How can I enter recurring personal income like Social Security, Annuities and other income in QB desktop Pro/Premier

Hey there, @MaryL59.

Welcome to the Community. I'm happy to help you set up recurring income in QuickBooks Desktop, but first, there are a few questions I need you to clarify.

• Are you trying to create a bill for your income?
• What kind of income are you referring to?
• Are you using our Payroll features for this income?

By answering these questions, we can provide the tools and steps you need. 

In the meantime, you can set up a recurring bill by clicking Make Recurring at the bottom of one of your current bills. This will allow you to create a custom template that contains the vendor, account or item details, description, amount, etc. You may find this article about setting up recurring bills helpful as well.

I'll be on standby awaiting your response.

To do this, first create one transaction that is an example of what you want (or if you already have one, open it in it's transaction form, like a deposit or check.)

Then pick Memorize from the Edit menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-M

Then, choose the option to automatically enter, and pick your frequency, such as Monthly as well as other settings.

I am just trying QB during free trial period to see if I can use the product for my needs.  I want to enter income and pay bills for my personal finances putting income and expenses into accounts to use for tax return preparation.  Very simple, very basic but lots of transactions. I have entered my income and expense accounts (General Ledger Account names)   in QB for the accounts I need for Bank Accounts, Other Assets, taxable income, non taxable income. tax deductible expenses and expenses for multiple living locations.  I only need to enter amounts received and deposited for each bank and class of income ie interest, dividends, non taxable annuity, social security.  I would like to enter bills to pay for all credit cards, expenses, utilities and pay them all that day.  Not entering for future payment - no accounts payable.  Maybe QB is not for this kind of accounting.  I am not selling any products, I have no Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable.  Can I adapt QB for my purposes?

Hello, @MaryL59.

Let me chime in with entering and paying bills with personal finances. QuickBooks can be used to manage personal finances. It can be used for either business or personal finance management. You can use Pay Bills to settle you're payable for different vendors.

Let me show you how to Pay Bills:

1. Go to the Vendors menu, then select Pay Bills.
2. If you use more than 1 Accounts Payable account, choose the appropriate one from the A/P Account drop-down.
3. Click the bills you want to pay from the table.
4. Set any discount or credit that you want to apply to the bills.
5. Choose the payment date and method.
6. Pick Pay Selected Bills.
7. The Payment Summary window appears. Select Done if you're finished paying bills or select Pay More Bills to return to the Pay Bills window.

You may also enter an expense to fit your business needs.

Here’s how:

1. Click Vendors in the main menu at the top of the screen. Select Enter Bills from the pull-down list of options.
2. Find the Down Arrow button next to the Vendor and choose an existing vendor from the list. 
3. Enter the date of the expense and the vendor's address in the applicable fields. Type the expense amount in the Amount Due input box.
4. Type the reference number of the expense transaction and any business terms and conditions in the relevant fields, or skip this step if you don't need to record this information in your company accounts.
5. Pick the Expenses tab and pick an account from the pull-down list; for instance, select the Marketing expense account option to record a marketing expense transaction.
6. Go to Save and Close to record the expense and exit the window.

Here’s a link about Pay Bills in Desktop:

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/pay-bills/pay-bills-in-quickbooks-desktop/00/20137...

I’m here to lend you a helping hand. I hope you have a great day.

My mother is receiving Social Security Checks. How do I categorize the deposit? I have 2015 Quickbooks Desktop. 

Thank you for posting here in the Community, cezer2000. 

I'm here to guide you on how to categorize transactions in QuickBooks Desktop. Also, it would be best to consult an accountant for the appropriate accounts to use. This way, they can advise you on how to handle checks received from Social Security.

Here's how to record the deposit in QuickBooks: 

1. On the Homepage, select Record Deposits / Make Deposits.
2. In the Payments to Deposit window, select the payments you want to combine. Then select OK.
3. In the Make Deposits window, select the account you want to put the deposit into from the Deposit to dropdown.
4. Check the deposit total. Make sure the account and selected payments match the deposit slip from your bank. Use your deposit slip as a reference.
5. Enter the date you made the deposit at your bank.
6. Add a memo as needed.
7. When you're done, select Save & Close. 

For additional insight about this, you can check out these articles: Record and make bank deposits in QuickBooks Desktop.

That should get you going in the right direction. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me again if there's anything else I can help you with. Have a good one!

I've not seen this question answered yet. The questioner is asking for advise on what account to put the social security income into, rather than the mechanics of how do record the deposit. 

Can someone answer for me what kind of account to call it? I'm now receiving retirement income from social security and not sure what to call it.

It looks like the QB people are taking great pains to AVOID the actual question!

It’s not a bill it’s the first check of my Social Security payment that I want to get in QuickBooks Pro, desktop

How do I set up a Social Security monthly payment in QuickBooks Pro?

Welcome to the Community space, @Chris71157. Let me share the steps to help you record your Social Security Payment in QuickBooks Desktop Pro.

We can use the Make Deposit feature to post the SS payment under your income account. Since this is recurring, you can Memorize Transaction through the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M to set it up as monthly. I'm adding a screenshot for reference:

Please know that we're unable to recommend the specific account to use. In this case, I recommend consulting your account to ensure accurate posting.

If you need to edit or add recurring deposits, refer to this article: Record and make bank deposits in QuickBooks Desktop.

You can run the Deposit Detail report to view the deposits you've entered. Utilize this guide to personalize it: Customize reports in QuickBooks Desktop.

Keep me updated if you need further help with Social Security payments. It'll be my pleasure to assist you. Have a great day ahead!

It will be a costly program for you, as they've moved to subscription based only and subscriptions go up year after year with costly increases for each additional feature.  And as you can see from the results of your question, getting a quick answer to what seems like a simple question can be extremely frustrating! Good luck!