Can you keep customer overpayments in your business?

Your bookkeeping services in California have been tidying your records and found that there are overpayments on some customer accounts. Some of these overpayments go back years. If this is the case, can you keep the money?

Account imbalance

Imagine a case when one of your subscribers pays you excess money for the services offered. Do you consider it theft or not? The first thing you should keep in mind is whether it would be considered as theft if you fail to return the money to the customer. There is no simple answer to this but as a rule, it will not be theft as long as there was no dishonesty involved, for example, when you hide the overpayment. Until a bookkeeper uncovers the overpayment, business owners will not be aware of the overpayment. This will make it hard for anyone to argue that it was theft.

Make a review

Before you reach for the company checkbook, you should let your bookkeeping services to confirm the balance on the account with the customer. This is when you can repay anything you owe. You can also suggest the overpayment to be carried forward to future purchases.

What happens in the case of a missing customer?

Sometimes it can be tricky when you cannot get in touch with the customer. In this situation, you should do nothing for a year to give them time to contact you. When the next books are being prepared, you should ask your bookkeeper or accountant to transfer the overpayments of customers to a holding record in your business accounts. This will help you identify the source of the overpayment.

Your bookkeeping services California should draw up a bookkeeping policy to ensure that there is a protocol in future for dealing with overpayments from customers. This will get rid of doubt and create consistency. It will also save time.

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