Transaction refund linking

Overview

Refund linking is a feature that automatically connects refund transactions to their original purchases. When a vendor issues a refund to your Ramp card, Ramp identifies the original transaction and links the two together. This keeps your transaction records organized, ensures accurate accounting, and reduces manual work for your finance team.

Refund linking works automatically in most cases, but you can also manually link, re-link, or unlink refunds when needed.

How it works

Automatic linking

When a refund posts to your Ramp card, Ramp automatically attempts to match it to the original transaction using the following criteria:

When multiple candidates match, Ramp prioritizes exact amount matches and more recent transactions.

What happens when a refund is linked

Once a refund is linked to its original transaction:

  1. Memo is copied: The original transaction's memo is carried over to the refund, prefixed with "Refund for..." so it's easy to identify. If you've already written your own memo on the refund, Ramp will not overwrite it.
  2. Accounting categories are copied: Tracking categories (e.g., department, cost center, GL code) from the original transaction are applied to the refund, ensuring your books stay balanced. If you've already set categories on the refund manually, Ramp will not overwrite them.

Partial refunds

Ramp fully supports partial refunds. If a vendor refunds only a portion of the original charge, the refund is still linked to the original transaction. Multiple partial refunds can be linked to the same original transaction.

Using refund linking in the Ramp dashboard

Viewing a linked refund

When you open a refund transaction, you'll see a banner at the top of the transaction detail page that reads: "This is a refund for the following transaction:" along with:

Viewing an original transaction with refunds

When you open a transaction that has been refunded, a banner at the top reads: "This transaction has been refunded for [amount] by the following transaction(s):" along with:

Manually linking a refund

If Ramp couldn't automatically match a refund, you'll see a banner that reads: "This appears to be a refund without a linked transaction." Below the banner, a "Link to transaction" selector displays a list of candidate original transactions.

From there:

  1. Select the correct original transaction from the list.
  2. The refund is now linked, and memo/accounting info will be carried over.

If no eligible transactions are found, the selector will display "No relevant transactions found."

If a refund was linked to the wrong transaction:

  1. Open the refund transaction.
  2. Click "Change" on the linked transaction banner.
  3. Select a different original transaction from the list, or click "None of these transactions" at the bottom to unlink the refund entirely.

Note: If a transaction has already been synced to your accounting provider (e.g., QuickBooks, NetSuite, Xero), you will not be able to change or remove the refund link. The "Change" button will be disabled with a tooltip explaining the transaction is synced. This safeguard prevents discrepancies in your synced accounting data.

Copying receipts

If the original transaction has receipts attached and the refund does not yet have any receipts, you can copy them to the refund:

  1. Open the linked refund transaction.
  2. In the receipts section, click "Use receipt from original transaction" (or "Use receipts from original transaction" if there are multiple).
  3. The receipts from the original are duplicated onto the refund.

This option only appears when the linked original transaction has receipts and the refund does not yet have any.

Frequently asked questions

Why wasn't my refund automatically linked?

Ramp's automatic matching requires the refund to come from the same merchant, same card, same user, and same currency as the original, and the original must have occurred within the last 60 days. If any of these criteria aren't met, the refund won't be auto-linked. You can always link it manually from the transaction detail page.

The candidate list is filtered to transactions that match the refund's card, merchant, user, and currency. You can choose from any of those candidates, but you cannot link a refund to an arbitrary unrelated transaction.

What happens with partial refunds?

Partial refunds are fully supported. The refund amount doesn't need to equal the original amount -- it just needs to be less than or equal to it. Multiple partial refunds can be linked to the same original transaction.

Will linking a refund affect my accounting sync?

Yes, in a positive way. When a refund is linked, Ramp copies the accounting categories from the original transaction to the refund. This ensures your refund is categorized correctly in your accounting system without manual effort.

No. Once a refund transaction has been synced to your accounting provider, the link is locked to prevent discrepancies. The "Change" button will be disabled with a message indicating the transaction is synced. If you need to change it, you'll need to make the adjustment directly in your accounting system.

What does "Refund for..." mean in my memo field?

When a refund is linked, Ramp automatically copies the original transaction's memo to the refund and adds a "Refund for..." prefix. This makes it clear in your records that this transaction is a refund of a specific purchase. If you've already written your own memo on the refund, Ramp will not overwrite it.

Why don't I see a refund banner on my transaction?

The refund linking banner only appears on the transaction detail page. If you're looking at the transaction list, refunds appear as negative-amount transactions without a special indicator. Open the transaction to see its linking status. Additionally, if a refund has already been synced to your accounting provider and has no linked original transaction, the banner may not appear since no linking actions are available.

Are dispute credits the same as refunds?

No. Dispute credits (chargebacks) are tracked separately from merchant refunds. While both are negative-amount transactions, dispute credits have their own linking type and do not show the standard refund linking banner.

If the selector shows "No relevant transactions found," it means no transactions in the last 60 days match the refund's card, merchant, user, and currency. This can happen if the original transaction was made more than 60 days ago, or if the merchant processed the refund under a different merchant name or on a different card than the original charge.

Does refund linking work with Amazon business transactions?

Yes. If your business uses the Ramp Amazon Business integration, Ramp uses Amazon's order data to match refunds to original purchases with higher precision than the standard heuristic matching.