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Deductions

How Stuut identifies, validates, and resolves short-pays on incoming payments.
A deduction is when a customer pays less than the invoiced amount. It shows up as a short-pay on an incoming payment in Cash Application. Deductions have to be resolved — either accepted (the short-pay was valid) or fought (the short-pay was not).There are two types:Standard deductions — small, contractual adjustments taken at the time of payment. Common examples:
  • Early-pay discounts (e.g., 2/10 net 30)
  • Freight deductions per contract terms
  • Minor pricing differences between invoice and PO
  • Tax or rounding differences
  • Agreed-upon rebates or allowances
Trade deductions / chargebacks — retailer-initiated penalties and claims, more common if you sell into large retailers. Common examples:
  • OTIF (On-Time In-Full) fines
  • Shortage claims
  • Compliance violations (labeling, pallet config, ASN timing, routing requirements)
  • Promotional or co-op advertising claims
  • Returns and RGA deductions
  • Slotting fees or new-store allowances
Standard deductions are high in volume but individually small. Trade deductions are lower in frequency but larger and more often invalid.
Every short-pay identified in Cash Application flows automatically into the Deductions module, with context already attached. From there, Stuut’s agent takes action:Standard deductions within policy — the agent validates against your contract terms, posts the adjustment, and closes it. No action needed.Trade deductions with a clear validation path — the agent pulls supporting documentation and adjudicates. Valid claims are accepted. Invalid claims get a rebuttal drafted and submitted through the retailer’s preferred channel.Ambiguous or high-dollar claims — routed to your team with a recommended disposition and supporting docs pre-assembled.The agent tracks submitted rebuttals, follows up on aging disputes, and closes out when the retailer responds.
Deductions surface in your task queue. Each task includes:
  • The short-pay amount and invoices involved
  • The deduction type and reason code (if detected)
  • Supporting documentation the agent has pulled
  • The agent’s recommended disposition (accept, write off, or rebuttal)
You can also view deductions from the relevant invoice’s detail page.
Deductions — the customer has already paid less than invoiced. A short-pay is on the bank statement and needs to be resolved via coded claims.Disputes — the customer is contesting an invoice before paying. Disputes arrive as unstructured communication and require investigation first.A deduction and a dispute can be linked — if a short-pay traces back to an ongoing complaint, the agent connects them.
The agent can pull from:
  • Shipping records — BOL, POD, carrier data, ASN records
  • Contract and pricing master — pricing, allowances, payment terms, freight responsibility
  • Trade promotion records — promo calendar, funded amounts, co-op and MDF claim eligibility
  • Retailer portals — Walmart Retail Link, Target Partners Online, Amazon Vendor Central, and other portals where claims and debit memos are filed
The agent drafts a rebuttal and submits through the retailer’s preferred channel:
  • Portal — for retailers with dedicated submission portals
  • EDI 824 — for machine-readable dispute responses in large-retailer relationships
  • Email — for customers without a formal portal
You can review any rebuttal before it goes out if your configuration requires approval.
Writing off a deduction means closing it with no recovery. Stuut supports automatic write-off rules for recurring small adjustments posted to a GL account.For larger or invalid deductions, write-off is a manual decision in the deduction workspace.
Deductions begin in Cash Application. When a payment does not fully cover the invoiced amount, Cash Application flags it as a short-pay and routes it to Deductions with full context attached.If a deduction is resolved and the customer sends the remaining balance, Cash Application picks up that payment and closes the loop automatically.
Yes, for organizations using both modules (ask your CSM about enabling this). Stuut reads each remittance for deduction details, suggests a deduction case from the cash workspace when the remittance justifies it, and keeps the case linked to the payment. See Cash Application.
Not yet.