Payments from Bank card through paypal double transactions

Hello Kyle, 

Welcome to the Community page, 

So what you need to do is just add the entries on your current account and not transfer it if the entry on paypal has already exsitied. So basically you catergorize the payments from paypal as normal transactions but when moving from paypal to QBO account you record them as bank transfers as the money should not be hitting the bank account as individual payments if you are supported to be through the paypal account only the bulk transfers should be showing up in the main bank account and should be recorded a bank transfer. 

Thank you for your reply, so just to clarify (sorry im new) the transactions are showing in both Bank account and PayPal account to be matched, as if i paid twice, and the money has been automatically moved from bank to PayPal, and when I match all of thee PayPal transactions it fully reconciles, but then I am left with all the exact same transactions to reconcile in my current account, So if i transfer from back to PayPal (which i thought it was a transfer) it moves balance from bank to PayPal and is not right, and if i put the transactions in my bank as the same as i did on PayPal, it would be duplicate transactions? 

Are you saying transfer the balance back to my current from PayPal after transferring it over?

I am terribly sorry if this sounds silly, I just really want to get this right now as it seems to be the only thing that is not adding up for me at the minute. Maybe if you could just elaborate on the process step by step that I should undertake to put this right that would be amazing.

Thanks, Kyle.

I am having a similar quandary. When both paypal and bank are connected to QBO, and a paypal expense draws from your bank account, I had thought the categorisations should be as follows:

1. that bank transaction be categorised as a "transfer to paypal account"

2.  the paypal transaction to be categorised normally eg "expense". 

Or is this unnecessary and you should just categorise the paypal transaction and "exclude" the bank transfer transaction?

I see your confusion on how to categorize transactions when you have your bank account and PayPal account linked in QuickBooks Online, @manta ray.

I'm here to clarify the ideal approach for categorizing these transactions. 

I agree with your second point. We can categorise the PayPal transaction and Exclude the bank transfer. This approach helps maintain accurate records and provides a clear overview of your financial transactions.

When a PayPal expense is paid with a bank account, it appears on both your connected PayPal account and your connected bank account. To effectively manage these transactions, it is recommended to:

1. Add both transactions to the PayPal account, then
2. Match the transaction with the transfer on the PayPal account.

To exclude a downloaded bank transaction, you can review this link for more details: Exclude a bank transaction you downloaded into QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, allow me to share the following articles to help track your financial records accurately in QBO: 

• Categorise and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
• Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you have any other bank transaction concerns arise. I'm here to help you make the most of your QuickBooks Online experience, @manta ray. Enjoy the rest of your week!

THanks for the helpful reply. I am a new user, can I clarify your suggested actions. 

You say:

1. Add both transactions to the PayPal account, then (
2. Match the transaction with the transfer on the PayPal account.

Can you explain how you "add both transactions to the paypal account"? I can't find the facility to do this.

Hi there, manta ray.

After you connect your bank or download your transactions, QuickBooks looks for and tries to match them with existing transactions. If it can't find a match, it creates a new transaction record for you. You only have to approve the match or newly created transaction.

1. Categorize the bank transaction as a "transfer to PayPal account" to accurately reflect the movement of funds from your bank account to PayPal.
2. Categorize the PayPal transaction as you normally would, for example, as an "expense" to properly record the nature of the transaction.

I'm still all ears if you need further assistance with your bank transactions, running reports, etc. Just add your reply below and I'll circle back to help you.

I'm not too sure what you are suggesting.

The issue I am facing is I have expenses paid via paypal that show up as two separate transactions. One on the paypal account and an extra on the bank account that paypal draws from. 

For some reason QBO did not detect them as matching. When I try "find match" QBO fails to find any results 

I need to avoid double counting the transaction. What is the recommendation in this situation?

Just to be clear. I can see the matching bank and paypal transaction. However QBO for some reason does not detect it even though the search date brackets are set to include the matching transaction - strange. How can I overcome this or manually match them?

I appreciate you for coming back to the thread and clarifying your concern about categorizing transactions in QuickBooks, manta ray. However, we aim to deliver customer satisfaction at all times and fix an issue as soon as possible. With this, may I ask if the transaction you're referring to is transferred from Paypal to Bank? I appreciate any further details or screenshots of your issue so I can present accurate details.

Please don't hesitate to click the Reply button below and add extra details about your concern, manta ray. I'm always around to help. Have a good day!

No. I am making purchases with paypal. Then, paypal draws from the bank account. 

I can see the matching transactions. There is usually a 2 day delay/difference between the paypal purchase and the draw from bank accounts. 

Why is QBO not able to match the two? 

Heres a screenshot when I attempt a manual match find. Shows no results. 

Hello, Manta Ray.

