Free credit note template

What exactly is a credit note?

A credit note (in French « avoir », also called « facture d'avoir » or « avoir commercial ») is a document you give a customer to cancel all or part of an invoice already issued. Instead of changing the invoice, you issue one “in reverse”: it reduces what the customer owes you.

The original invoice stays as it is, with its number. The credit note is attached to it. Together, the two documents tell the true story of the sale: what was invoiced, then what was taken off, and why.

When should you make a credit note?

As soon as the amount of an issued invoice no longer matches reality. The most common cases in a shop or at a wholesaler:

• Returned goods: the customer sends back part of the delivery.
• Damaged or expired goods: the customer keeps them or returns them, and you take off their value.
• A price or quantity error on the invoice.
• A discount granted after the fact: a goodwill gesture, an end-of-month rebate.
• A cancelled sale: the credit note covers the whole invoice.

Why never to change or delete an issued invoice

In Morocco, article 145 of the General Tax Code requires invoices to be numbered in a continuous series, without breaks. If you delete invoice F-0142, there is a gap between F-0141 and F-0143. If you redo it with the same number, you and the customer no longer have the same document. Either way, an inspection will see a problem.

The credit note settles this cleanly: the invoice stays in the series, the credit note has its own numbering (for example AV-0001, AV-0002…) and every correction leaves a trace. It is also what protects you the day a customer disputes: you show the invoice, the credit note and the reason.

What to write on a credit note

A credit note is set out like an invoice. The generator at the top of the page includes all these fields:

• The words “Credit note”, its own number and the date.
• Your details and the customer's, identical to the original invoice.
• The number and date of the invoice being corrected: without this reference, the credit note is attached to nothing.
• The items concerned, the quantities and prices, or the amount of the discount.
• The total excluding VAT, the VAT at the same rate as the original invoice (20% or 10% depending on the product since 1 January 2026, or exempt), and the total including VAT.
• The reason in one line: return, breakage, price error, discount…

Credit note or cash refund?

The credit note records that the customer owes you less. What you then do with that sum is another question. If the invoice has not yet been paid, the credit note is simply deducted. If it has already been settled, either you keep the credit note as credit on their next order, or you refund it in cash, by bank transfer or by cheque.

Handing back money from the till without a credit note leaves a hole in your accounts: the invoice says the customer paid, the till says otherwise. Make the credit note first, refund afterwards. For how to declare the VAT on a credit note, check with your accountant.

Example: a return of 2 cases

Figures given for illustration. You invoiced a grocery 10 cases of drinks at 300 DH excluding VAT per case: 3,000 DH excluding VAT, 600 DH of VAT at 20%, 3,600 DH including VAT. The next day, the customer returns 2 cases damaged in transport.

You issue credit note AV-0007, which refers to invoice F-0142: 2 cases × 300 DH = 600 DH excluding VAT, 120 DH of VAT, 720 DH including VAT, reason “return of damaged goods”. The customer now owes you only 2,880 DH including VAT. The two cases do not go back on the shelf with the sound goods.

In Gestio, this return is recorded directly on the invoice and creates the credit note (reference AV-…); goods marked damaged or expired go to a separate depot so they are not sold again, and a bounced cheque reopens the invoices it was paying. You can try it free for 7 days, in French or Arabic.