ACH is a trust-then-verify network. A payment can be reported settled and funded, and then bounce up to 60 days later under the banking network's return rules, for reasons like a closed account or a customer-disputed debit. When that happens, the bank pulls the money straight back out of your bank account. The ACH reject feature in Automatic Batch Reconciliation (ABR) records that clawback correctly in QuickBooks and, if you want, rebills your customer.
Bookkeeping only. Recording an ACH reject in Biller Genie keeps your ledger in agreement with your bank; no money moves, and nothing is sent to your gateway. Any follow-up on the return itself happens with your payment processor or bank.
This feature covers payments returned after they settled and funded. It is separate from pre-funding rejects, payments that rejected before ever being marked paid, which the Rejected Transactions report has always listed. For the reject codes themselves, see ACH and Credit Card Reject Codes.
How rejects reach you
What you experience depends on your gateway:
- Supported gateways: automatic. Biller Genie learns of post-settlement returns from the gateway and surfaces them for you, usually the same day the gateway learns of it (up to about a day, depending on the gateway). The reject appears in the Post-Funding ACH Rejects panel automatically; you only choose the outcome. Automatic detection covers payments funded within roughly the last 60 days, matching the banking network's return window.
- Supported gateways: from the transaction page. When your processor or bank statement tells you a payment came back, open the transaction in Biller Genie. Once your gateway shows the payment as returned, the ACH Reject button is there to record it.
- Gateways without reject support yet. If your processor notifies you of a return and the button is not available on the transaction, your gateway is not yet supported. Record the adjustment directly in your accounting software; support for more gateways is being added over time.
However a reject reaches you, the accounting that follows is identical.
The Post-Funding ACH Rejects panel
When batch reconciliation for ACH is active, a Post-Funding ACH Rejects panel appears at the top of the Rejected Transactions report. The panel is a work queue of post-funding rejects that still need action: each row shows the detected date, customer, amount, transaction ID, and invoice, with a Resolve action. A reject on a bulk payment shows as a single row for the full amount of that payment, and the regular rejected-transactions grid sits below the panel.
Choosing Resolve opens the same Write Off and Rebill Invoice choices described below. (In the panel's Resolve ACH Reject window, the second option currently appears as "Reopen Invoice" with a "Rebill it" tag; it is the same Rebill Invoice action.) Once a reject is resolved, it leaves the list and cannot be actioned again; the export to CSV keeps the full history. If your required accounts and items are not mapped and synced yet, the action buttons are disabled, with a link to your accounting settings so you can finish the setup.
The Post-Funding ACH Rejects panel at the top of the Rejected Transactions report
The panel's Resolve window, where Reopen Invoice is the same Rebill Invoice action
The ACH Reject button
On supported gateways, a settled ACH transaction's detail page shows the Record ACH Reject button once your gateway shows the payment as returned. ABR's ACH module must be active with all required accounts mapped.
If your gateway has not yet reported the payment as returned, the button is simply not shown on the transaction, as in the example below. If your processor has notified you of a return but the button never appears, your gateway is not yet supported, and you should record the adjustment directly in your accounting software.
Before: the payment has not been reported returned, so no reject button is shown
After: the gateway shows the payment as returned and the Record ACH Reject button appears
Choosing the outcome: Write Off vs Rebill Invoice
The reject modal gives you two options. Both ask "Are you sure?" before continuing, and the decision is final.
- Write Off. Accept the loss and close it out. A journal entry moves the amount to your Returned Payments account.
- Rebill Invoice. Collect again. The returned payment is reversed and a new invoice is created so you can collect the amount again. Both entries sync to your accounting software on the next sync.
The Write Off option in the reject modal
The Rebill Invoice option in the reject modal
Confirming a Write Off
What appears in QuickBooks
ACH rejects never touch your sweep account; the clawback comes straight out of your bank account, and the entries mirror that.
- Write Off: one journal entry debits Returned Payments and credits your ACH settlement (bank) account, so your books match the bank's withdrawal.
- Rebill Invoice: the same journal entry posts, followed by a rebill invoice using your Returned Payment item. The invoice syncs back into Biller Genie as a normal open invoice, connected to the same customer, ready for them to pay again.
The entry in your bank (checking) account removing the original funds
The corresponding entry in the Returned Payments account
The journal entry memo noting the invoice was returned due to an ACH reject
The rebill invoice synced back to Biller Genie for the customer to pay