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Troubleshooting invoices and payments in QuickBooks

by Intuit•1• Updated 2 days ago

Learn how to resolve common issues related to invoices and payments to ensure accurate financial records and smooth payment processing. This article covers missing VAT, incorrect due dates, misapplied payments, and email delivery errors in QuickBooks Online.

🛈 This article is for customers who use QuickBooks Online (Simple Start, Essentials, Plus or Advanced).

If you received a payment against the wrong invoice and now want to apply it to the correct one, create a journal entry, then apply the payment to the correct invoice.

Why this happens

If you forget to add VAT to an invoice, it can lead to inaccurate financial records and tax discrepancies.

How to fix it

  1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
  2. Enter Transaction List by Date in the search field.
  3. Select Customise. (If you don’t see the Customise button, select Switch to classic view.)
  4. From the Report period dropdown, select the correct date range.
  5. From the Rows/Columns dropdown, select Change columns, then tick VAT Amount.
  6. Select Run report.
  7. Select each invoice that has no VAT, add the VAT, and select Save.

Why this happens

Incorrect payment terms can cause confusion for customers and lead to payment delays.

How to fix it

  1. Go to Sales, then select Invoices.
  2. Select the affected invoice and choose Edit invoice.
  3. Take note of the Payment terms used, then close the invoice.
  4. Go to Settings ⚙, then select All lists.
  5. Select Terms and find the term used on the invoice.
  6. In the Action column, select Edit from the dropdown ▼.
  7. Make sure Due in fixed number of days is set to 0.
  8. Select Save.
  9. Reselect the term on the invoice to apply the correction. (If the issue persists, check for a similar term with a slightly different name in the Terms list and edit it as needed.)

Why this happens

A payment may have been mistakenly applied to the wrong invoice, leading to discrepancies in your financial records and potential customer confusion.

How to fix it

Step 1: Create a journal entry

  • Follow the steps to create a journal entry.
  • On the first line, enter:
    • Account: Debtors
    • Debits: Amount of payment to transfer
    • Name: Customer you’re transferring payment from
  • On the second line, enter:
    • Account: Debtors
    • Credits: Amount of payment to transfer
    • Name: Customer you’re transferring payment to
  • Select Save and close.

Step 2: Apply the payment to the correct invoice

  1. Select + New, then Receive payment.
  2. Select the customer’s name.
  3. In the Credits section, ensure the journal entry number and open balance amount are listed and checked.
  4. Select Save and close.

Why this happens

This error occurs due to issues with email addresses or the invoice format, preventing successful delivery.

ActionSteps to fix
Check your company and customer-facing email addresses1. Go to Settings and select Account and settings.
2. Select Company.
3. Select Contact info, then check your Company email and Customer-facing email. Use these examples as a reference:
Correct: mycompany@mycompany.com
Incorrect: email:mycompany@mycompany.com
Check your location's email address (for businesses using location tracking)Note: Location tracking is not available in QuickBooks Sole Trader.
1. Go to Settings ⚙, then select All lists.
2. Select Locations, then find the location used on the invoice.
3. In the Action column, select the dropdown ▼, then Edit.
4. Check the email address in the field “This location has a different email address for communicating with customers” and update if needed.
5. Select Save and try resending your sales form.
Check your invoice formatOpen the invoice you tried to send and ensure it doesn’t have special characters (! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - = + : ") in the following fields: Description, Attachment name, Message, Email address, Custom form templates.
Check your sales form email option1. Go to Settings ⚙, then select Account and settings.
2. Select the Sales tab.
3. Select Online delivery, then tick or untick the PDF Attached checkbox.
4. Select Save, then try resending your sales form.
Check print and PDF settingsEnsure the attached file is not a ZIP file and does not exceed 25 MB. Remove any special characters from the file name.
Check your Adobe Acrobat or Reader settingsFor Windows users, set the following print options in Adobe Acrobat or Reader:
Size: Actual size
Orientation: Automatic
Choose paper source by PDF page size: On
Check your browser's PDF settingGoogle Chrome: Follow Google’s guide on changing default PDF download settings.
Firefox: Follow Mozilla’s guide on setting Adobe Reader as the default PDF viewer.
Once you've checked these settings, try resending your sales form.


What's next?

If you're using recurring invoices and encounter any issues, learn how to fix recurring transactions that did not run.

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