If you see an Overpayment to Council amount on the Finances page, this means the Council owes a refund to the unit.
Why This Happens
This occurs after an invoice is fully paid but something reduces the total amount owed to the Council. Common reasons include:
Product returns
Changes in commission percentage
Unit-to-unit transfers
Example:
If a unit originally owed $10,000 to Council and they collected enough credits to pay that amount, they’ve essentially paid in full.
Later, if they return product and their total due drops to $8,500, they’ve now overpaid by $1,500. This $1,500 will show up as an Overpayment to Council.
What Happens Next
A few times during the season, the Trail's End® Finance Team manually moves these overpayments (when possible) from Overpayment to Council to the unit’s payout available.
This process is manual and only occurs on scheduled dates.
Note: In some cases, Council-level accounting may prevent this movement.
If a unit is due a refund from their Council, they can reach out to the Council leaders for information to request it.
Once the Council issues the payment to the unit, they will record a debit entry to zero out the balance on the unit's account.