How do I clear unreconciled transactions from previous years after taxes have already been completed

I can help you with this, 1 Learning.

You can reconcile your past transactions one year at a time. This way, all adjustments, service fees, and interest you enter during the reconciliation process will apply to the year in which those transactions occurred. It would also be best to consult with your accountant so you'd be advised of the best method for you to reconcile statements and transactions for multiple years. 

I'll show you how:

1. Go to the Banking menu and select Reconcile.
2. Select the Account drop-down then choose the account you want to reconcile.
3. In the Statement Date field, choose the date from the financial statement you selected.
4. In the Ending Balance field, enter the ending balance from your statement.
5. Compare the amount shown in the Beginning Balance field with the opening balance on the oldest statement you need to reconcile.
6. Enter the total Service Charge and Interest Earned.
7. Follow the screen transaction to complete the process.

You can check this article for more detailed steps: Reconcile an account for multiple months or years of transactions and financial statements.

Also, you can check our Year-end checklist in QBDT. This will guide you through the process of completing your task in QuickBooks so you can close your previous year and prepare for the upcoming one. 

Keep me posted if you have other questions about reconciling your account. I'm always here to help.

Will this affect my current check register balance or just the years that need to be reconciled?

I appreciate you for coming back to the thread to add additional confirmation about your concern, 1 Learning. With this, I'll be sharing information on how reconciling past entries works. Then, ensure that you'll be routed to the right person to assist you further on this matter.

Once you start reconciling past ot previous transactions, the whole current reconciliation statement will be inaccurate. That said, it causes your account differences like ending and beginning balances. However, once you have already performed accurately in reconciling your monthly reconciliation, the entries that need to reconcile in the next years will match your bank and credit card statements and ensure that there are no discrepancies.

To ensure your records are in shipshape, I suggest consulting an accountant before performing the process of reconciling past transactions. They can provide suggestions on how to properly handle those entries to avoid any data issues.

You may refer to this article to view different OL and OLSU errors in QuickBooks Desktop and how to fix them: Fix OL and OLSU Bank Feeds errors in QuickBooks Desktop.

Feel free to add a comment below if you have additional questions or concerns about reconciliation. I’m more than happy to answer them for you. Wishing your business continued success.

Hi, I have the same question (I believe) and still not clear from the responses here. Basically, I am trying to reconcile an account starting in 2021 that has transactions going back to 2014. The accountant said I'm welcome to enter a balancing equity number to be able to start to reconcile 2021, but I'm not sure how to clear out all of the transactions from previous years. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Thank you!

Great to see you here in the Community, @mlbsauer. I'd be happy to share some details about clearing the transactions from the previous years in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

Reconciling the transactions is the best way how to clear your past transactions. You may do it one year at a time to ensure that the other possible adjustments such as service fees, and interests will be applied on the correct year.

You can begin with creating a back up file and prepare your statements to enter the correct ending balance per year. I'd also recommend speaking with an accounting professional to help you manage your books.

I've got this article for more information about the steps to clear the previous transactions: Reconcile an account for multiple months or years of transactions and financial statements.

You can always comment below if you have other questions or concerns about QuickBooks. I'll be here to help. Take care always.

I have a checking account that has 2022 and 2023 reconciliations done. Now I need to enter in 2021. Can I enter those transactions in and still reconcile? Will it all work out or do I have to undo all the 2022 and 2023 reconciliations 

Good day, Angeatwork. I see you're in the process of entering some old transactions from 2021 into QuickBooks and want to make sure you reconcile them properly. 

Yes, you can still enter old transactions from 2021 and reconcile them. Just make sure to enter the correct balances so that everything is aligned and not undo the reconciliation for the succeeding periods. 

Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you enter those old transactions and reconcile:

• Be sure to use the correct dates for the old transactions so they show up in the right accounting period.
• Enter the accurate balances for each account so that everything aligns properly when you go to reconcile.

I'm also sharing these articles that have some great info on reconciling in QuickBooks desktop and fixing beginning balance issues:

• Fix Issues When You're Reconciling In QuickBooks Desktop
• Fix Beginning Balance Issues in QuickBooks Desktop

Please let me know if any other questions come up, Angeatwork. I'd be happy to provide troubleshooting or point you to additional resources. 

Thank you for your response.  So I just want to confirm that I started qb with a starting balance in the checking account (for example 20,000 on 12/31/21) which I cleared.  Do I now unclear that opening balance amount and change it to (for example 10,000 which is the balance on 12/31/20). Since I will now be entering all transactions for 2021.

Also then can I reconcile 1/1/20 to 12/31/20 all in one bank rec. with the starting balance as 10,000 and ending balance of 20,000?

You're welcome, @Angeatwork. It's our pleasure to help.

Yes, you'll just have to unreconcile the opening balance and then change the date and amount of the opening balance to reconcile your 2021 transactions. 

Here's how to update the opening balance of your Chart of accounts:

1. In QuickBooks, go to the Company menu and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Find and right-click the account and select Edit.
3. Select Change Opening Balance.
4. Edit the amount and the date. The date should be older than the oldest transaction you want to track in QuickBooks.
5. When you're ready, select Record to save your changes.

Refer to this article for more information about adding an opening balance for a bank, credit card, and other types of accounts: Enter opening balances for accounts in QuickBooks Desktop. 

From here, you can now start your reconciliation by comparing the list of transactions on your bank statement with what's in QuickBooks: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Let me know if you need more help reconciling your account. The Community is always here to answer them for you. Have a great rest of the day!