Explain an overpayment to a director

This article describes how to explain a salary payment that has been paid out of your bank account to a director if the amount was larger than they were due to receive. It also describes how to explain the money paid back by the director.

If the overpayment relates to an employee, find out how to explain an overpayment to an employee.

You’ll need to split the bank transaction and explain each part using the appropriate ‘Type’ and ‘Category’ as detailed below.

Please note:

  • You’ll need to have level 6 access or above to your FreeAgent account to explain and split bank transactions.
     
  • You can only split bank transactions that are currently unexplained. If the bank transaction has already been explained, you'll need to remove the explanation before following the steps below.

Explaining the overpayment

1. Navigate to the relevant transaction

Navigate to the 'Banking' tab at the top of the screen and select 'Bank Accounts' from the drop-down menu.

Bank Accounts highlighted within the bank accounts drop-down menu

Choose the relevant bank account from the list and click on the transaction that relates to the overpayment to open up the explanation options.

Bank transaction description highlighted

2. Split the bank transaction

Next, you'll need to split the bank transaction into the amount which is the salary payment and the amount which is the overpayment.

To do this, click on ‘Adjustments’ and select ‘Split transaction’ from the drop-down menu.

Split transaction highlighted from Adjustments drop-down menu

To explain the proportion that is a salary payment, select ‘Money Paid to User’ from the ‘Type’ drop-down menu and enter the amount that the director should have received. 

Please note that this option will only be available for business bank accounts. You won’t see this option if the bank account has been marked as personal or for a user who has been allocated the role of ‘Accountant’.

Type set to 'Money Paid to User'.

Next, select the relevant user from the ‘Payment to’ drop-down menu and select ‘Net Salary and Bonuses’ from the ‘Reason’ drop-down menu.

Director in question selected from Payment to drop-down menu and Net Salary and Bonuses selected from Reason drop-down menu

Select ‘Save and add another’ at the bottom of the screen.

3. Explain the remaining balance

To explain the remaining balance, select ‘Money Paid to User’ from the ‘Type’ drop-down menu and enter the remaining balance in the ‘Value’ field.

Type set to 'Money Paid to User'.

Next, select the relevant user from the ‘Payment to’ drop-down menu and ‘Payment from Director Loan Account’ from the ‘Reason’ drop-down menu.

Director in question selected from Payment to drop-down menu and payment from director loan account selected from Reason drop-down menu

Select ‘Save and finish’ at the bottom of the screen to complete the process.

Explaining the money paid back

When the overpayment has been paid back to your company, you'll need to explain the transaction as follows.

Select ‘Money Received from User’ from the ‘Type’ drop-down menu, the relevant user from the ‘Received from’ drop-down menu and ‘Payment to Director Loan Account’ from the ‘Category’ drop-down menu.

Remaining amount being explained as a payment to the director loan account

Select ‘Explain transaction’ to complete the process.

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