---
title: "Refund a payment"
description: "Full or partial."
canonical_url: "https://twominutebilling.com/help/developers/api-reference/invoices/refund-a-payment"
---
# Refund a payment

> Full or partial.

<api-operation method="POST" path="/v1/businesses/{biz}/payments/{pay}/refund">
<template v-slot:docs="">

A payment on an invoice is refunded as revenue (contra-revenue, capped by what that invoice's credit notes do not already claim). A payment on NO invoice is held as the customer's excess credit — it is refunded out of that credit instead, capped by what the payment still holds and by the customer's current excess balance (some may already have been applied to invoices). A payment that is neither is refused with a 400. `GET …/customers/{cus}/excess_payments` lists what is refundable this way.

## Path parameters

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Parameter
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Type
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Required
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Description
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        biz
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <strong>
        yes
      </strong>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Business id (biz_…)
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        pay
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <strong>
        yes
      </strong>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Payment id (pay_…)
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

## Headers

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Parameter
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Type
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Required
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Description
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        Idempotency-Key
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      no
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Safely retry writes — repeats return the original response. If a write FAILED after it had already taken effect, that failure is what repeats: the key is spent, and a new attempt needs a new key.
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

## Body

The request body is optional.

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Field
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Type
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Required
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Description
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        amount_minor
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        integer
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      no
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Omit for the full remaining amount.
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        reason
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      no
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Why the refund is made.
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        on_decline
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      no
    </td>
    
    <td>
      What happens when the gateway declines this refund after it accepted it, for this refund only. <code>
        block
      </code>
      
      : the money stays with the business. <code>
        issue_credit
      </code>
      
      : the customer gets it as refundable credit on an open credit note. Stored on the refund, so a decline that arrives later by webhook uses it. Omitted: the business rule (<code>
        billing_rules_config.declined_refund
      </code>
      
      ). Applies to a refund of an invoice payment; a refund of held excess credit always returns to that credit. One of <code>
        block
      </code>
      
      , <code>
        issue_credit
      </code>
      
      .
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

## Response

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Field
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Type
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Description
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        object
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The object type.
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        id
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The refund's id (re_…).
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        payment
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The id of the payment that is refunded.
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        status
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The refund's status. One of <code>
        succeeded
      </code>
      
      , <code>
        pending
      </code>
      
      , <code>
        failed
      </code>
      
      .
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        amount_minor
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        integer
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The refund amount in minor units.
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        currency
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      The refund's currency (ISO-4217 code).
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        reason
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      <code>
        string
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Why the refund was made.
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

## Status codes

<table>
<thead>
  <tr>
    <th>
      Status
    </th>
    
    <th>
      Meaning
    </th>
  </tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        201
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Created
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        400
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Not refundable / over-refund
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        404
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      No such payment
    </td>
  </tr>
  
  <tr>
    <td>
      <code>
        409
      </code>
    </td>
    
    <td>
      Idempotency-Key conflict — the key is already in flight, or was reused with a different request payload.
    </td>
  </tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</template>

<template v-slot:request="">

```bash [Request]
curl -X POST "$TMBILLING_URL/v1/businesses/biz_XXXXXXXXXXXX01/payments/pay_XXXXXXXXXXXX01/refund" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TMBILLING_API_KEY" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "amount_minor": 2900
  }'
```

</template>

<template v-slot:response="">
<code-group>

```json [201 Created]
{
  "object": "refund",
  "id": "re_XXXXXXXXXXXX01",
  "payment": "pay_XXXXXXXXXXXX01",
  "status": "succeeded",
  "amount_minor": 2900,
  "currency": "USD",
  "reason": "Requested by the customer."
}
```

```json [400 Bad Request]
{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "Not refundable / over-refund"
  }
}
```

```json [404 Not Found]
{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "No such payment"
  }
}
```

```json [409 Conflict]
{
  "error": {
    "type": "idempotency_error",
    "message": "Idempotency-Key conflict — the key is already in flight, or was reused with a different request payload."
  }
}
```

</code-group>
</template>
</api-operation>


## Sitemap

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