Here are the screenshots of the check and the receive payment screen where it does not show up under outstanding transactions.  Thank you so much!

I appreciate your effort in adding the screenshot, @margiebelle.

Let me shed some light regarding this issue.

The reason why the check isn't showing in the outstanding transaction is that the Accounts Receivable is associated with a different CUSTOMER/PROJECT which is the 2023 Education Productions-. To ensure that you'll have the data you need, you'll want to base the customer/project linked to the check, and not the payee. See Screenshot below:

That's all there is to. Additionally, here are some articles you can read for ideas about how you can work with your sales in QuickBooks: Sales and Customers for QuickBooks Online.

If you have any other questions or concerns, or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out here. Thanks again and have a lovely day.

I removed the customer/project and that fixed it.  Thank you so much!

I have followed the instructions here to process the refund, but now the refund transactions are showing up under "unapplied cash payment income" on my P&L statement.  Both transactions are showing up - the payment and the expense - so it zeroes out, but why would they show up on unapplied when I did apply the refund to the overpayment?  When I go into the customer account, everything shows as paid and closed, so I'm not sure what QB thinks is unapplied.

Hi there, JPWelter.

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community and I appreciate you for performing the instructions above to process customer refunds in QuickBooks Online. Let's conduct another step to ensure you can verify why the refund appears as unapplied on your end. This way, you're able to make sure that your customer's data stays accurate.

As per the statement you've shared, it appears you have successfully completed the steps for refunding the customer's overpayment. In this situation, you should be able to view accurate data in your Profit and Loss statement.

I recommend running the P&L report and clicking the refund or amount shown on the unapplied cash payment revenue to verify where it's coming from, then you can see the details about why the refund appears under unapplied cash payment income on the report. From there, may I ask for screenshots on your end so I can provide extra accurate troubleshooting steps to be performed to fix your issue?

Furthermore, you can open this article to view different methods on how you can handle a refund based on various scenarios: Record a customer refund in QuickBooks Online.

Lastly, you may refer to this article to see details on how the Sales page gives you a great at-a-glance view of the status of your sales transactions, like open and paid invoices: View sales transactions.

I’ll be around to help if you need further assistance with managing your customer's refund in QBO. Just add them to your reply below, JPWelter. Keep safe always!

Thanks, Christine. As I mentioned, I followed the steps recommended by QBO, creating an expense for the refund, using "Accounts receivable" as the account, then processing a payment to connect the overpayment to the refund amount.

I am attaching some screenshots to show you the problem with the unapplied cash.

 As you can see, unapplied cash is showing up on the P&L.

This is the detail when I click on the unapplied cash account.  There is a positive and a negative, so it balances to zero.  But my understanding is that it shouldn't show up at all...

This is from the customer's account - you can see that the invoice shows paid and closed, and nothing shows as unapplied.

Also from the customer account - no open balance.

Please let me know if there are additional steps I need to take to get this out of unapplied cash. 

I'll provide additional details to clear things out about your concern with the unapplied case payment income in your Profit and Loss report, @JPWelter. 

You're doing great on following the steps provided by QuickBooks Online. You don't need to worry about the unapplied cash on the report, as no action is needed. Thus, the report you've pulled up serves as a running balance. 

This means when you record the expense, the amount shows as negative, but this does not need to worry because this was already offset, and balances were zeroed out. That's why, when you go to the customer's account, the invoice shows as paid and closed, and nothing shows as unapplied. 

You'll want to review these great resources to help you modify your reports based on the information you need, as well as how to save its current customization settings:

• Customize reports in QuickBooks Online
• Memorize reports in QuickBooks Online

Keep me posted if you still have questions or QBO-related concerns. I'll be around for you. Have a great day.