Shopify store credit accounting: returns, goodwill credit and redemption

Four transactions, four different accounting effects

Shopify explicitly describes store credit as a payment method at checkout. According to Shopify, a refund can go to the original payment method, to store credit or be split between both. That is why Rechnungskit does not treat a Shopify event based on the word "refund" alone and assigns origin, invoice and money flow separately.

Why the origin of the credit matters

With a real return, the taxable amount of the original sale changes. Rechnungskit therefore first creates a correction document linked to the original invoice and then records the store credit granted as a liability. The tax correction follows § 17(1) UStG (the German VAT Act).

Pure goodwill or promotional credit, on the other hand, does not come from a returned sale. It does not automatically reduce an old invoice, and Rechnungskit keeps it separately in the credit register. If goodwill credit is tied to a specific purchase after all, for example as a price reduction because of a defect, it can also reduce the consideration for that purchase (section 17.1(2) UStAE, the VAT application decree); clarify such cases with your tax advisor (Steuerkanzlei). If the origin is not clear from the Shopify data, you get a case to clarify instead of a silent assumption.

Technically, Shopify distinguishes two payment methods here. Purchased gift cards run as their own payment method, and Rechnungskit automatically records them as multi-purpose vouchers. Only for store credit can the origin not be read from the order data. That is where Rechnungskit opens the clarification dialog: it explains the case, links straight to the customer's credit history in the Shopify admin and records the chosen classification as evidence for your tax advisor. If your shop always uses store credit the same way, turn on the remember rule per shop. Each individual case is still documented as a completed task, and the rule stays visible under connections and can be revoked.

What the invoice shows when credit is redeemed later

When store credit is used on a new order, the invoice stays complete: all products, net amounts, VAT rates and gross amounts are shown. The credit appears under payments and settles the amount owed in full or in part. It is not a discount on the products.

This matters for split payments too. If the customer pays part with store credit and the rest via Stripe, PayPal or buy now, pay by invoice, both parts of the payment stay separately traceable. The related entries flow into the DATEV export.

Shopify connection and current status

The credit engine, the event register, the link between correction and origin, and the booking templates for the DATEV export are in place in Rechnungskit. The native Shopify connection uses the store credit interface Shopify provides for this. All of this is available to every account. When a customer redeems store credit on an order, Rechnungskit reads it automatically from the order's payments. You classify where the credit came from through the task, or permanently per shop with the remember rule. Transactions that cannot be assigned clearly show up as cases to clarify.

Shopify documents how to manage and redeem store credit and the technical store credit API. Existing Shopify connections have to be authorized once more for the additional store credit permissions.

Store credit from a return or goodwill is not the same as a gift card you sold. We explain how to handle purchased single-purpose and multi-purpose vouchers separately under Booking gift cards correctly, and the Shopify gift card with its document and DATEV entries at sale and redemption under Shopify gift cards.