A lesson cancelled after it was paid: how to give credit

The short answer: when a lesson that was paid in advance is cancelled, there are three ways to settle it: a credit that moves to the next lesson, a refund to the parent, or a make-up lesson at another time. Each is valid, as long as you choose one, tell the parent what was chosen and record it the same day. The confusion starts when the money is left "in the air": the lesson is erased from the notebook, the payment stays, and after a month nobody remembers why the parent paid NIS 150 extra.

Three options, and when each one suits

An example (the numbers are for illustration only): Noa's parent paid at the start of the month NIS 600 for four lessons of NIS 150, and one lesson was cancelled.

• A credit: next month the parent pays NIS 450 for four lessons, because NIS 150 is already with you.
• A refund: you return NIS 150 to the parent now, and close the month.
• A make-up: you set a lesson at another time, and Noa gets four lessons, as paid.

We wrote at length about make-up lessons and how not to let them take over the week in the guide make-up lessons: a fair method for the tutor and the student.

When the tutor cancels versus when the student cancels

The first question is not "what do we do with the money", but "who cancelled".

The tutor cancelled (illness, reserve duty, a family event): the parent should not pay for a lesson that was not given. Here it is worth letting them choose between a credit, a refund and a make-up. It takes one message and builds a lot of trust.

The student cancelled in time, according to the cancellation policy: here too the lesson is not charged, and the money goes to a credit or a make-up according to what you agreed.

The student cancelled late: according to your policy, the lesson may be charged and there is no credit. This works only if the rule was told to the parent in advance and in writing. A rule that appears for the first time after the cancellation sounds like a punishment. How to word such a rule, with wording to copy, is in a private lesson cancellation policy: how to word and enforce it.

Record the credit so it does not get lost

Most mistakes with credits are recording mistakes. Four habits solve almost all of them:

1. Do not delete the lesson. Mark it as cancelled. A lesson that is deleted takes with it the date and the payment, and then there is no way to explain the credit.
2. Write next to the amount what was decided. "Credit for the next lesson", "returned to the parent on 12.10", "made up on 19.10". Three words save a whole conversation.
3. Tell the parent in writing. A short message is enough: "Tuesday's lesson was cancelled. The NIS 150 you paid was kept as credit for the next lesson." The parent knows, and you know that they know.
4. Close the credit when it is used. A credit that was used or returned and is still recorded as open will lead to the same money being counted twice.

And if you refund money: according to Kol Zchut, every business owner, exempt or authorised dealer, must issue a receipt immediately on receiving payment (as of October 2026). How to document a refund of a payment for which you already issued a receipt depends on the type of business and the tool in which you issue documents, so it is worth checking with your accountant. Teaching does not issue receipts to parents, so you issue the documents in a separate tool.

Short wording for the parent

You can copy and adapt:

• A credit: "Hi, Tuesday's lesson was cancelled. The NIS 150 you paid was kept as credit, and next month you will pay only for the additional lessons."
• A refund: "Hi, Tuesday's lesson was cancelled. I am returning NIS 150 to you by transfer by Thursday."
• A make-up: "Hi, Tuesday's lesson was cancelled. We can make it up on Wednesday at 16:00 or on Thursday at 17:00. Which suits you?"

The message needs to include three things: which lesson, how much money, and what happens to it. No long apologies and no unnecessary explanations.

The wider picture of tracking debts, payment dates and reminders is in the guide collecting payment for private lessons: the full guide to getting paid on time.

How Teaching handles a lesson cancelled after it was paid

In Teaching, cancelling a lesson is an explicit action, and not a deletion:

• You cancel from the history. In the "History" screen you choose a class and a student, and on the lesson you press "Cancel lesson". Before confirming, the system shows the date, the time and who is registered in the lesson, because the cancellation applies to all participants.
• The lesson stays in the history with the "cancelled" tag and no debt is charged for it.
• A payment already recorded is kept as credit. If a payment was recorded on the lesson, the system writes before you confirm that the amount will be kept as credit, and after the cancellation confirms: "Lesson cancelled. NIS 150 kept as credit."
• The credit appears in collection. On the student's card in the "Collection" screen the line "Credit from a cancelled lesson" appears with the amount, and in the history summary "Credit from cancelled lessons".
• The decision stays yours. The credit is not automatically deducted from the next debt. Did you return the money? "Cancel payment" on the cancelled lesson deletes the credit. Did you decide the money covers the next lesson? Mark the next lesson as paid and cancel the payment on the cancelled lesson, so that the money is counted only once.
• Cancelled by mistake? "Restore lesson" returns it to being active, and whoever has not yet paid for it appears again in collection.

Tutors who turned on the Studio module also cancel a lesson from the Studio calendar. There the rule is simple: a cancellation by the tutor always exempts the student from being charged.

Written by the Teaching team · Updated on 14 October 2026. The information on receipts was checked against Kol Zchut in October 2026 and is not tax advice.