How to handle direct debit returns

What is it for?

After you take the file of a direct debit batch to the bank, the bank answers with a return file: it says which collections were accepted, rejected or returned, and why. Importing it into fiscaldoo puts the answer and the reason code on each collection, and lets you resend, in a new batch, only the ones that failed.

When to use it?

• When the bank has given you the return file of a batch you marked as sent.
• When a collection was rejected (for example, no funds in the customer's account) and you want to collect it again.
• When the bank returned a collection it had already collected and you want to know what is left to handle on the invoice and the payment.
• Do not use the return file for collections of a batch not yet marked as Sent: fiscaldoo does not find them.

Where to find it?

Accounting › Record › Collections from customers › Direct debit returns. The batch, in Accounting › Record › Collections from customers › Direct debit batches, also shows the bank's answer on each collection. The summary by reason is Direct debit returns by reason, in Accounting › Review › Taxes and treasury. The Administrator sees it in the menu without developer mode; the other profiles only with it.

Before you start

• Your profile is Accountant (or Treasury: Manager), which is who imports the bank file.
• The batch is Sent and you have the bank's return file, in pain.002 format (payment status) or camt.054 (debit or credit notification).
• Talk to the customer before resending: resending requires you to confirm that the cause has been solved (step 5).

How to use it

1. Open Direct debit returns. In a company with no returns the list says “No bank return file imported yet”. Click Import bank file.
2. In the Import bank return file window, click Choose a file, choose the bank's file and click Import. The window warns: “Nothing is sent to the bank or to anyone: the file is only read. The same file cannot be imported twice.”
3. The imported file (RET/…) opens with the counters Accepted, Returned, Rejected and Not applied, the Returned or rejected amount and, under Collections, one line per collection: the End-to-end id, the customer, the batch, the Bank answer, the Reason code (for example AM04), the reason (“Insufficient funds”), the amount and the Result. For a rejected collection the Result is Applied and the note says “Rejected: the invoices stay open.”
4. Open the collection's batch. The line shows the Bank answer (“Rejected”), the Reason code and, under Resend, Needs correction.
5. Solve the cause with the customer (here, the lack of funds in the account) and click Cause solved, at the end of the line, and Confirm. Resend changes to Eligible to resend.
6. Click Resend the errors. The Confirmation window says: “A new draft batch is made with only the collections the bank rejected or returned. The accepted ones are not included. Nothing is sent to the bank from here.” Click Confirm.
7. The new batch opens, in Draft, with the note “Resend of the collections with an error of SDD/…”. Follow the direct debit batch from validation onwards.

Expected result

• The return file is kept and cannot be changed or deleted: it is the record of what the bank said.
• The invoice of a rejected collection stays open, with no new journal entries.
• The resend goes in a new draft batch; the original batch refuses a second resend of the same collection.
• The Direct debit returns by reason summary adds up the amount by reason code and by bank answer.
• The invoice of a returned collection (already collected and then returned by the bank) goes back to To pay, but the payment that was recorded is not reversed or cancelled: it is left to be handled. See If the collection was returned after being collected.

If the collection was returned after being collected

A returned collection is one the bank had already collected and then returned (the camt.054 file carries the return indicator and the reason). In the example, invoice FT D26/58 was collected in batch SDD/00010 with collection date 04/11/2026, the €104.55 payment was recorded as a payment in the Bank journal on 04/11/2026 and the bank returned the collection with reason MD01.

