Multiple expenses paid by one credit card payment. Do the expenses need to be the same date as payment?

Hi there, 

Glad to hear from you again. I'd be glad to steer you in the right direction with your expenses.

To answer your question, it depends entirely on you how your business type and how you'd like to record your expenses. With that being said, it's important you're familiar with the accounting method you're using.

There are two types of accounting methods in QuickBooks Online; Accrual Basis and Cash Basis. 

Accrual basis

• In this accounting method, the time when you enter a transaction and the time when you actually pay or receive cash may be two separate events.
• An accrual basis report shows income regardless of whether your customers have paid your invoices and expenses regardless of whether you have paid all your bills.

Cash basis

• A bookkeeping method in which you regard income or expenses as occurring at the time you actually receive a payment or pay a bill.
• A cash basis report only shows income if you have received cash and expenses if you have paid cash.

Knowing this info, you can now select which accounting method works best with your business. You can edit this by clicking the Gear icon > Account and Settings > Advanced > Accounting method to Cash > Save).

In case you need further assistance, feel free to contact our support team using this link here. 

I make purchases and have recurring payments by credit card (like Intuit) but pay the bill from my bank account. Unfortunately I can't link the bank payment to the credit card expenses. Help!

Hellogeofftheletric. Glad to have you chime in on this thread. Are you looking to match your transactions in your bank feed? If so, I encourage you to check out this helpful article here that provides more in-depth info about how this process works. You're more than welcome to ask other questions in the comments below. 

Thanks for the reply James. The thing is I download my bank transactions but my credit card is not with my bank it is with an independent credit card company. I have entered my credit card purchases as expenses and the credit card payment is shown as an expense with bank account.

Thanks for reaching out to us again, Geoff,

The key to a successful reconciliation is making sure the bank statement matches with the transactions in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Did you record the payment by going to the + New icon, and selecting Pay down credit card? Using this option will reduce your liability and the system will allow you to match the entry towards the cleared bank transaction.

You don't need to link it anymore to the credit card expense account. To learn more about the process, see this link: Record your payments to credit cards.

To my match the 2 entries, follow these steps:

1. On the Banking find and click the bank transaction.
2. Mark the Find Match option.
3. Review the Matching records found in QuickBooks. This is the possible matching transaction you already entered in QuickBooks.
4. Select the box next to each match.
5. Make sure this is the correct match, then click Save.

See the following link to learn more about managing bank transactions: Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Post here again if there's anything else you want to ask about credit card transactions in QuickBooks Online. I'll be right here to help.