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Set up, use, and pay credit card accounts

by Intuit•5• Updated 5 months ago

Learn how to set up, use, and pay credit card accounts in QuickBooks Desktop.

A Credit Card gives you an option to borrow funds for purchases or for paying bills. You can set up your credit card account in QuickBooks Desktop to help you keep track of the charges and payments you made.

Note: If you're using QuickBooks Online, you can also record the payments you make to your credit card.

Positive balance - There are pending charges on your credit card.
Negative balance - The amount you paid is more than your balance due.
Zero balance - You did not make any charges or you already paid your balance due.
Credit card sub accounts - You can enter the charges and payments in the sub account and it will appear on the account register. The total amount of these charges and payments should be equal to the total balance for the parent account. You only need to reconcile the parent account.

Set up credit card accounts

From the Company menu, select Chart of Accounts.
Select Account or the plus + icon, then New.
Select Credit Card, then select Continue.
On the Add New Account window, enter the credit card name.
Note: If you are setting up a sub account, select the Sub account of checkbox, then select the parent account from the dropdown ▼.
Select Enter Opening Balance... then enter the account's balance and date.
Select Save & Close.

Enter credit card charges

Enter credit card charges to put the amount you owe in the credit card account (Other Current Liability).

From the Banking menu, select Enter Credit Card Charges.
Select the credit card account from the Credit Card ▼ dropdown.
Purchase/Charge is the default. If you want to record a credit or refund you received through the credit card, select the Refund/Credit instead.
Select the vendor from the Purchased From ▼ dropdown.
Select the date.
(Optional) Enter a memo explaining the charge or refund.
Select the Expenses or Items tab and enter the expenses/items you want to track.
Select Save & Close.

Pay credit card charges

Pay your credit card charges to reduce the amount you owe.

Pay credit card charges before reconciliation

Note: We recommend paying the credit card at the end of a reconcile, but you can also pay by writing a check. Your payments and charges show up in your credit card register and you can reconcile the account as normal.

From the Banking menu, select Write Checks.
Select the bank account you want to use for paying the credit card from the Bank account ▼ dropdown.
Select the date of your payment.
Select the name of your credit card company from the Pay to the order of ▼ dropdown.
Enter the amount of your payment.
Select the Expenses tab.
On the Account ▼ dropdown, select your credit card account.
Note: If you are making the payment for the sub accounts, enter a line for each sub account then type the amount you want to pay. The total amount should be equal to the total amount reflected for the parent account.
Select Save & Close.

Pay credit card charges after reconciliation

After you reconcile the credit card account, there are 2 options to pay a portion of the outstanding balance:

Write a Check to pay expenses that are to be paid immediately.
Enter a bill for vendor bills to be paid at a future date.

Enter credit card annual and finance charges

From the Company menu, select Chart of Accounts.
Select the credit card account.
Select the credit card company from the Payee ▼ dropdown.
In the Charge column, enter the amount.
Select the expense account you want to use for tracking annual, finance, and other bank service charges from the Account ▼ dropdown.
Select the Tax Code.
Select Record.

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