1. Import the file as in steps 1 and 2. The imported file (RET/00005) shows Returned at 1, the Returned or rejected amount and, on the collection, the Bank answer “Returned”, the code MD01 and the Result Applied. The note says “Returned: 104.55 reopened on the invoices.”
2. Open the invoice. It is back to To pay, with the €104.55 open, but the Payments button still shows 1: the payment has not disappeared.
3. Open the payment (Payments). It is still Paid, it does not change to Reconciled, and the record offers Reset to Draft, Mark as Sent and Cancel with reason; none of them creates the reversal of the payment. fiscaldoo does not create a reversal, does not warn you and does not open any task: the payment is left unreconciled with nothing flagging it.
4. To clear the payment out of the way, click Cancel with reason, type the reason (for example, “Collection returned by the bank (MD01).”) and click Cancel payment. The window warns that a reconciled payment must be unreconciled first, and the reason is kept on the payment and in the audit log.
5. The payment becomes Cancelled and its journal entry (debit of €104.55 in “120002 Recebimentos Pendentes” and credit of €104.55 in “2111 Clientes gerais”) is cancelled, with no reversal entry. The invoice is still To pay, and can be collected or paid again (for example, in a new batch, if the customer has a valid mandate).

The product does not warn you that a payment is left to handle

After you import a return, always open the invoice and the payment linked to it. If you leave it as it is, the invoice shows as unpaid and the payment shows as paid, with no link between the two.

• fiscaldoo only undoes the reconciliation of a payment dated on or after the batch's collection date. With an earlier payment (for example, a payment of 01/11/2026 for a collection of 04/11/2026), the note says “Returned: no receipt of this collection was found to reverse.” and the invoice stays paid.
• Pending validation by a certified accountant: the accounting treatment of a returned payment (cancel the payment, as above, or keep it to settle it against the bank movement), the adjustment of the receipt, if the payment had a receipt, and the customer's refund period (8 weeks in the CORE scheme, according to the notice text).

Important notes

The resend is neither automatic nor immediate

Resend the errors only creates a draft batch. Until you validate it, download the file, take it to the bank and mark it as sent, the customer is not charged. A collection already resent cannot be resent again.

• Not every rejection can be resent: the Resend field shows Blocked, Needs correction or Eligible to resend depending on the bank's reason.
  • Blocked (for example MD01, AC04, MD07, or a code fiscaldoo does not know): the customer refused, or the mandate or the account is not valid. It is not resent: create a new mandate or give another account and make a new batch.
  • Needs correction (for example AM04, MS03): you fix the cause with the customer and click Cause solved.
  • Cause solved only appears on Needs correction lines. On Blocked lines the button does not even appear, so there is no way to click it on screen (the server would also refuse it).
• The file is imported only once per company, even if its name changes.

Common problems

“The file cannot be read as a bank return file”

• Symptom: when you import a file that is not a return file (for example the batch's own file, pain.008): “The file cannot be read as a bank return file (format): Unsupported format (…pain.008.001.02): a pain.002.001.03 or camt.054.001.02 file is expected. Nothing was changed.”
• What to do: ask the bank for the return file (pain.002 or camt.054).

“No collection of a sent batch has this end-to-end id”

• Symptom: the file is imported, but the line has the Result “No collection found”, Not applied at 1 and the amount at €0.00.
• Cause: the batch is not Sent, or the file belongs to another company or another batch.
• What to do: check that the batch is Sent and import the right file. The file that was imported cannot be imported again (see below).

“This file was already imported in this company”

• Symptom: “This file was already imported in this company. Nothing was changed.”
• What to do: open the imported file in the list of returns; there is no need to import it again.

“No collection can be sent again”

When you click Resend the errors, the Invalid Operation window says “No collection can be sent again. Check the reasons below and solve them with the customer first:” followed by one reason per collection.

• “RUM/…: already sent again in SDD/…”
  • What to do: the collection already has a resend batch. Open the batch the screen shows; it is not resent twice.
• “the bank code MD01 is blocked (or unknown): the customer refused it, or the mandate or account is not valid. Solve it with the customer first.”
  • What to do: there is no resend and no Cause solved for a Blocked code. Talk to the customer and create a new mandate or give another account, and make a new batch with the invoice.
• “the bank code AM04 needs the cause to be corrected first. Fix it and use “Cause solved” on the collection, then resend.”
  • What to do: fix the cause with the customer, click Cause solved on the line (step 5) and click Resend the errors again.