How to apply credit card payments to a vendor's existing balance? Quickbooks desktop

I'll work with you, @Rachel_I.

A credit card as a mode of payment is entered as one of your accounts, not a vendor. This way, it'll show up the accuracy of your report when used to pay expenses.

These are the article to use and learn more about paying vendor invoices using your credit card:

• Set up, Use, and Pay Credit Card Accounts in QuickBooks Desktop
• Pay Vendor Invoices in QuickBooks Desktop using Credit Card Accounts

I suggest contacting your accountant for guidance in tracking credit card and vendor payments along with working on your reports. Use the link to find someone you want to work with: The QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor.

I'm adding these articles with the topics you can use while recording the common vendor transactions: The Vendor Transaction Workflows in QuickBooks Desktop.

It'll always be my pleasure to help if you've got additional questions about vendor balances. Use the Reply option below and surely I'll be here ready to assist you. Take care and stay safe!

This was very helpful. One last issue after I've now created an actual credit card account for my credit card. I now have a balance still owed in the vendor credit card account which shouldn't exist anymore now that it has been reflected in the credit card account. Is there a way to essentially void that balance without it affecting our P&L's so that there's not a double balance showing in our credit card owed and in accounts payable? Thank you!

I have steps to write off your vendor balances in QuickBooks, @rachel. And I'm happy to outline the detailed steps.

I'll make sure your vendor balance will offset in your QuickBooks Desktop. 

Please consult your accountant before attempting the option listed below. This way, we can ensure that your credit card information is accurate at any time. Also, this option will impact your Profit and Loss as we're trying to create a journal entry to write off the vendor's balance.

Here's how: 

1. Go to the Company menu and select Make General Journal Entries.
2. Choose Accounts Payable in the Account drop-down. 
3. Enter the amount either in the Credit or Debit depending on the scenario of the vendor balance. 
4. Pick an Offset account in the second line. If you don't have it, click Add or New to create. 
5. Click Save & Close. 

After that, apply the journal entry you create to the existing debit/credit. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. In the Vendors menu, choose Pay Bills.
2. Select the bill and click Set Credits.
3. Under the Credits tab, check the available credit and hit Done.
4. Click Save & Close. 

In addition, if the balance is small amounts only, you can use the discounts feature to write off the balance. For the complete steps, check out this article: Write off customer and vendor balances. 

Furthermore, don't forget to reconcile your account to make sure they match your credit card statements. 

Lastly, check out these articles below on how to handle vendor transactions, inventory, credit card charges, and other related matters: 

• Set up, use, and pay credit card accounts
• Expenses and vendors in QuickBooks

I always check my notification to ensure all responses are well taken care of. So feel free to ask any questions you may have about your account. I'm happy to answer them all. Take care, Rachel. 

I cannot make it through the first step because I get an error saying, "Transactions to accounts payable must include a vendor". For the offset account, I type in the name of our credit card account but it won't show our vendor, only the credit card account as a credit card account. Thanks.

I've got some tips to share with you to ensure you apply credit card payments with ease, @Rachel_I.

Every time you use an Accounts Payable account for bank deposits or journal entries you'll need to make sure to associate it with a vendor. Based on the error message that you got, the Name drop-down has not been filled. 

Let me show you how to get rid of that error:

1. From the Bank Deposit/Journal Entry page, fill out all necessary data.
2. From the Name drop-down, select the Vendor's name.
3. Once done, click on Save & Close.

In case the vendor's not added yet, click on the <Add new>. Then follow these to continue:

1. Select the Vendor radio button then click on OK.
2. Fill out all necessary information.
3. Once done, click on OK.

That should do it! If you need further information about handling vendor balances, check this out: Write off customer and vendor balances.

I'm also adding these guides you can read on how to manage vendor transactions:

• Set up, use, and pay credit card accounts
• Expenses and vendors in QuickBooks

We're always here if you need extra help with this one or with QuickBooks in general. Just leave your reply to this thread. Take the best care!

RE: What is the correct way to first apply the charge on our credit card bill in QB and then make sure the vendor's balance is paid down at the same time so that it reflects the correct balance we owe?

Use Pay Bills to pay vendor bills with a credit card, just like you would to pay them out of your bank account. 

As you pay the bills, pick Credit Card as the payment method, and then pick your credit card account:

This will create a special type of Credit Card Charge that looks sort of like the special Bill Payment Check created when you pay bills with your bank account:

At the end of the year, shouldn't the Offset Account being used for this type of transaction, equal zero? Assuming it should, I guess there should be another Journal transact to "reset" the Offset Account to zero?

My situation is following:

We enter Vendor Bills and pay them with Credit Cards. however, past 2 years we had employee who would pay the Vendor Bill online, but fail to enter the Vendor Bill and Payment information. So when credit card transactions were downloaded, these payments were applied to the Vendor Account as Expenses. I could just delete the Bills that were entered all together, except that I need those Vendor Bill line items to show b/c they are applied to Customer Jobs and I need these for running Job Profitability Reports.

So we have been creating Journal entries where we Debit Accts Payable, select the Vendor on right, then Credit our "XFer Offset Account" for same amount.

I just thought we would need to show this account as a zero balance or close to at end of year. How/What...?

Thanks for checking in with us and providing us with in-depth details of your concern, AGTrashman.

Since the Vendor Bill and Payment information is not recorded in QuickBooks Desktop, we'll need to manually enter them in QuickBooks Desktop. To clear the balances, we can use the Pay Bills feature to apply them to each other. One of them will appear as a Bill to pay and the other will be available as a credit and can be applied to the bill.

Then, make sure we select the item that appears in the pay bills table and click the Set Credits button to apply the funds from the other Journal to it. Also, make sure to select the credit card as the payment method. Here's how to pay bills:

1. Go to the Vendors menu, then select Pay Bills.
2. Choose the correct accounts payable account from the dropdown.
3. Select the checkboxes of the bills you want to pay from the table. To unmark or mark all the bills in the list, select Clear Selections or Select All Bills.
4. Set any discount or credit that you want to apply to the bills.
5. Enter the date you paid the bill.
6. Select the payment method: Credit Card - You can use credit cards to pay bills, and then print a payment stub.
7. Click Pay Selected Bills.
8. Press Done, or select Pay More Bills if you have other bills you need to pay.

If you have small balances that are the result of an error, an overpayment, or an underpayment, check out this article: Write off customer and vendor balances. Furthermore, we can start reconciling your account to make sure they match your credit card statements. 

Lastly, check out these articles below on how to handle vendor transactions, inventory, credit card charges, and other related matters: 

• Set up, Use, and Pay Credit Card Accounts in QuickBooks Desktop
• Pay Vendor Invoices in QuickBooks Desktop using Credit Card Accounts

Should you need further assistance with this? Or do you have any additional QuickBooks-related concerns? Feel free to get back to me anytime. It'll be my pleasure to help you again. Take care.