How We Apply Credits

This article explains what credit notes and unapplied cash are, how they can be used against your invoices, and what a debit memo is. For the different types of invoices Remote issues, see All About Remote Invoice Types.

What is a credit note?

A credit note reduces the amount you owe Remote. Remote issues a credit note for billing adjustments or corrections — for example, when your EOR reconciliation invoice shows that pre-funding exceeded actual costs — not for customer overpayments. Credit notes can be issued across EOR, Global Payroll, Contractor Management, PEO, and COR invoices, not only EOR reconciliation.

How do I apply a credit note?

Go to Company settings → Billing → Credit management.

You'll see a card for each of your legal entities, with an Automatically apply credit notes toggle for that entity. Turn it on to have Remote offset new invoices against your available credit notes automatically.

Once that toggle is on, choose which payment methods it applies to:

• Automated direct debit: available if you have automated direct debit configured for that legal entity. When on, your available credit notes are applied to invoices collected by automated direct debit.
• Bank transfer, manual direct debit, and credit card: for invoices your company pays manually. Turning this on tells Remote you'd like your available credit notes applied on your behalf for these payment methods — our Collections team then applies them for you; it isn't an automated, instant process the way automated direct debit is.

These are two separate, independent toggles — you can turn either one on or off without affecting the other, so you can choose automatic application for direct debit invoices while keeping manual application for everything else, or any other combination.

Both options are specific to the payment method used for a given invoice, and both are turned off by default until you opt in. If you turn off the Automatically apply credit notes toggle entirely, contact us via live messaging with the credit note number(s) and invoice(s) you'd like applied manually instead.

What is unapplied cash?

Unapplied cash is a balance on your account that hasn't yet been applied to a specific invoice — for example, an overpayment. Like a credit note, it remains on your account until it's applied to a future invoice.

How do I apply unapplied cash?

Go to Company settings → Billing → Credit management and find the card for the relevant legal entity. Turn on Automatically apply cash balance to have Remote use that entity's available cash balance to settle new invoices automatically. This is a separate toggle from credit note application, so you can turn on one, both, or neither, depending on how you want each entity's balances handled.

When a credit note can't be applied

A credit note can only be applied to an invoice when all three match:

• the same Remote billing entity
  • who sent you the invoice and where you’re paying, different Remote entities have different bank accounts
  • the same customer legal entity
  • the same currency.

If any of these don't match, the credit can't be applied and remains on your account until an eligible invoice is issued.

Credits also aren't automatically applied to:

• COR and EOR Reserve invoices,
• COR Prepaid Funds invoices
• PEO Payroll invoices.

These follow the same eligibility rule — the credit stays on your account and applies to the next eligible invoice once it's issued.

There's no self-service option to have a credit note refunded to your original payment method. If a credit genuinely can't be applied to any of your invoices, contact us via live messaging to discuss a refund.

What is a debit memo?

A debit memo (or debit note) is the reverse of a credit note — it increases the amount you owe rather than crediting your balance.

Remote issues a debit memo when a correction results in additional charges after an invoice has already been issued, for example if actual costs were higher than initially billed.

Debit memos appear on your invoices list alongside other billing documents and follow the same payment terms as a standard invoice.

FAQs

If I turn off automatic application, how do I apply credits? Contact us via live messaging with the credit note number(s) and invoice(s); our team will apply them manually.

Can I apply credits to past invoices? No, credits apply to current and future invoices only.

I have a credit card saved. Will credits apply automatically? No, automatic application only works with automated direct debit. Contact us via live messaging before payment is due to arrange manual application.

Can a credit note be split across multiple invoices? Yes, a single credit note can be partially applied across multiple invoices as needed.

Still have questions? Reach out via live messaging for help with your specific situation.