Corp credit card split accounts from Bank of America

Hi there, trigrman.

I can share some information about how online banking works in QuickBooks.

Your financial institution (BOFA) controls what and how information is received by QuickBooks. Since the transactions are downloaded to the individual accounts, you'll have to connect the subaccounts and not the parent account. Here's how:

1. Select Banking menu or Transactions menu.
2. Go to the Banking tab.
3. Select Add account or Link account, then search for your bank. 
4. Click Continue then enter the username and password you use for your bank's website.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions, then choose the subaccount you want to connect

6. Select the matching account type from the drop-down menu.
7. Click Connect to complete the process.

I understand that the interest and payments are only downloaded to the parent account. However, we're unable to connect both the parent account and its subaccounts. If you try to connect both, you’ll receive a message that the account is already connected.

For now, you can create journal entries to transfer balances between the two accounts or move the downloaded transactions to the parent account. This way, it would easier for you to reconcile them. 

I also recommend coordinating with your bank to check if they can roll up the transactions from the subaccount to the parent account. Additionally, here are some articles that you can read to help keep your QuickBooks accounts balanced and up-to-date:
 

• Fix issues at the end of a reconciliation
• Fix issues for accounts you've reconciled in the past

Keep me posted if you need more help in managing your bank transactions. I'll always have your back.

Adding the journal entries is the solution I've looked at, but the "correct" way to do that is add all the purchase transactions to the master account, because if you have multiple sub accounts, it doesn't make sense to go the other direction.

I'm not going to manually create hundreds of journal entries a month to do that.

Your reply said to consider moving the downloaded transactions to the parent account, but the link you provided doesn't say how to do that.  What I need to do is move the downloaded transactions to a different PAYMENT ACCOUNT, and your link says not to do that--so I'm confused.  Can I change the Payment Account in those transactions and apply the transaction to a different bank account?

/mike

I'm trying to talk to the bank--so far, no luck getting through to anybody who knows anything.  

Okay @KlentB, your post got me thinking, and here's how I solved it:

1. Connected ONLY the sub-account to the bank.  This is where the vast majority of transactions (all the purchases) go, so this eliminates most of the work.  
2. Still created the master account, and did NOT connect it to the bank.
3. Made the bank-connected sub-account also be a sub-account of the master account in QuickBooks.  It let me do this because only one of the accounts was connected to the bank.
4. When I reconcile, QuickBooks automatically prompts me for any interest charges, and reconciles both master and sub-accounts together, so it all works out.  Payments from my checking account are easy to apply to the master and still have them show up in the reconciliation.
5. I suspect that if I add more card holders, I can also connect those sub-accounts to the master account and still do one single reconciliation to cover the whole lot.

Thanks for the help! 

Thanks for the prompt reply, @trigrman.

I appreciate you for sharing the details you’ve done to resolve this on the Community page.

I’m sure the solution you’ve provided will help other users who are having the same issue.

In addition to this, Let me add this link that you can use for future reference. This provides detailed steps on reconciling your accounts effectively in QuickBooks Online (QBO): Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Know that you’re always welcome to post a reply in this thread if you have any other concerns or questions about bank connections in QuickBooks. I’ll be around ready to help you out. Have a great day ahead and stay safe!

Yes, it is very hard as the problem starts when there is more than one interest. Most people are confused how to use credit cards for online shopping properly. I guess it's time to make plans first, to have a look at the possible expenditures. I faced the same problem as a beginner. 

I sure do wish Quickbooks would create a real solution for this issue. It's really a flaw in the accounting system to not accommodate sub account level data and corp account payments. It is such a pain to do the work around when you have multiple sub accounts. I've googled around and found years worth of complaints on this same subject matter. You would think by now the coding to the software would be in place for this very common issue. 

This is what we do and it seems to work. We use a "Check" to pay the bank statement in full each month.

Payee: Bank of America          Payment Method: Bank Acct-Checking used to pay Bill

Then we write the check like this.

   Line1. BOA-Account (positive amount of total charges for month)

   Line2. BOA-Account (negative amount of total charges for the month)

   Line3. BOA-Card1 (positive amount of total transactions for this card for the month)

   Line4. BOA-Card2 (positive amount of total transactions for this card for the month)

I have this as recurring each month and then I just have to go in and change it to the correct amounts for that month. This way I don't have to do journal entries to move transactions around.

I don't see why the master account needs to be created at all.  If you just connect the sub account, you can classify each purchase transaction.  When credit card payments are deducted from your checking account, you can apply them as credit card payments and select the sub account.  Likewise, when cash back payments hit your checking account you can classify it as other income.  Why worry about the master corporate account at all?

@trigrman I am in a chat with QBO Assistant and found your fantastic solution! I have a couple questions if you dont mind:

1.   When you reconcile, do you do so from the unconnected, QBO Master Account you created? From which account do you reconcile to capture the payments, fees and transactions?

