Pay for business expenses with personal funds

Learn how to record business expenses you made with personal funds in QuickBooks Online.

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Although we recommend not to mix business and personal funds, we know it happens sometimes. When you reimburse a personal expense, you can record it as a check or an expense. Here's how.

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Record the business expense you paid for with personal funds

For the purchase, you have two options.

Option 1: Record the payment as an expense

1. Select + Create.
2. Select Expense.
3. You can either upload the receipt or enter the expense manually.
   Note: If you have several expenses you want to record in one go, you can upload a bank statement.
4. If you uploaded a bank statement,
   1. Activate Show breakdown 
   2. Delete any lines you don’t want to record as expenses.
5. Select the appropriate Category for the expense(s).
6. On the next line, you can select Owner investments.
   Note: You may also have Shareholder’s equity/investments or Partner investments. Consult your accountant if you’re not sure which account to use.
7. Enter the same purchase amount in the Amount column. Make sure the total is $0.00.
8. Select Save and close.

Option 2: Record the payment as a journal entry

1. Select + Create.
2. Select Journal Entry.
3. On the first line, select the expense account for the purchase.
4. Enter the purchase amount in the Debits column.
5. On the second line, you can select Owner investments.
   Note: You may also have Shareholder’s equity/investments or Partner investments. Consult your accountant if you’re not sure which account to use.
6. Enter the same purchase amount in the Credits column.
7. Select Save and close.

Record the reimbursement (if applicable)

Note: You can also wait for the reimbursement transaction to show up in your bank feeds. Then, categorize it in the same Owner investment (or similar) account you chose when you recorded the purchase. 

For the reimbursement, you have two options.

Option 1: Record the reimbursement as a check

1. Select + Create.
2. Select Check. 
3. Select a bank account to use to reimburse the personal funds.
4. In the Category column, select the same Owner investment (or similar) account as when you recorded the purchase.
5. Enter the amount to reimburse.
6. Select Save and close or Save and new.

Option 2: Record the reimbursement as an expense

1. Select + Create.
2. Select Expense.
3. Select a bank account to use to reimburse the personal funds.
4. In the Category column, select the same Owner investment (or similar) account as when you recorded the purchase.
5. Enter the amount of the reimbursement.
6. Select Save and close.