> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://assembly.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Refunds

> Refund a paid invoice from your workspace and see what your client receives.

Refunds are issued from the invoice itself. Only internal users can request a refund — clients cannot request one from the client portal.

## Request a refund

1. Navigate to **Payments** > **Invoices** on the navbar.

2. Find the paid invoice you want to refund and open the action menu (**...**) on the right of the row. You can also open the invoice and use the action menu on the invoice details page.

3. Select **Request refund**.

4. Review the confirmation dialog and click **Request refund** to confirm.

Once confirmed, you'll see a **Refund is processing** confirmation and the invoice will show a **Refund initiated** status. Refunds may take up to 5-10 business days to process, depending on your client's original payment method.

<Note>
  Refunds are always issued for the full amount paid, including any processing fees your client covered. Partial refunds aren't supported — to refund part of an invoice, arrange it outside Assembly.
</Note>

## When a refund isn't available

The **Request refund** action is hidden or disabled in these cases:

| Situation                                  | What you'll see                                                                                                                                                             |
| ------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The invoice isn't paid                     | The action isn't available. Only paid invoices can be refunded.                                                                                                             |
| The payment is still processing            | The action is disabled: refunds can only be issued after a transaction is done processing. This commonly applies to ACH payments, which take 5-7 business days to finalize. |
| The invoice was marked as paid manually    | The action is disabled. Invoices paid outside Assembly have no payment for us to reverse, so the refund has to be arranged outside Assembly too.                            |
| A refund is already initiated or completed | The action is hidden. An invoice can only be refunded once.                                                                                                                 |
| A previous refund attempt failed           | The action is disabled. Arrange the refund outside Assembly or contact support.                                                                                             |

<Note>
  Depending on your workspace's payment history, a refund request may be routed to Assembly support to process manually rather than being submitted immediately. You'll still see the request recorded on the invoice, and support will follow up.
</Note>

## Tracking a refund

Each refund appears on the invoice's timeline on the invoice details page, so you can see when it was initiated and when it completed or failed. The invoice status also reflects the latest refund state:

| Status           | Definition                                                           |
| ---------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Refund initiated | The refund has been submitted and is processing.                     |
| Refunded         | The refund completed successfully and your client has been notified. |
| Refund failed    | The payment processor couldn't complete the refund.                  |

If a refund fails, internal users receive a notification with the reason. Your client is **not** notified of the failure, so let them know and either retry or arrange the refund another way.

## What your client receives

Your client receives two emails, sent to the invoice's client and any other client at the same company:

| When                    | Email                                                                                                                       | Includes a receipt                     |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| The refund is initiated | **Refund in progress** — confirms the amount and invoice, and notes the 5-10 day processing window.                         | No                                     |
| The refund completes    | **Refund processed** — confirms you've refunded them and that funds may take a few days to appear, depending on their bank. | Yes — a refund receipt PDF is attached |

Internal users with access to refund notifications also receive the **Refund processed** email with the same receipt attached, plus an in-product notification.