Apply credit memo to payment

Hey @jeffreyk28,

I’d be happy to help you get that credit memo applied to your customer’s invoices. When you’re in the Receive Payments window and have selected your customer:

1. Select the invoices you want to pay.
2. In the middle of the screen, below the invoices, look in the UNUSED CREDITS window.
3. choose Apply Credits.
4. That will open a window with the AVAILABLE CREDITS.
5. Select the credit you want to apply.
6. Done.

You’re all set! Let me know if you have any other questions about applying credits or anything else. I’m happy to help anytime.

There is no unused credits window.  I am attaching a screen shot.

This is for a customer that has several jobs.  The credit memo is for one job and the invoice payments are for other jobs. Qbooks seems to want to apply the credit to an existing invoice. I simply want to apply the credit memo to the payment.

Thanks for getting back to us here, @jeffreyk28.

I have an idea about why your unused credits aren't available when making a payment. Let's run the verify and rebuild tool to check if it has something to do with your data. This tool self-identifies the most commonly known data issues within a company file and self-resolves most data integrity issues.

Let me show you how:

1. Go to the File menu at the top, then select Utilities.
2. Choose Verify Data. "QuickBooks detected no problems with your data," no further action is needed.
3. "Your data has lost integrity," indicates there is data damage in the file.  Continue to the steps below to Rebuild Data to correct the problem.

To rebuild:

1. Go to the File menu at the top, then select Utilities.
2. Choose Rebuild Data.

After running the tool, restart your computer and try receiving the payment again. For details about the tools, check out this guide: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop.

In case you need help with other customer tasks, click this link to go to our general customer's topic with articles.

Let me know in the reply section below if you still have questions or concerns. I'll be around to answer them for you. Take care and have a great day ahead.

I ran verify data and the Qbooks file was OK.

Qbooks wants to apply the credit memo to an open invoice. The credit was issued for the customer to deduct from other invoices on a check. It simply will not show the credit so I can apply it. The credit was issued to a job for the customer. When I receive the payment against the customer it does not see the credit against the job.

Hey there, jeffreyk28. 

Thanks for posting here in the Community, I'm happy to assist you today. The credit automatically wants to be applied to an invoice, that's why you're seeing it want to be applied to the open invoice rather than against the job. However, if you try and applying it with these alternative steps, you'll be able to successfully record the credit. Follow along below:

1. On the dashboard, click on the Receive Payments icon.
2. In the Customer Payment window, choose the customer on the Receive From box.
3. Tick the box on the specific invoice, then click the Discount & Credits button.
4. Check the credit that you are going to apply and click Done.
5. Hit Save and Close.

I'm also including a few helpful articles down below for you to check out.

• Give your customer a credit or refund in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows. 
• Record a vendor refund in QBDT. 

If there's anything else I can help with, feel free to post here anytime. Thank you and have a nice Thursday. 

Thanks for looking into this.

It appears that Qbooks will only allow me to apply a credit to an invoice for the same job.  The issue is that I do not have an open invoice for the same job. I have open invoices for other jobs on the same customer. Therefore, when I click discounts and credits the credit does not appear (because it is under a diff job for the same customer).  I tried creating a zero invoice for that job but qbooks does not recognize it as an open invoice (it sees it as paid since it is zero).  I can create a .01 invoice for the same job and that will allow me to apply it but that leaves me .01 out of balance. There has to be a way to get this done.

Thanks for getting back to us, @jeffreyk28.

Yes, you're right QuickBooks only allows the same job in applying for credits and doesn't apply for a different job.

To make sure that it was applied correctly, you can delete and recreate the credit memo and manually apply it to your invoice. Let me walk you through the steps on how to do it:

To delete the credit memo

1. From the Customers menu, pick Customer Center.
2. Select the customer's name.
3. Double-click the Credit Memo transaction.
4. Click the Delete icon, then OK.

To recreate the credit memo

1. From the Customers menu, pick Create Credit Memos/Refunds.
2. Select the correct customer from the Customer:Job drop-down menu.
3. Enter all the necessary details.
4. Click Save & Close.
5. Once the Available Credit window shows up, choose Retain as an available credit.
6. Click OK.

Also, you can uncheck the Automatically apply payments so the credit will not apply to other open invoices. Here's how:

1. Click Edit at the top and select Preferences. 
2. Go to Payments from the left menu. 
3. Select Company Preferences. 
4. Make sure that the Automatically apply payments is not selected.

For more details, just click this article: Give your customer a credit or refund in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.

On the other hand, you can also check this link for your future reference about QuickBooks Desktop and how to resolve issues when applying a payment: 

• Help articles for QuickBooks Desktop
• Resolve common issues when applying a payment towards an invoice

Reach back out to me if there's anything else you need concerning QuickBooks. I'm always here to lend a helping hand. 

