold by a company may be returned by the respective buyer(s). This may happen due to several different reasons, in business terminology, this action is termed a sales return or return inwards. Journal entry for sales returns or return inwards is explained further in this article.