Record invoice payments

by Intuit •

1110 •

Updated 8/3/2026 04:03

Recording your customers' invoice payments to keep your records accurate and up to date. This lets you track outstanding customer balances and manage your incoming cash flow effectively. Whether your clients pay via bank link, cash, or check, you can document every transaction.

Note: This feature is limited for QuickBooks Online Free and QuickBooks Online Lite. Upgrade your plan to get more features. Go to Settings , then Subscriptions and billing. Then select Upgrade your plan.

Note: If you use QuickBooks Payments to process payments, we automate these steps. When your customer pays the invoice, QuickBooks processes the payment and categorizes it.

With QuickBooks Payments, you can see when customers view and pay invoices, and get an up-to-date picture of your cash flow to make smarter financial decisions. Learn more about QuickBooks Payments.

Video transcript

[0:00] Once your customer pays your invoice, you need to record it in QuickBooks. Let's go over two ways you can receive payment and how to properly use the undeposited funds account to keep your books accurate. The first way you can receive your payment is to select Customer Hub from my apps. Then select Customers. This shows your customers list.

[0:22] Just find your customer and you will see the money they owe you here. To receive a payment, you can select Receive payment right here. However, another way to receive payment is to select Create, and then select Receive payment. Then enter the customer's name. QuickBooks displays any open invoices for that customer. Select the checkmark box for the invoices the customer is paying.

[0:49] QuickBooks assumes that the customer is paying the entirety of the invoice, but if this is a partial payment, you can change the payment amount. Next, record how the customer paid you. If you don't see their payment method listed, just select Add new, and add it. This customer is paying with a check.

[1:08] You don't always need to record a reference number, but since this customer is paying with a check, let's record their check number. Let's select Undeposited funds so we can combine it with other payments later. The Undeposited funds account is a temporary account that holds payments you plan to deposit later at the bank.

[1:26] An undeposited funds account is important, because it allows you to easily combine several payments together into a single deposit. If you don't combine deposits, then you can skip this and just select your bank account. Then select Record and close. Now, this customer has a $0 balance since they paid their invoice. If you recorded the money going directly into a bank account, you're done.

[1:50] But if you used undeposited funds, you'll need to record the deposit after you put it in the bank. To see this process, watch our video on how to record a bank deposit. Now try recording an invoice payment of your own.

What you’ll need

An existing QuickBooks subscription.
An open invoice with an outstanding balance.

Record invoice payments in QuickBooks Solopreneur

For payments that customers link from a bank:

Go to Get paid, then select Invoices (Take me there).
Find and select the invoice you want to record a payment for.
In the ACTION column, select Record payment.
Open the Deposited to ▼ dropdown and select the appropriate bank account.
Select the checkbox for the specific transaction you want to link.
Note: If the transaction is missing, the bank may still be processing it or it falls outside the current date range.
- Use the Date filter to expand your search.
Select Next.
Enter the payment amount in the Amount to apply field.
Select Save.

Record cash payments in Solopreneur

Follow these steps for cash payments from your customers:

Go to Get paid, then select Invoices (Take me there).
Select the relevant invoice.
In the ACTION column, select Record payment.
Select Cash from the Deposited to ▼ dropdown.
Enter the payment amount in the Amount field.
Select the Payment date. You cannot select a future date or a date before the original invoice was created.
Select Save.

Record invoice payments in QuickBooks Online

Select + Create.
Select Receive payment.
Choose a client from the Customer ▼ dropdown.
- Select + Add new if you need to create a new customer profile.
Choose a method from the Payment method ▼ dropdown.
- Select + Add new to add a new method to your list.
Select the destination account from the Deposit To ▼ dropdown.
- Note: This dropdown does not appear if you process payments through a merchant account.
Enter the total amount in the Amount received field.
In the Outstanding Transactions section, locate the DESCRIPTION column.
Select the checkbox for each invoice you are recording a payment for.
- If you select one invoice, the amount received updates the PAYMENT column and Amount to Apply.
- If you select multiple invoices, the open balance for each appears in the PAYMENT column.
Adjust the amounts in the PAYMENT column if they exceed your Amount received.
- The Amount to Pay field displays the total from the PAYMENT column.
- Any surplus between the amount to apply and amount received shows as an amount to credit.
Select Record and close.

Record several invoice payments in a single deposit

You can use the Undeposited Funds account to record several payments in QuickBooks. This allows you to combine those payments into one deposit transaction.

Note: Do this only if your bank combines several payments into one deposit.

Results

Once you save the transaction, the invoice status updates, and the customer's outstanding balance decreases accordingly.

Next steps

After recording your payments, you can apply credits to customers to manage any remaining overpayments.