What a credit note is
A credit note is a document a supplier or seller issues to reduce or reverse the value of a previous invoice. It is the accounting counterpart of an invoice: where an invoice records an amount owed, a credit note records an amount being returned, refunded, or written off.
In Datamolino, credit notes are a document subtype that can appear on both supplier (purchase) and customer (sales) documents. They flow through the same processing and coding steps as invoices, but a few rules behave differently because accounting systems treat credit notes as a separate record type.
The main differences from an invoice are:
Sign of the total: credit notes represent a negative effect on the account, but accounting systems usually expect a positive number on the credit note record itself.
Export endpoint: in Xero and QuickBooks, credit notes are sent to a dedicated credit note endpoint, not the invoice endpoint.
Sign handling: Datamolino adjusts amounts automatically during export so the credit note matches what the accounting system requires.
How Datamolino detects credit notes
Datamolino detects credit notes automatically by analysing the document content and totals. Detection happens when at least one of the following conditions is met:
The document title includes the text "credit note"
The document total is a negative amount
When either condition is found, Datamolino treats the document as a credit note and applies credit note export logic.
Correcting the document type
👉 What should I do if Datamolino identifies a credit note as an invoice?
If Datamolino identifies a document as an invoice instead of a credit note, you can manually correct the document type from inside the document. To change the document type:
Open the document.
Select Credit note from the Document type drop-down.
Click Save.
How credit note amounts are exported
👉 How are negative credit note amounts exported to Xero or QuickBooks?
Negative totals captured from credit notes are converted to positive values during export to Xero and QuickBooks.
This conversion happens because both accounting systems require credit note totals to be positive. Datamolino adjusts the sign automatically while keeping the accounting result correct.
👉 How are credit notes exported to FreeAgent?
FreeAgent also expects credit note amounts to be expressed as positive values, and Datamolino handles the sign automatically during export. You do not need to flip signs manually before sending a credit note to FreeAgent.
Mixed positive and negative line items
👉 How are mixed negative and positive credit note line items exported?
When a credit note contains a mix of positive and negative line items, Datamolino adjusts all item signs during export. Each line item is converted to the opposite sign so that:
The final exported credit note total is positive
The overall financial result remains accurate
This ensures the export meets Xero and QuickBooks requirements without changing the meaning of the credit note.
Here is an example of a credit:
while in Datamolino
once exported to Xero
once exported to Quickbooks
What to do when a credit note export fails
👉 What should I do if I receive the export error about a negative credit note total?
If you receive the error "Export failed: Captured Total - Credit note total must be positive for export", Datamolino was unable to convert the captured values into a valid positive credit note total.
To resolve this:
Review each line item and confirm the positive and negative values match the original document. Save the changes, Dismiss the error message, and Export.
If the items are correct, check whether the document is actually a credit note. If it is not, change the Document type to Invoice using the Document type drop-down. Save the changes, Dismiss the error message, and Export.
If the previous steps do not fix the issue, change the view to Export as: Invoice Total, apply the coding, Save the changes, Dismiss the error message, and Export.