2.   I have a Main Account and three card holders (BOFA). Ive placed all four as subaccounts to the Master Account Ive created. I had categorized all transaction from Jan 1, 2022 onward before creating the unconnected Master account. Do I need to modify the categorization?

THANK YOU in advance for any advie you or the community may offer. It has been 30 minutes in a chat with an "Assistant" at QB. I think they are searching the same forums for the answer I cannot find. lol

THANKS!

I think because the sub account doesn't show your true balance.  Only shows your charges for that month.  

This is not helpful when there are multiple sub cards and one parent account.  You can only choose ONE of the subs (hopefully the one with the most transactions), then you have to manually add all transactions on the other cards.  So very frustrating and time consuming!

@byron1979,

This doesn't work because BofA rolls up all credit cards into one bill so the credit card payment for each month is the combined balance for all cards under the master account.  There would need to be a way to split the credit card payment from the checking account across the sub accounts.

Thank you!  This is EXACTLY the problem I am running into.  I can't even connect the second employee card.  When I go to link it, it only brings up the CORP card and Employee #1.  So at this point, I'm going to have to manually add them all in?  And by manually, I mean literally each one.  I tried to export transactions into QBO, and it said the file type wasn't correct even though it's a .qbo file.  ???  I am still confused on what to do with the "parent" account and subs and how to do it all.  I am not a pro and am just trying to get our books done.  

From what I understand:

We create the parent (CORP) card in chart of accounts and DO NOT connect to the bank.  Only connect the sub cards (even though I can't connect more than one). Check. So then do we EVER put in the payments/fees into that account or just leave it and apply the payments from Business Checking into the SUB account?  Aaaand, is so, how do you separate the payment for each card?  

When I go to BoA website and look at this whole setup, it's insane.  How do your payments apply to each card?  I can't even see the 2nd card until I click into either the CORP card or employee #1 (which is why I think QB isn't detecting the other employee card).  This is ridiculous.  

Hello there, sopranoi.

I appreciate you for posting on the thread. I'm here to share more information about connecting bank accounts.

When connecting your bank account, the transactions downloaded depend on your financial institution. If the transactions download to one account, connect only the parent account. If the transactions download to the individual accounts, connect the subaccounts, not the parent account.

For the rest of the transactions, you'll have to add them manually. To resolve the error when importing transactions, log into your account in an incognito window. You can use these keyboard keys to open one:

• Chrome: Ctrl+Shift+N
• Firefox: Ctrl+Shift+P
• Safari: Command+Shift+N

As for applying payments, I'd suggest reaching out to your accountant for the best way in recording the transactions.

Once everything is good, you can check this reference as your guide in reconciling transactions: Reconcile Transactions.

You can always post a Reply if you have concerns about the reconciliation process.

+1 to this issue. For the past 10 years I had this working correctly. I had both the main account and sub accounts linked for a BOA CC. This month, the connection has to be re-established because it expired and now it does not let me connect both. The main account is what would import all the payments, and the subaccounts would import the expenses. It was all running beautifully and I never had to manually add anything, neither payments or expenses. The whole idea of using quickbooks is to avoid manual entry, us small businesses have enough to do! 

There should not be a "Workaround" for this, BOA a top bank and QB needs to adjust to them, not the other way around. Additionally, I prefer the way BOA does it so I can easily have each employee review their expenses instead of having it all balled up into one account. 

Please get this in front of your development team. Warn users that a subaccount is already setup instead of preventing the linking of both.

EDIT: I just remembered what I did and why I said it worked for so long. It never let me link the main account and sub accounts, what I did was created an additional sub account and linked the Main account (from bank) to a sub account in QB called MAIN. So, I'd have sub accounts: BOACC Employee1, BOACC Employee2, BOACC Main. Everything rolls up into the main account so I would just reconcile the "True Main" (not the sub main) in QB. I hope this is a better answer for most than "Enter Manually". pfft

Quickbooks should still fix this though! This workaround causes all the sub accounts show incorrect ballances.

I'm setting up QB for the first time for my small business. Should I link both the main and the sub accounts to QB's? Does anyone know if this issue has been resolved by QB?

I'm glad to have you here in the Community, @newbie.

I am pleased to assist you with details on how online banking functions in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

When you connect your bank account, the transactions that are downloaded depend on your financial institution. If the transactions are downloaded to a single account, you should only link to the parent account. On the other hand, before connecting it to online banking, you’ll need to know how your bank sends the transactions you've downloaded.

Nonetheless, I suggest you manually add and record the transactions from your application to your Bank Register. Then, if you process the payments within QBO for these transactions, you can also exclude them from the banking tab and manually clear them in your register. 

