Pay someone back

When you pay back someone who covered an expense personally, record it against the bank payment that went to them:

1. Go to Ledger › Banking › Transactions and click Match on the payment leaving your account (a money-out line).
2. In the Record repayment block, click Repay {name} · owed {balance}.
3. In the sheet, confirm the Repayment amount (you can split it across their accounts) and record it.

TALISK_HQ pays down what the business owes that person and marks the bank line matched. Because it's a balance paydown, it settles their running balance rather than particular bills.

If you had already categorized that bank line, the category's entry shrinks to the part of the payment the repayment does not cover, and goes entirely when the repayment covers the whole line, so the money is never counted twice. Paying someone back for a batch of bills works the same way for the whole line. Unmatching puts the category's entry back in full.

A repayment that covers only part of the payment needs the line's category first. The repayment books only its own amount and the category books the rest, so with no category the rest would be in your books nowhere. TALISK_HQ refuses it and says how much would be left over: give the line its category on Ledger › Banking › Transactions and record the repayment again, or record it for the whole payment.

A repayment recorded before 16 October 2026 may still cover part of a line with no category. Banking shows that line as Partly repaid · needs a category. Choose its category as usual: TALISK_HQ posts the part the repayment does not cover, and moves it if you change the category later.

While a repayment covers only part of a line, that line's category cannot be cleared. The category is what books the rest of the payment, so clearing it would leave that part in your books nowhere. TALISK_HQ refuses the change and names the repayment, for example "$40.00 repaid by Alex on 3 May 2026". Either choose a different category, which moves the rest to it, or undo the repayment first (Ledger › Expenses, expand Reimbursements, View statement, then Reverse) and then clear the category as on any other line. A repayment that covers the whole line leaves nothing to book, so its category can still be cleared.

On a payment from an account in another currency, the repayment is in Canadian dollars and TALISK_HQ checks it against the line's Canadian-dollar figure, at the Bank of Canada rate for the line's date. If that rate isn't published yet, the line's figure is only a placeholder, so TALISK_HQ asks you to record the repayment once the rate is in, usually the next business day. A line in a currency with no bank account of that currency behind it can't take a repayment until you add or link that account under Ledger › Banking › Accounts.

A repayment recorded before 16 October 2026 on a line whose Canadian-dollar figure was still a placeholder shows on Banking as Repayment · placeholder exchange rate. A category chosen now books the rest of the payment at that placeholder, and nothing corrects it while the repayment holds the line. To book it at the real rate:

1. Reverse the repayment: Ledger › Expenses, expand Reimbursements, click View statement for the person, and click Reverse on the repayment.
2. Let the line convert. TALISK_HQ re-rates a categorized line once the exchange rate is published; a line with no category converts when you give it one.
3. Record the repayment again from the line's Match button.

If such a line was never converted, Banking shows Repayment · check the amount: choosing a category converts the line and posts the part the repayment does not cover, so check the figure afterwards.

Note this starts from the bank line, not the People balances panel: the outgoing payment needs to be in your books (imported or connected) first.