How are member-paid expenses reimbursed and settled?

When a member pays a group cost out of pocket (fuel, a landing fee abroad, a small repair), Kai keeps two things strictly apart: what the member owes the group, and what the group owes the member.

The member's invoice always contains their own charges only. The expense never reduces the invoice. Instead it appears on the member's balance as a reimbursement the group still owes. This keeps every document clean for your bookkeeper: the invoice carries its full VAT, and the receipt keeps its own.

Two ways to settle, one group setting

Under Group settings → Financial → Automatic invoicing → Reimbursement settlement you choose how the money comes back:

• Separate transfers (default): the member pays each invoice in full, and the group pays the reimbursement out through the normal reimbursement flow. Two transfers, and every document settles at exactly its own amount.
• Offset against invoice payments: the member simply pays the difference. The payment QR, the online checkout and the invoice emails all show the reduced amount, and one payment settles the invoice and the expense together. Your bookkeeper records the reimbursement as an offset.

What members see

My Balance always shows the honest net position. In offset mode the reimbursement appears as a credit line under the total, and when the group owes a member more than they owe the group, the page says so explicitly.

Both modes are correct bookkeeping; the choice is operational. Groups that settle through a current account (rekening-courant) usually prefer the offset; groups that want one clean payment per document keep the default.

Note: this article covers expenses a member paid that are reimbursed in full. Expenses shared among members and expenses paid by the group itself are charged as shares on each member's own invoice instead.