I'm here to enlighten you about matching transactions.

These are the factors why the system can't find match transactions from existing records:

• The payees are not the same
• The amount doesn't match
• The date doesn't match
• Transaction is older than six months
• The transaction is posted on a different bank

Let's ensure that the details above are correct so you can find match transactions.

Moreover, you can check this article as your guide in ensuring they match your bank and credit card statements: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Keep me posted whenever you have concerns with your bank transactions.

I have now learnt that I should not be attempting to match a paypal purchase transaction with the bank transfer to paypal. Excuse my earlier questions on that. 

So, when using paypal for online purchasing, how should you manage it in QBO? If I categorise all the paypal transactions as normal expenses, what do I then do with the bank transfer to paypal? Do I add that as a "transfer"? Or perhaps just exclude it to avoid double counting?

We can exclude the bank transfer to PayPal to avoid duplicate transactions, @manta ray.

Purchases made with Paypal automatically sync with QuickBooks Online. It records detailed information like sold items, quantity, discount, and taxes, along with PayPal fees as an expense in your QuickBooks account.

Follow the steps below to avoid double-counting transactions:

1. Go to the Banking or Transactions menu, then select the Banking tab.
2. Select the For Review tab.
3. Tick the box for each transaction, then click Exclude.

Please know that excluding transactions won’t add them to QuickBooks again. For more information, refer to this article: Exclude a bank transaction you downloaded into QuickBooks Online.

You can link PayPal to QuickBooks like a bank account. Therefore, its transactions should be treated similarly. To learn more about its accounting systems, check out this guide: Why use clearing accounts in your accounting system for PayPal, credit cards, and other payment chan...

I'm just around the corner to help if you have any other questions besides handling PayPal transactions. Don't hesitate to post a reply below. Have a wonderful day!

I don not think excluding transactions is the right way to do this, as Quickbooks will not match up with bank statements and movement of funds from the current bank account to PayPal will not be shown. Excluding transaction seems like a very bad practise.

Is there an automated way to deal with this in Quickbooks? I got myself in a bit of a mess with this scenario. At the moment, I will have to deal with it manually and will have to fix the scenario like this:

1) I pay for an expense with PayPal, - PayPal draws the funds from my current bank account
2) Now I have two transactions showing, one in the current bank account and one in PayPal for the same payment.
3) I categorize the PayPal transaction as an expense
4) I categorize the Current Bank Account transaction as a transfer to PayPal account to show the movement of funds.

This is a mess for me tbh.

Hello, SRK2024. I acknowledge the importance of efficiently managing transactions. I'm here to provide you with the information you need.

I appreciate your efforts to ensure the accurate categorization of your PayPal transactions. Please note that QBO doesn't support an automated feature for managing these transactions. Your approach to handling them in QBO is the appropriate way to resolve your scenario.

I've also compiled some articles that can assist you in managing bank transactions moving forward:

• Categorise online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online
• Set up bank rules to categorise online banking transactions in QuickBooks Online

You can reply to this thread for assistance with your PayPal transactions or other banking-related tasks. The Community team is available around the clock to help you.

I have read all the above and for me I have another problem linked to the provided solution. 

When the Paypal payment takes place towards the end of the month the Paypal statement shows the Debit and Credit (Transfer from the current account) on the same date - however the bank Current Account statement show the transaction a few days later so the 2nd of the following month. When I come to Reconcile the Bank statement (current ACC) the transaction is in the incorrect Month and I need to change the date to the 2nd of the following month to match the bank statement. All good, however when I go back to the reconciled PayPal month it is now out as the credit transaction has now moved to the following month. - How do you correct this across the month end.

Thanks Gordon

I appreciate you for sharing the detailed information about the process between PayPal and your bank statement in QuickBooks Online (QBO), Gordon53. Rest assured to figure this out.

Since you've already matched the PayPal statements after changing the date to your bank statement, please know that it will show as a credit transaction. You need to undo the reconciliation of your PayPal account to adjust the dates. Then, redo the reconciliation in your accounting software to match the bank statement date.

Here's how to manually unreconciled the transaction to undo the reconciliation:

1.  Go to the Chart of Accounts.
2. Choose the account you’re working on, and click on View Register.
3. Select the transactions you want to unreconcile.
4. Keep on clicking the R status until it shows blank or cleared (C).
5. Click on Save.
6. Choose Yes in the confirmation window.

Also, you can refer to this article to know more about starting, fixing any differences, and completing the reconciliation process: Learn the reconciliation workflow in QuickBooks.

Moreover, if you want to prevent changes to your past transactions, refer to this article: Close your books in QuickBooks Online.

I'll be available to lend a hand for any further queries about the matching process in QBO. You can add a comment below.