I have several credit memos that I need to refund - how is this handled most efficiently?

Thanks so much!

Why they needed to hide it - should be able to do these things directly on the account you are working with.

You’re most welcome, Katb.

I’m glad that my peer was able to resolve your concern about handling refund. Please know that you can always reach out to us whenever you need help.

Please let us know if you have any other queries in regards to your credit memos or handling refund. We'll be more than happy to help. Have an awesome rest of the day!

How do I do this in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise?  I'm having the same issue, but can't figure it out.

Hello there, @K8e.

I can share some steps to help you issue a refund check to keep your record accurate.

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can create a refund check directly from the credit memo to clear them from your books.

In your case, you can proceed to these steps since you have an existing credit memo:

1. Proceed to the Customer center.
2. Select the Transactions tab, then Credit Memos.
3. On the Filter By dropdown, choose Open Credit Memos.
4. Click on the entry, then right-click.
5. Select Edit Transaction.
6. On the transaction page, pick Use credit to give a refund.
7. Once the pre-filled check pop-ups, click OK.

After that, here's how you can automatically apply the credit memo to the invoice:

1. Go to the Customers menu and then select Receive Payments.
2. Select the customer from the Received from dropdown.
3. Select the Discounts and credits icon.
4. Choose the check you created in the Available Credits section, then Done.
5. A prompt to Confirm the transfer will appear. Selecting Yes will apply the amount automatically to the invoice.
6. Click on Save & Close.

For more information about the process invoice, visit this article: Give your customer a credit or refund in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.

On the other hand, you might want to review this material for guidance when you need to remove a credit from an invoice or bill: Remove or unapply a credit from an invoice or bill.

Keep us posted if you have additional questions when creating credit memos/refund checks or other related concerns with QuickBooks Desktop. We can always lend a hand.

When I did this, both the credit memo and the check turned up in my unapplied cash payment account. How can I avoid this?

Hello there, @swband. Let me share some insights regarding this concern. 

Basically, an unapplied cash payment account is used to report cash-based income from customer payments that are received but not applied to any sales form. In other words, the money was taken in but never was declared as income on a sales form.

Usually, the date of the payment comes before the data. For instance, you may have received a payment today, but the  date is next week. During this period, the payment will be marked as "unapplied" until the credit memo and check details are recorded in the book.

If you come across an issue in QuickBooks Online where the Unapplied Cash Payment Income appears, you can resolve it by adjusting the dates on your credit memo and checks. Ensure that the credit memo date is always earlier than the check date and apply it to a credit memo with an earlier date.

In addition, it's possible that the item listed on the credit memo for a product or service is mapped to a bank account type, which causes the amount to go to Unapplied Cash Payment Income, and the actual payment will not be received. Moving forward, you need to ensure that the product or service is mapped to the correct account type to prevent this from happening. 

For reference, you can check this article: What's Unapplied Cash Payment?

Also, you can visit this article if you run a Profit and Loss report using the cash method: Unapplied cash payment income on your profit and loss.

We're all ears if you have further questions regarding your concerns about Unapplied cash payment accounts. The Community space is always here to assist you anytime.

Thanks! I regret I didn't provide more information as I had already reviewed the linked articles. I've also written checks for credit memos in the past without this issue so I'm trying to find the misstep. So here are more details for clarity, I issued a credit memo to a customer and then wrote a check as instructed in this feed. I then received payment using the credit memo and check (created on the same date), made sure the balance was zero and then saved. Payment date was the same as the date of the credit memo and check. When the check showed in my bank feed (after the payment was created), I matched it to the check created in quickbooks. I still show the check created in quickbooks and the credit memo are in my unapplied cash payment income account. I also confirmed that the product in the credit memo is not mapped to a bank account. Thanks for taking another look.

Hi there, @swband. We'll provide further details to help you refund a credit memo inside QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Reading through the responses, it looks like you've followed the instructions provided by the first representative in the thread. In the screenshot, it shows that the amount of the payment when the received payment was zero. Please know that the amount should match the amount you have in your invoices for it to go through. You'll want to locate the transaction and review everything inside it.

If the issue persists, we recommend contacting our Customer Care Team so they can check on your account and conduct further investigation to determine the root cause of the problem. We'll write down the steps to get you going:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online company.
2. Select Help (?).
3. Select either tab to get started:

• Assistant: Get quick, personalized answers. Select a suggested option, or type a question or topic you need help with. If you decide you need further help, you can still Talk to a human.
• Search: Search the QuickBooks Online knowledge base directly, or select Contact Us and choose a way to connect with us:
  • Start a chat with a support expert.
  • Get a callback from the next available expert.

See this page for more details: QuickBooks Online Support.

In addition, here's an article to help you keep track of your transactions inside the program: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to visit the Community space if you need further assistance managing refunds inside QuickBooks. We'll make sure to be around to help you out again. Keep safe.

When I do this it clears out the customer balance however it leaves the AR check in the deposit payments section. 
if I deposit it - it shows as a deposit in check register. 

Hello there,

I am here to provide insights about handling your credit memos for refund in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Since you already created a check and a credit memo, you'll need to link them in the Received Payment so it will not show as Deposit on your Banking page.

Here's how:

1. Go to +New, then click Receive Payment.
2. Choose the customer you want to link the check and the credit memo.
3. The check and the credit memo you created will show there and you'll need to tick the boxes.
4. Once done, click Save and close.

Moreover, I'm adding this article as your reference in printing your checks in QuickBooks Online: Print a check in QuickBooks Online.

Return to this post if you have other concerns about applying credit memos for a refund in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

It’s desktop that I’m using.  I am following these instructions and it is still putting the check into the payments to be deposited section. HELP 

Hi there, pamp. Thanks for clarifying your questions.

It seems like you've followed the first community expert on this thread. Since your check is still showing in the payment to be deposited section, it's best to contact our support team. This way, they can take a better look at what has caused this issue. To contact them, you can follow these steps.

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. Go to the Help panel.
3. From there, you can search the QuickBooks Online knowledge base directly or select the Contact Us option
   • Connect with a support expert through chat
   • Get a callback from the next available expert.

You can also check this article if you want to know more about the process of cancelling a customer's payment: Void or refund customer payments in QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to get back to this thread if you need further help with this concern. I'll always make sure to answer those.

@pamphipps70 

Just to confirm, you're trying to refund a customer credit, correct?  In Desktop, just go to the credit memo and make a change to it (make a note in the memo field or change the date by a day) and click 'Save & Close'.  QB will ask you if you want to issue a refund.  Select that and then enter the check details.  Desktop makes refunding a credit memo easy.    

Also, there shouldn't be any check to deposit if you created a credit memo, then issued a check to A/R for the same amount, and then applied the check to the credit memo using Customers > Receive Payments.  Did you click 'Apply Credits' and apply the credit from the credit memo to the "Invoice" created by the refund check?  If the credit memo and the check are the same amount, they will offset and there should no deposit created.