Payment received, deposited to bank account but not applied to invoice - how to correct afterwards?

Thanx for the answer. I have a follow-on question. We pay sales commission based on the cash receipts. In the above scenario let's assume an invoice is dated in January, the cash was ACTUALLY received in March, but not credited to the invoice until July. I am concerned that the system will (despite the books being long closed for March) record this as a cash sale in March. How do I get this 'fix' to show the cash sale in July; the month the issue was resolved?

Hi there, @TWH,

I’m glad to share how QuickBooks Online (QBO) reports the sales once you receive the invoice payments.

QBO reports the sales based on the accounting method of the company. If you’re set up for Accrual method, the sales are recorded at the time you enter the invoice regardless of whether it’s paid or not.

Cash method reports the sales at the time you receive payments. It doesn’t matter whether the payments have been deposited to the bank account or not.

In the scenario above, the cash sales will be reported in March if you select Cash method. You’ll see the sales posted in January when you select Accrual.

You can check Choose between cash and accrual accounting methods in reports for more information.

To show the cash sales in July, you’ll have to set the payment date to this specific month. Then, run the sales report in Cash accounting method.

I’ve added some examples in the screenshots below.

I also recommend consulting an accountant before making any changes to the invoices or payments. We need to ensure the books are still accurate since they were already closed last March.

Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything else you need. You can mention my name (@MichelleT) if you have additional questions, and I’ll be sure to get back to you.

I would love this answer for the desktop version, which does not have an 'Accounting' option in the left sidebar.

When I follow the steps outlined in your first 4 steps QB says I should "receive payment" first.  Im confused?

Hi Michelle, 

I tried following your instructions however, it gave me the RED are you sure you want to do this because you've already reconciled message.

I have this issue for all of 2018 so I need to figure out how to fix all the deposits so the Customer Account balances are accurate. I already show the Customer in the Received From column and I show Consulting Income in the Account column. I'm guessing that with the auto download transactions from a bank account that you still need to receive payments first before accepting the deposits, even though you select the customer in the Received From column. Anyways...I also don't know where the plus (+) icon is that you are referring to ~ it sounds like it might open a Receive Payment option? 

Is it even possible to correct these after the bank account has already been reconciled, without throwing off balances? If not, maybe I can do journal entries to fix it? My client's previous QB account had decades of information in it and it was throwing off tax returns so I went in and recreated the entire year for 2017 and was hoping to start clean but now I have this deposit issue. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!!

Is it waiting for your to approve the transactions? You should see them under Banking on the left side and then make sure you're looking at the For Review tab. 

Sorry but I think I just figured out what I was doing wrong and what you meant by the plus (+) (duh!) I didn't realize you still need to Receive Customer Payments and do the manual deposits and then match the deposits to the downloaded deposits. I assume that if I simply made sure the downloaded deposit had the right customer/invoice selected that it would all be done. Now I just have to figure out if I can fix all of these for 2018 without throwing off my reconciliation balances. Any ideas?

Thanks for your reply Gary. I'm getting the feeling this may be more trouble than it's worth. I may just set up an external spreadsheet to get his through for now to track balances with. However, my only issue then would be that the invoices (which were already entered) would show as being outstanding for tax purposes. Would it make sense to do credit memo's for those to zero out accounts receivable? 

Sorry, just realized I called you Gary because I read your name too fast! :)

It's great to hear from you again today, cornerstonemgmtg.

I'm by no means an accounting professional, but allow me to join this discussion and share some insight that can help get you on the right track to recording this.

I wouldn't recommend creating credit memos. While these could zero out Accounts Receivable (A/R), they would also increase your income which can cause a discrepancy on your books.  As was mentioned by my colleagues, MichelleT and GarlynGay, it would be better to link the deposits to your invoices.

The following steps will guide you through that process:

To find and edit the deposit

1. From the left navigation menu, select Accounting.
2. Find the account you deposited the payment to, then click View Register.
3. Locate and select the correct deposit.
4. Hit Edit.
5. On Bank Deposit screen, scroll down to Add funds to this deposit.
6. In the Account column, search and select Account's Receivable.

7. Click Save and close.

To apply the deposit (payment) to your invoice

1. From the left navigation menu, select Sales.
2. Go to the Customers tab.
3. Select the customer's name.
4. Find the invoice, then click Receive payment.
5. Make sure both the Invoice and Deposit are selected.
6. Click Save and close.

I'm also including an article for more information about this process: How to link a deposit to an invoice

This will let you apply the payments (deposits) to the correct invoice showing as outstanding. In addition, this will also ensure that the affected accounts (bank, income, and A/R) are balanced.

