Gift Cards – Accounting at Expiry

When a multi-purpose gift card passes its validity date, remaining liability may need to be written off. Vendion automatically marks expired cards Utgånget, sets the balance to zero and creates a separate voucher for the unused value.

Check terms before setting validity

The company specifies validity. If no validity period is stated, the Swedish Consumer Agency says the card is valid for ten years. Clearly inform the buyer of the terms. A software setting does not mean every possible wording of the terms has been approved. Swedish Consumer Agency: gift cards.

Open Marknadsföring → Presentkort → Inställningar. Under Default giltighetstid, enter Antal månader for new cards and save settings. Check an individual card’s date under Presentkort, in the Utgår column. Changing the default does not automatically change cards already issued.

What automatic processing does

Vendion checks expiry daily. Active cards with a passed expiry date and a remaining balance are written off. Only unused value is affected; redeemed value is not written off again.

The card receives status Utgånget and a zero balance. The write-off is recorded in gift card history, and a voucher per restaurant covers the total expired value processed. Its series is GC, with description Utgångna presentkort — skuldreducering. The voucher date is the processing date.

Example: 200 SEK remains at expiry

No goods or services are supplied when this unused multi-purpose value expires. Vendion’s voucher therefore contains no output VAT. This differs from a VAT-exempt goods sale. Rules for actual supplies against multi-purpose vouchers are in the Swedish VAT Act, Chapter 5 section 43.

Choose the account with your accountant

Open Admin → Bokföring → Verifikat & export → Kontoplan. Vendion defaults the expired gift card account to 3960. Check that the account and its name suit your company’s chart and change it before new expirations are booked if needed. The default does not mean 3960 is a legally prescribed gift card account. Select Spara inställningar.

For a partly used card: a 1,000 SEK card pays for 300 SEK of restaurant food at 12% VAT. Redemption creates 267.86 SEK revenue and 32.14 SEK VAT. If the remaining 700 SEK is later written off, only 700 SEK goes to the configured expiry account. The revenue amounts total 967.86 SEK; VAT from the visit is 32.14 SEK.

Month-end checks

1. Filter Presentkort by Utgångna and check dates.
2. Open Bokföring → Verifikat & export → Verifikat and check the period’s GC vouchers.
3. Reconcile write-offs with changes in gift card liability and include them in the accounting records. They are separate from sales-day Z vouchers.
4. If an expiry or balance looks wrong, document the card code, date and amount and investigate before posting another manual entry.

An expired card cannot receive a refund through POS. Follow the message and choose an available refund method. Voiding and refunding are separate events; voiding does not replace a refund.