Follow these steps to connect your sub-accounts:

1. From the left menu, click the Banking menu and select the Banking tab.
2. On the Banking page, select the Link account.
3. In the Search field, enter the bank's URL.
4. Select your bank. If you see multiple options, you may have to repeat these steps to find the correct one.
5. Enter your bank login on your bank's website, then select Continue.

I understand that the interest and payments are only downloaded to the parent account. However, we're unable to connect both the parent account and its subaccounts. If you try to connect both, you’ll receive a message that the account is already connected.

We can go through this article to help us manage your accounts in QuickBooks: About bank or credit card sub-account setup.

To keep your accounts and bank data accurate from time to time, I recommend checking these articles for tips and guides:

• Categorize and match online bank transactions.
• Reconcile an account

If you have any more concerns or questions about connecting your bank to QuickBooks, feel free to leave the details below. I'm here to help you every step of the way. Have a wonderful day!

I appreciate the advice as that is how I'm currently handling it.  But, I have a company that has 3 sub cards, so I currently choose the card with the most activity and import it, but then I have to manually add all transactions on the other 2 cards.  Each typically has 30-50 transactions per month.  I wish I could import 3 cards to one QuickBooks account.  Ugh!!

Hi @trigrman, 

Were you able to test out the theory of connecting multiple sub-accounts that are connected to a bank feed to an off-line master account? I have two employee cards and one master account. I'm getting mixed answers and were wondering if it's worked for you with multiple sub-accounts connect to bank. 

Thanks!

After a lot of research I came up with a solution to this issue.  With the goal of helping others save time having to figure this out from scratch I offer the following approach.  Keep in mind that I use BofA and this works for their account scheme, but I imagine it's common for banks to have one master (parent) account for credit card statements, billing and payments with sub accounts for each employee credit card (I know US Bank does this).

Initial Setup

1. Search for Chart of Accounts and using the New button create a new Master account of type Credit Card. Use these field values
   * For Name: “<Bank Name> Parent Credit Card Account” For Example, “B of A Parent Credit Card Acct”
   * Save under “Credit Card”
   * Tax Form Section > Credit Card

2. Connect QBO to your bank and import the credit card sub accounts (Not the master/parent account)

3. Edit each sub account and check the “Is Sub Account” checkbox and set the parent account to the one you just created above. Include the employees name in the sub account name (if it isn't already).
4. When the transactions are imported into QBO during the update cycles you must categorize your CC transactions for each of the sub accounts.

Monthly Procedure
After you receive your statement each month you will do the following. For the purposes of these instructions I will assume two employee credit cards, but this should work for any number of them.
1. When the credit card payment arrives from the imported bank transactions for your checking account and you are categorizing it, choose Record as Credit Card payment and under Select credit card, select the parent account you created in the initial setup.
2. Now we need to create a journal entry to divide up the payment from the parent card account to the individual credit cards underneath it. The way we do this is to add Debits for the individual credit card sub accounts from the bank statement used to pay off the sub cards. This will result in a third line journal entry providing a credit in the combined amount for the sub card payments. Here are the steps:
  a. Search for Create Journal Entry from the top right search field in QBO.
  b. In the first line under account choose the first employee credit card (.e.g, “Joe Smith’s Card”), and from the bank statement for the month find the amount paid for that card. Enter it under Debit.
  c. In the 2nd line do the same for the second employee credit card.  If Quickbooks tries to populate the Credit field, make sure to clear that.
  d. On the 3rd line choose the Parent CC account created in the initial setup. The Credit field should automatically be populated with the sum of the two cards’ debits.
  e. In the description for Line 3 put <month> <year> CC payment.
  f.  Click the Save and Close button.

Now you should see the balances for the parent account and the two sub accounts reconciled to zero in the Bank Transactions tab (assuming you have categorized the transactions for each of the sub accounts).

I am having the same problem. Was this ever fixed?  When I ask quickbooks they say disconnect 1 account but then it will not show payments or purchase. 

Let's dig into the details about the option to connect both parent and subaccounts in QuickBooks Online (QBO), Harris.

In QBO, we're unable to connect both a parent account and its subaccounts since you'll be prompted that the account is already connected.

In the meantime, you'll want to connect only the subaccounts, and then create the parent account manually in your chart of accounts. Once done, link the subaccounts to the parent account you've just created.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Locate the subaccounts connected to online banking, indicated with a two-way arrow.
3. Click the View Register dropdown under the Action column and select Edit.
4. Check the Make this a subaccount box and select the Parent Account.
5. Click Save.

Here's a guide to learn more about subaccount setup: About bank or credit card subaccount setup.

Additionally, you'll want to consider using QuickBooks Live Assisted for one-on-one guidance on setting up split accounts for your bank.

We're always available in the Community to ensure everything runs smoothly with your bank account set up in QBO. Just don't hesitate to contact us, and we'll respond promptly. Stay safe.