I have tried all of this. I still cannot apply the credit as there is no open invoice for this job.  This is a common occurrence so you would think Qbooks could handle this.  Looks like my only option is to  not create credit memos, receive the payment at an increased value (without the credit), and then just make an entry in the check register for the credit memo value. The credit will not be applied against the job but I do not see any other option.

Your option is a great idea, jeffreyk28.

Let me provide another workaround so you can apply the credit memo to the correct job

You can enter the total invoice amount in the Payment Amount field on the Customer Payment page instead of $10,000. Then, record the overpayment as a credit memo and make sure to select the correct job.

The next time you record a payment, you can then apply the credit memo to the appropriate job. 

However, since you've already recorded the payment, your next step is to transfer the credit to the desired job. Check out this link for instructions and detailed steps: Move credit memos.

Let me know if you need anything else aside from applying credit memos. Just tag my name, and I'm always right here to help you.

I have some open credits that I used to pay a vendor. I do not want to attach them to an invoice, i just want them part of the payment.

How can I do that?

Terri Dassing

Hi there, @TDassing!

Before we can accomplish your goal for today, can you tell me more about the credit as payment? Are you talking about the open vendor credits and that you don't want them to be attached with a vendor invoice or bill?
 

Keep me updated in the comments. Hope to hear from you soon. Take care and stay safe!

I paid the invoices thru my vendors portal, there were 2 open credits i selected. When i go to pay bills, i am not able to just select those 2 credits without attaching them to an invoice. So therefore my vendor and I do not balance because of this.

Thank you for responding, TDassing.

Let me guide you on how to apply a credit when paying your bills in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

Currently, we don't have an option to apply credits to a bill through Bill Pay. If you're using Bill Pay, I recommend reaching out to the Bill Pay Support Team. This way, they can explain and show you a some workaround in applying credits when using Bill Pay.

Otherwise, here's how you to apply a credit to a bill in QBDT:

1. Go to the Vendors menu.
2. Select on Pay Bills.
3. Choose the bill that you wish to be paid.
4. Click on Set Credits button at the bottom to apply credits.
5. Select the credits you want to apply to the bill and click Done.
6. Hit Pay Selected Bills.

You can check out this article for more information in handling your bills: Pay bills in QuickBooks Desktop.

I've included this link just in case you accidentally apply credit to the wrong bill: Remove or unapply a credit from an invoice or bill.

Feel free to hit the Reply button below for other questions about vendor credits. I'll be happy to help. Have a great day!

Hello dear, how can this be done in quickbooks online please! @MaryLandT 

I appreciate you for joining the thread, @elba-blackstonem. I can share with you the steps on how to transfer customer credit from one job to another in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

In QBO, you can transfer credit from one customer to another by creating a journal entry. 

Here's how:

1. Go to the +New icon, then click on Journal Entry.
2. Enter the date.
3. On the first line, select Accounts Receivable from the Account drop-down list.
4. In the  Debit field, enter the amount being transferred.
5. In the  Memo field, note the reason for the journal entry.
6. From the Name drop-down list, select the customer/job name that credit is being transferred from.
7. On the second line, select Accounts Receivable from the Account drop-down list. Then, enter the Credit amount.
8. From the Name drop-down list, select the name of the customer/job that the credit is being transferred to.
9. Tap Save.

When you're ready to apply for the credit:

1. Select Receive Payment from the +New icon.
2. Select the customer/job that the credit was transferred to.
3. Make sure that the credit and journal entry is selected.
4. Follow the same steps for the customer the credit was transferred from.

Before performing the steps above, I recommend seeking assistance from your accountant to track the journal entry accordingly. He or she can also give you other options on how to record the transactions in your account.

You may review this link to learn more about how and when to give a credit memo or delayed credit to your customers: Create and apply credit memos or delayed credits in QuickBooks Online.

I'm also adding this link for more resources while handling your other sales or customer transactions in the future: Topics about your company's income and customers.

If you have any other questions about applying a credit memo to a payment, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm always here to help. Have a good one!

I created a Credit Memo as deposit to my new customer. I charged his credit card and now I don't know how to apply payment to his Credit Memo. Should I create an Invoice to replace the Credit Memo?

Hi AegisSCG,

A credit memo is like a negative invoice that lowers a customer's balance. It's also entered if a customer returns an item due to sale cancellation or it's defective. 

On the other hand, when a customer pays in advance or gives you funds to be used on future invoices, the money is entered as an upfront deposit or retainer instead of a credit memo.

Therefore, I would recommend consulting an accounting professional to ask for guidance on how to handle your credit memo because we're unable to use it as a substitute for the credit card payment made by your customer. I can, however, be applied as a payment to future invoices. 

I'm adding this article about creating a credit memo and applying it as a payment to future invoices: Give your customer credit or refund in QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.

Let me know if you have other concerns. I'm just around to help.