Will I get prorated refund if I upgrade M365 from Personal to Family Plan?

Question

Will I get prorated refund if I upgrade M365 from Personal to Family Plan?

Judy 25

If I'm reading correctly I can share M365 family plan with up to 6 people, using any platform (Mar or PC) whether they reside at same IP address or not. For example, my child away at school or a sibling at another address.

Question: If I upgrade which causes me to pay for an additional one year subscription while my current subscription is only 2 mos into year; will I get a pro-rated refund?

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Answer accepted by question author

John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

Yes, you can share Microsoft 365 Family with up to 6 people, and it doesn’t matter if they’re on a different device or at another address, like your child at school or a sibling living elsewhere.

Regarding the upgrade: if you move from Microsoft 365 Personal to Family, Microsoft doesn’t prorate or refund the unused time. Instead, the remaining time on your current subscription is carried over and added to your new Family subscription. So you won’t lose those 10 months, you’ll just see your Family plan extended to cover the total time.

Should you need further information please let me know.

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Judy 25 Reputation points

2025-09-18T18:59:33.25+00:00

Brings up another question. will the extended dates of plan continue with Family Plan even though my remaining 10 months are Personal Plan?
John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-18T19:06:27.0833333+00:00

You won’t have two different plans running at the same time, your Microsoft 365 Personal subscription is essentially traded in for an extension of your new Microsoft 365 Family subscription. The remaining 10 months from your Personal plan get carried over and applied to the Family plan, just adjusted at a prorated rate. So you’ll continue with Family benefits all the way through without losing any of your remaining time.
Judy 25 Reputation points

2025-09-18T19:08:15.6233333+00:00

Actually once I upgraded there was a disclaimer about remaining time on plan. They will pro-rate the remaining 10 months to meet the cost of Family Plan and I can already see my annual expiration date has been changed too extend.
John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-18T19:20:49.4933333+00:00

That is correct! You got the full value of your remaining subscription, but it's now all part of your new Microsoft 365 Family plan. You can start sharing it with others right away!
Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-09-18T19:22:54.3033333+00:00

For details, see the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/switch-between-microsoft-365-subscriptions-3fcc1efc-2722-427f-8efa-db94b9b0a36b#bkmk_morefeatures. You can expand the "How many days will be added ...?" section.

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Judy 25 Reputation points

2025-09-18T18:59:33.25+00:00

Brings up another question. will the extended dates of plan continue with Family Plan even though my remaining 10 months are Personal Plan?
John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-18T19:06:27.0833333+00:00

You won’t have two different plans running at the same time, your Microsoft 365 Personal subscription is essentially traded in for an extension of your new Microsoft 365 Family subscription. The remaining 10 months from your Personal plan get carried over and applied to the Family plan, just adjusted at a prorated rate. So you’ll continue with Family benefits all the way through without losing any of your remaining time.
Judy 25 Reputation points

2025-09-18T19:08:15.6233333+00:00

Actually once I upgraded there was a disclaimer about remaining time on plan. They will pro-rate the remaining 10 months to meet the cost of Family Plan and I can already see my annual expiration date has been changed too extend.
John Jefferson Doyon 71,160 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-09-18T19:20:49.4933333+00:00

That is correct! You got the full value of your remaining subscription, but it's now all part of your new Microsoft 365 Family plan. You can start sharing it with others right away!
Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-09-18T19:22:54.3033333+00:00

For details, see the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/office/switch-between-microsoft-365-subscriptions-3fcc1efc-2722-427f-8efa-db94b9b0a36b#bkmk_morefeatures. You can expand the "How many days will be added ...?" section.

Answer 1

Stefan Blom 341.3K MVP Volunteer Moderator

I upgraded and invited a family member to share. We can't get the link to work and continue to get an error message "looks like your invitation link is not working". I've added this person as a family member, made them an organizer. They received code, I added it and still can not get them as a family share member.

Did you follow the steps from the article at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/share-your-microsoft-365-family-subscription-b389b9ce-3ae3-4a82-9017-39d79972fcba ?

The person you invited should then follow the instructions at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/someone-invited-you-to-share-their-microsoft-365-subscription-6a6c098e-1934-4436-9a94-69c92590da5b .

Judy 25 Reputation points

2025-09-19T20:22:51.1366667+00:00

Came to say we figured it out and delete my comment. My sister indeed had the family plan already when she thought she had personal plan. Can't share if both are in family plan as owners. In my defense I asked her because support specifically tells us that you can't share.

Maybe this will help someone in the future. Her plan expires on Oct 17 so we will try it again after hers expires.

Thanks for bearing with me and letting me waste your time. I'm sorry.
Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-09-19T20:25:56.81+00:00

Came to say we figured it out and delete my comment. My sister indeed had the family plan already when she thought she had personal plan. Can't share if both are in family plan as owners. In my defense I asked her because support specifically tells us that you can't share. Maybe this will help someone in the future. Her plan expires on Oct 17 so we will try it again after hers expires. Thanks for bearing with me and letting me waste your time. I'm sorry.

I'm glad you got it sorted.

P.S. I deleted your other follow-up message.

Answer 2

JoeNegron-NYC 0

is there an upgrade path from a "family" subscription to "business" where the remainder is also prorated

Stefan Blom 341.3K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-10-16T19:40:03.53+00:00

No, you can't upgrade from a family (or personal) subscription to a business subscription. You will have to cancel the family subscription and order a new business subscription.

Answer 3

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Will I get prorated refund if I upgrade M365 from Personal to Family Plan?

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