The damaged stock went back on the vendor’s vehicle, and the credit never came.
Purchase returns record what goes back to a supplier and why: broken in transit, wrong specification, near expiry, or rejected at the quality check. A debit note is raised against his bill, stock comes down, and the amount stays in his account until it is settled. Chasing it stops being a WhatsApp message to his salesman.
Four tiles of the lot are cracked. The salesman says he will adjust it in the next bill, and everyone believes him. Three bills later the adjustment has not appeared, the salesman has changed jobs, and the amount is small enough that you let it go. Those small amounts add up by March.
A return is entered against the receipt it came from. The reason goes on the line, the debit note carries the value and the tax working, and the vendor’s outstanding falls by that much. What is still unsettled shows with its age, oldest first.
What purchase returns and debit notes does.
Return against the receipt
Items, quantity and rate come from the original goods receipt, so the return is priced at what you were charged.
A reason on every line
Damaged in transit, wrong size, short life, failed the check. Chosen from your own list, not typed freshly each time.
Debit note with the tax working
The note prints with the GST details against the original bill, in a series of its own.
Replacement or credit
Say which was agreed. A replacement stays open until the material arrives; a credit stays open until it appears in his account.
Ageing of what is unsettled
Returns pending a fortnight, a month, or since the last financial year. The list is the follow-up.
Stock falls when it leaves
The godown figure drops as the material goes out on the gate pass, not when somebody remembers.
The people who open this every day.
Storekeeper
Segregates the rejected material and raises the return when the vehicle comes to collect.
Accounts assistant
Sets the debit note against his bill and stops the payment going out in full.
Purchase executive
Argues with the supplier holding dates and numbers rather than a memory of a phone call.
Owner
Sees which supplier costs you most in returns.
It is one part of a system, not an island.
A module earns its place by what it passes to the next one. These are the connections we set up most often.
- Goods receipt
- Vendor management
- Stock
- Quality control
- Tally
How we would put it in.
Questions owners ask about purchase returns and debit notes.
Who raises the document, us or the supplier?
In practice both happen: you raise a debit note, he raises a credit note, and the two are matched. The software keeps yours and records his against it. Which document your books should carry is your CA’s call.
We return goods twice a month. Is a diary enough?
Twice a month, with one person watching it, a diary works. It fails when the credit takes three months, when returns cross a year end, or when the man who remembers has left. Our free technology audit goes through a year of returns with you, and the pattern in them is usually the answer.
Does this handle expiry returns to a distributor?
Yes. Near-expiry stock is picked by batch and date, listed for the distributor, and tracked until the credit note arrives. Whether he accepts them is between you and him.
Will it prepare the e-way bill for material going back?
It prepares the details and passes them to a GST service provider for the bill itself. Whether a particular movement needs one, your accountant should answer.
Businesses that ask for this.
Modules that work with it.
Tell us how you handle purchase returns and debit notes today.
A spreadsheet, a register or another system: say which, and we will tell you plainly what is worth changing.
- No obligation
- We reply the same working day
- Your details stay private