However, since you've mentioned that these transactions were already reconciled, you may wish to seek additional guidance from an accounting professional. Every business is unique and they can make suggestions on how to handle this. Our Intuit Find-A-ProAdvisor site can help you to find certified professionals in your area.

Don't hesitate to reach out to me here in the Community with any additional questions or concerns you may have. Thanks for dropping in, wishing you and your business only the best.

@MichelleT applying deposits to invoices in this manner creates a duplicate deposit in the bank ledger. 

I know how to correct the duplicate deposit, Sajid_Rahim.

This can happen when the deposit is added in the Banking page instead of matching it to the open invoice. You can undo the added deposit to remove the duplicate entry, and then match it to the invoice.

Here's how to undo and match the deposit:

1. Click Banking on the left panel.
2. Go to the Reviewed tab.
3. Find the deposit that was added.
4. Under the Action column, click the Undo link.
5. Go back to For Review.
6. Under the Action column, click the Match link. If you don't see this option, click the transaction and select the Find match radio button.
7. On the list of the suggested matches, find the open invoice and match the deposit there.
8. Click Save.

Keep in touch if there's anything else you need. I'll be around to help you further.

What if they have no idea what customer all these deposits belong to?  I have a client that created invoices and received payments against the invoices.  Then they dumped all the deposits from bank download in there too.  Now I cant match up anything and they have no info...

Glad to see you here, @res417,

The data downloaded in QuickBooks depends on what the paying bank sends us. While we're unable to identify which customer these funds came from, I'd recommend contacting your bank to get the card holder's name.

You can also contact our Payments Support for further assistance. Here's how to get them: Contact Payments Support.

Once you have the names, you can now start matching the records. Perform these steps.:

1. Go to the Banking menu.
2. In the For Review tab, locate and click the payment to match.
3. Click the Match radio button and hit Find other records.
   
4. In the Match transactions page, locate the invoice you'd like to match the payment.
5. Click Save.

I'm including these articles for additional reference:

Add and match downloaded banking transactions

How to account for Bank Fees when matching transactions in Bank Feed

If you have other questions or need further help with the steps, let me know in the comment. I'll be right here to help at any time. Have a good one!

How do you do this in Quickbooks desktop?  A payment was received from a client and it shows on their account but it is not applied to any Invoice I need to get this payment off the books how do I do that?

Hello there, missymarykay55,

The received payment should be applied on the invoice. If the period where the invoice is created not yet reconciled, delete the payment tagged to the invoice and apply the received one.

If it's already reconciled, you'll either have to delete the payment or apply the payment to future invoices.

Check these article for reference:

• Resolve common issues when applying a payment towards an invoice
• Correct customer payments that have been deposited or reconciled
• Record an invoice payment

I recommend reaching out to your accountant for additional advice on how to go about this. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to post here in the Community.

My deposited checks always contain more than one invoice for the vendor in question. How do I handle that? And could you give me specific buttons to push to make things rollto the next line item.

Hi @GNASH,

QuickBooks bank feeds has feature called "Find match" which you can use to locate your invoices to match with your deposit. Let me walk you through how.

1. Go to Banking, then Banking at the top.
2. Open the deposit and check the Find match radio button. It will open a Match transactions window were you can filter to Show all transactions, the Search field and From and To dates.
3. Mark the boxes that corresponds to the deposit.
4. Hit Save. See attached screenshots below.

If you're unable to find the transaction, you'll want to Add it instead to create a transaction in QuickBooks. Please see this article for more information about: Match and categorize bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.

You can also check this article in case you want unmatch or move bank transactions after reviewing them.

If you have other questions and concerns, please let me know. Thanks for reaching out to us today and more power to your business.

I'm not happy how QBO does this. We try to link our bank account, paychex account etc. We have many of the same transactions such as $200, $250, $350. QBO seems to only identify the amount, no check number, bank wire account etc. This is a significant hassle to unravel. Seems to negate the benefit of linking accounts. This is 2021 and should not require all this tedious waste of time. Also it is confusing that you sometimes have to receive the money (on an invoice) and also separate deposit the money. I'm a business owner and not an accountant but this doesn't seem to be productive for our business.

Is this still valid when the month has been reconciled?

Thanks for following this thread, @1374 1252 40. Yes, it is. The steps provided by my peer @MichelleT above are for a transaction that has already been reconciled. 

To learn more about reconciling your account accurately, just refer to Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online article.

I'd be happy to answer your next concerns. Feel free to post some more. Take care!