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The Daily Insight Hub

What type of account is sales return and allowances?

Author

Sophia Koch

Updated on January 01, 2026

The Sales Returns and Allowances account is a contra revenue account, meaning it opposes the revenue account from the initial purchase. You must debit the Sales Returns and Allowances account to show a decrease in revenue.

What are returns and allowances in accounting?

Returns and allowances are two distinct business financial transactions that get recorded on one line of a company income statement. “Returns” is the value of the merchandise customers bring back after purchase and “allowances” is the amount of discounts you give to dissatisfied customers.

What kind of account is sales discounts?

Sales discounts are recorded in a contra revenue account such as Sales Discounts. Hence, its debit balance will be one of the deductions from sales (gross sales) in order to report the amount of net sales.

What is the sales allowance account?

A sales allowance is a reduction in the price charged by a seller, due to a problem with the sold product or service, such as a quality problem, a short shipment, or an incorrect price. The sales allowance account is a contra account, since it offsets gross sales.

What is the difference between a sales return and a sales allowance?

What is the difference between a sales return and a sales allowance? A sales return is credit allowed to a customer for the sales price of returned merchandise. A sales allowance is credit allowed to a customer for part of the sales price of merchandise that is not returned, such as for a shortage in a shipment.

How do you record allowances in accounting?

In the case of a purchase allowance, the buyer does not return the merchandise to the supplier. Under a periodic inventory system, the buyer will record the purchase allowance with 1) a credit to the account Purchase Allowances or to the account Purchase Returns and Allowances, and 2) a debit to Accounts Payable.

What is an example of a sales allowance?

Example of a Sales Allowance A company ships products that are slightly out of specification. The journal entry recorded by the company for the sales allowance is a debit of $1,000 to the sales allowance account and a credit to the accounts receivable account of $1,000.

What is the entry for purchase return?

When the returned to the supplier of the goods, then the cash account or accounts payable account for the cash purchases or credit purchases respectively will be debited with a corresponding credit to purchase return account as there is the return of the goods out of the company to the supplier.

What type of account is sales discount?

What is discount allowed entry?

Discount allowed is a reduction in price of goods or services allowed by a seller to a buyer and is an expense for the seller. However, Discount received is the concession in price received by the buyer of the goods and services from the seller and is an income for the buyer.