PECR error "The amount of the withdrawal is greater than the amount of cash": how to return the funds in the morning

Entrepreneurs and cashiers often encounter the PECR error «The amount issued is greater than the current cash amount registered for the shift» or «Insufficient funds in the cash register» when they try to refund money to a customer in the morning or perform a cash withdrawal. 

This operating mode, refunding money or making a cash withdrawal, is critically important for complying with consumer rights when returning goods, as well as for cash collection or issuing money for business needs. The problem is that there may actually be money in the cash register or cash drawer — for example, change left from the previous day — but the virtual PECR cash register «does not see» it, because after opening the morning shift, the cash balance in the tax system is zero. This mismatch — the money is physically available, but the PECR does not issue the receipt — is one of the most common reasons why users contact technical support.

In this article, we will explain in detail why this error occurs, how the cashier should act correctly, and how to quickly process a fiscal refund.

Why does this error occur?

Torgsoft has strict control over cash movement within the fiscal PECR shift. According to the requirements and operating logic of software cash registers, cash withdrawal and cash refund operations are prohibited if the specified amount exceeds the amount of cash registered on the PECR from the moment the current shift was opened.

Therefore, this error is logical and protective:

1. You come in the morning and open a new shift. The cash balance for this shift on the PECR is UAH 0.

2. A customer comes in and wants to return goods purchased yesterday.

3. You try to process a fiscal cash refund.

4. The program blocks the operation and displays the error: "Unable to generate a fiscal receipt on the PECR. The amount issued is greater than the current cash amount registered for the shift".

5. A similar situation will occur if you try to make a «Cash withdrawal» for an amount that has not yet been earned during the current day.

How to refund money correctly in the morning: step-by-step instructions

To allow the program to issue money to the customer or perform cash collection, you need to «show» this money to the PECR.

To process a fiscal cash refund when there is not enough cash in the PECR for the current shift, you need to perform a Cash deposit:

1. Go to Document — Sale.

2. Click the Deposit money into the cash register button.

3. Select the cash deposit operation and be sure to activate the switch «Process the operation through the fiscal registrar» so that the amount is recorded specifically on the PECR.

4. Enter the amount required for the refund or the amount of change that you placed in the cash register in the morning.

5. After a successful fiscal cash deposit, the cash balance on the PECR will increase.

6. Now you can go to the Return mode and refund the customer without any issue — the error will no longer appear.

Important nuances and technical details

• Checking available funds before opening a receipt. In newer versions of Torgsoft, the developers have improved this mechanism. Now the program checks whether funds are available for the refund before attempting to generate the receipt. This helps avoid cash register blocking situations, such as the ShiftAlreadyOpened error, which could previously occur after an unsuccessful attempt to process a refund on a closed shift.

• Payment method. Be sure to pay attention to how the customer paid for the goods. The return must be processed using the same payment method that was used for the purchase. If the goods were paid for through a bank terminal by cashless payment, then the refund must also be cashless. In this case, the insufficient cash error will not occur because the money is returned to the customer’s card through the terminal.

• Program update. Sometimes the insufficient funds error could be caused by a software issue, for example, when cash from sales during the current shift was not taken into account for some reason when attempting a refund. Such errors are promptly recorded and fixed by the developers, so it is important to work with up-to-date versions of the program. For example, updates have corrected the calculation of available cash for proper refund processing.