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Reverse or delete a journal entry in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit• Updated 3 weeks ago

It's best to avoid creating journal entries for transactions unless absolutely necessary or with the help of your accountant. But if you ever need to reverse or delete a journal entry, here's how to do it:

Before you start

Here's the difference between the two actions.

Reverse a journal entry if you need to allocate a transaction between two accounting periods or fix a debit/credit error.
Delete a journal entry if you created it by mistake and need to get rid of it permanently.

Select one of the following headings to get started.

Reverse a journal entry

This simply reverses the debits and credits - it doesn't delete the original journal entry.

Select Settings ⚙️ and then Chart of accounts.
Find the account you created the journal entry for. Then select Account history.
Find the journal entry in the account register. The word "Journal" should be in the Ref No. or Type column.
Select the journal entry to expand the view. Then select Edit.
Select Reverse.
Select Save.

When you reverse a journal entry, QuickBooks creates a new journal entry to balance it. However, this new journal entry will contain slightly different information:

The new journal entry keeps the original journal no. and adds the letter "R". This means it's reconciled.
The new journal entry is dated the first day of the month following the original journal entry date.
The new journal entry keeps the same info, such as the Account, Name, and Description, as the original journal entry.

Delete a journal entry

You must be absolutely sure you need to delete the journal entry because this can quickly unbalance your accounts.

Important to note: If you invited your accountant to review your books, they can also make an adjusting journal entry instead of deleting the original entry.

Select Settings ⚙️ and then Chart of accounts.
Find the account you created the journal entry for. Then select Account history.
Find the journal entry in the account register. The word "Journal" should be in the Ref No. or Type column.
Select the journal entry to expand the view.
Select Delete.
Select Yes to confirm.

Have any other questions for our team? If any of your questions were left unanswered, we'd love to hear them! Pop over to our QuickBooks Community's discussion on bookkeeping processes where you can ask your questions, have them answered by qualified QuickBooks Online experts, and hopefully help others with the same questions out in the process.

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