remove 24 licences from th subscription

Hi @Ewelina Welna, 

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

Thank you for taking the time to review your subscription and for contacting promptly. Based on the details you shared that you were charged today for 25 licenses but only need one at 11 USD, you want to remove 24 licenses and request a refund for the extra seats.  

Microsoft bills for the number of active seats on your subscription at the time of renewal. If the license quantity is not reduced before renewal, the system continues to charge for the existing seat count. In some cases there can also be more than one active subscription for the same product or unassigned seats that still bill until the quantity is lowered in the admin center. 

Below are some workable options that might be the most appropriate for your current situation:  

1/ Reduce the license quantity to one 

• First, sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center at admin.microsoft.com using your admin account. 
• Next, go to Billing then Your products, and select the subscription that currently shows 25 licenses. 
• Then choose Edit quantity, change the license amount to one, and save. 
• Finally, keep the license assigned to the user who needs it and remove assignments from any other users as needed. The change applies right away and future invoices will reflect one seat. 

2/ Prevent repeat charges 

• First, verify there is only one active subscription for this product under Billing then Your products, and cancel or consolidate any duplicates. 
• Next, review license counts a few days before each renewal so the quantity matches your actual usage, and set a calendar reminder for the renewal date. 
• Finally, if you prefer manual control, turn off auto renew and renew with the correct seat count when needed. 

3/ Request a refund or credit for the 24 extra seats by contact Billing's team 

To request a correction or reissue, I recommend creating a support ticket with Microsoft’s Billing team, who can review the invoice and assist further to check your credit card charge correctly. This is the best way to ensure your request is handled securely and appropriately.    

• First, sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center with your admin account; if you don’t have access, please contact your IT administrator for support.  
• Next, open Help & Support by selecting the green button on the dashboard, so the support panel appears.  
• Finally, search and submit your request by entering “I need to check a subscription charge fee and I want to get a refund,” then choose your contact method, time zone, and language, add details and any attachments, and click Contact me (a callback can help faster).   
• Please keep Tenant Name, Primary Domain, Global Admin Email, and payment proof (transaction ID or screenshot) ready.  

The support team may be able to reissue the invoice depending on your account type and region.     

Moreover, if you cannot sign in to the Microsoft 365 admin center, please contact Microsoft Support via phone number: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support - Select your country/region own phone number for support.     

As community moderators, we appreciate your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have visibility into deeper backend analysis, we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.     

Looking forward to your response and wishing you a great day ahead.    

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".      

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

To reduce the number of licenses and request a refund, two things are needed: (1) remove the extra licenses from the subscription, and (2) see whether the billing account type and timing make the charge refundable.

1. Determine billing account type and refund window

• In the Microsoft 365 admin center, check what billing account type is used (MCA or MOSA). See: "Find out what type of billing account you have" in the documentation.
• If the account type is MCA:
  • Licenses can only be removed within seven days of buying or renewing the subscription, or within seven days of buying additional licenses.
  • A prorated credit or refund is only available if cancellation or license reduction happens within that seven‑day window.
• If the account type is MOSA:
  • Canceling after start or renewal provides a prorated credit or refund, applied to the next invoice or returned in the next billing cycle.

2. Remove the extra licenses (MCA billing account type) If the billing account type is MCA and the charge is within the allowed window:
3. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center.
4. In Simplified view, select Subscriptions; in Dashboard view, go to Billing > Your products.
5. Select the subscription that currently has 25 licenses.
6. On the subscription details page, select Remove licenses.
7. Under New quantity in Total licenses, enter 1 (to keep only one license).
8. Select Save.
   • A bill will be generated within one to two days that includes any credits due for the removed 24 licenses, if still within the allowed removal window.
9. If the seven‑day removal window is closed (MCA)

• If more than seven days have passed since the subscription started, renewed, or the extra licenses were bought, the admin center will not allow license removal for immediate credit.
• In that case, turn off recurring billing so the subscription does not renew at the higher license count, and contact Microsoft support to review refund options.

4. Cancel the subscription instead (if appropriate) If the goal is to cancel the entire subscription and repurchase a single‑license subscription:

• For MCA billing accounts:
  • A prorated credit or refund is available only if cancellation occurs within seven days after the start or renewal of the subscription.
  • After seven days, turn off recurring billing; the subscription continues until the end of term, and monthly charges continue if on an annual‑paid‑monthly plan.
• For MOSA billing accounts:
  • Canceling after start or renewal provides a prorated credit or refund.
  • If there are more than 25 licenses, reduce to 25 or fewer first, then cancel using the admin center.

5. If self‑service changes are blocked

• If the Remove licenses or Cancel options are unavailable, or if the subscription has more than 25 licenses and cannot be reduced, contact Microsoft support from the admin center so they can review the account and the recent $300 charge and process any eligible refund.

References:

• Buy or remove licenses for a Microsoft business subscription
• Cancel your subscription in the Microsoft 365 admin center