Void checks in closed period

"(checks have been lost)."

But you issued them, so delete is not proper. Void also changes your financial reports, and you did incur those costs. This is a Banking issue, not backing out Expense.

If you intend to reissue them, the make a deposit with the current date for the total, posting to an Other Liability account. Make replacement checks in the current date and pay out that liability.

The deposit for the total, and the uncashed checks, all clear against each other the next reconciliation to net of 0. The new checks will then clear, and this is not new expense.

Can you give some more detail please?

I have a vendor that never cashed a check from 2017.  I owe that vendor $126 because the check has never cleared.  I don't understand how this will help clear the check that was never cashed.  Are you clearing the old check against the deposit?  And then the deposit expense is washing out the new check's expense?

What if you don't intend to reissue them?

I'm in a scenario where checks have been lost; however, the original vendor wrote them off in their year-end financials and does not want a reissued check (essentially, forgiving the debt).  So, I need to "clear" or "cancel" the original checks and their corresponding expenses in my current accounting period without affecting the previous accounting period (in which the original transactions took place).

How does that get done?

Forgiven debt means you never incurred that expense. You make deposit to offset the checks, either as the same expense you thought you paid for; or as income. Example:

It is in this fiscal year, you thought you paid for Supplies, they don't want the check replaced, so you make a deposit entry and this split line is "from" Supplies expense.

The next line, this is the offset for something you posted in the Prior fiscal year as expense, so that is Income in this current fiscal year.

= total offset for all uncashed checks.

Thanks so much for the guidance.  I have a follow up question.  How do you address the outstanding checks continuing to appear on the bank reconciliation into the future??

Greetings, ghedding.

I’m happy to see you joining in on this thread. Helping out in keeping your financial records in order is what I aim for.

If you don’t want to reissue the check, the answer provided by @qbteachmt will help correct your records. If the check is from the previous month and hasn’t’ cleared yet, the transaction will still show on the list of outstanding checks.

You’ll have to clear the transaction to ensure the reconciliation process shows a correct opening balance. To resolve this, create a clearing account.

Here’s how:

1. Go to Lists at the top menu bar, then select Chart of Accounts.
2. Right click anywhere in the Chart of Accounts, then choose New.
3. In the Add New Account window, select the Bank radio button.
4. Choose Continue.
5. In the Account Name field, enter Clearing Account, Barter Account or Wash Account.
   Note: Do not enter an opening balance.
6. Click Save & Close.

For more information about setting up a clearing account, check out this article: Clearing account.

Now, let's input the check. I'll walk you through the steps:

1. Go to Banking at the top menu bar, then select  Write Checks.
2. Enter the information for the check including the payee, check number, date and check total.
3. Click Expenses and select your Clearing Account from the list of options.
4. Choose Save & Close.

Once done, you can start reconciling the account. You'll find the detailed instructions in this article: Reconcile in QuickBooks Desktop.

Reach out to me directly if you have additional questions about the process. I'll be around to assist you further.  Have a great rest of your day.

If you have an Uncashed Check to Replace, the "offset deposit" is to a Liability account, so that you can pay out that liability on a new (replacement) check.

If you have an Uncashed Check that also is not being replaced, your offset deposit is going to be where you list what you want to reverse, such as Office Supplies expense wasn't incurred, after all.

In both examples, the Uncashed Check and that offsetting Deposit are both Marked as cleared in the next reconciliation. They net to 0, so no impact on that reconciliation ending  balance.

I have a check from a prior period that we reversed in the current period via a journal entry.  I credited my payable and debited my cash.  Net $0 and my vendor balance is correct that I owe that vendor again.  I wont' be reissuing this check until the end of the month.  However, now a payable shows up on my cash basis balance sheet and that's not correct.  How do I fix that?

How does posting the new check to the clearing account help in getting the original check off of the reconciliation for the bank account?

We voided a February Bill-Payment Check following the Help instructions in Quickbooks. It didn't help. How can I correct February and reissue a check in the current month. What would the correcting journal entries be? 

Hello there, @PrismEd.

Let me help share some insights about the bill transaction in QuickBooks Desktop.

Once you void a bill payment check, it will cause the bill paid to return to unpaid status. You can process another payment to marked the bill as paid. 

However, if the amount for the initial bill was withdrawn and deposited back to your account, you'll need to record a bank deposit in QuickBooks. Once done, create another bill and record the payment to mark it as closed. 

To record a bank deposit, here's how: 

1. At the top menu bar, select Reports.
2. Select Make Deposit.
3. On the Received From drop-down arrow, select your vendor's name.
4. On the From Account drop-down arrow, select Accounts Payable account.
5. Enter the Amount deposited to your account.
6. Select Save & Close. 

If you need further assistance with the steps, I recommend to contact our QuickBooks Desktop Support Team. They have additional tools to pull up your account and do a remote session. 

Here's how to contact our customer support:

1. Select QuickBooks Desktop Help from the Help menu.
2. You can also press F1 on your keyboard to bring up the same Help Panel. 
3. In order to route you to the correct support expert, we need to know what type of question you have.
4. Click Continue.
5. We’ll provide you a few options. You choose which one is best for you.

That should do it! Fill me in if you have additional questions about the bill transaction. I'll be around to help you out. Have a good one. 

I void a check last month I have been told it was lost. that month was reconciled when I void it QB automatically adjust it for me.  When I received the next month statement it shows they cashed the check and it cleared from the bank.  How do I fix that I am off that check amount exactly to reconcile. How can I recreate the check that was voided? or any other way?

We can recreate it, Year2020.

That way, it will be recorded again and be part of your next month's reconciliation. Simply go to Banking menu and select Write Checks. Fill out the details, then Save & Close. Make sure that the amount is the same with the voided one.

You can read this guide about reconciliation. This article will walk you through the process on how to properly reconcile your accounts.

Reply again if you have more questions. Wishing you a continues success. 

Thank you for your quick help. Can I ask if you can explain it more for me. Recreating void check means writing a new check totally and reconcile it with current months? Or do I have to use same check No (enforce QB) to use the same no with the voided one and same date beside same amount?

Thank you,

I'm glad to see you again, Year2020.

When you void a check, the original entry will still appear in your Activity by Account report, and any transactions that are reversed will also show a status of “Void or Cleared."

You have the option to use the same information when re-creating the check. This transaction will show when you reconcile the account for the current month.

Here's an article to help guide you more in re-creating and modifying the check: Create, modify, and print checks. Also. for some "How do I" steps in QuickBooks Desktop, you can always visit our Help Articles page for reference.

I want to make sure your concern is fully addressed and I'm here to provide further assistance whenever you need it. Have a great rest of the week!

Most software packages let you void a prior period check in the current period.

Quickbooks should add this feature.

Does the deposit fix reduce 1099 amounts?

Appreciate that, @StanG.

A bank deposit does not reduce the amount of your 1099 payments since it is posted directly into your bank account. You can read through this article to learn more about bank deposits: Record and make Bank Deposits in QuickBooks Desktop.

Lastly, here's a few articles you can read to help manage your account and related tasks: Help Articles for QuickBooks Desktop.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, let me know in the comments. I'll be here to lend a hand.

My issue is that we should be able to void a check written in a prior period and have the general ledger updated in the current period.  

If a check is voided it should show void in the software.

No work-around.

I am going to void the check.

Make a journal entry in the prior month to reverse the journal entry made by voiding the check.

Make a journal entry in the current month to reverse the check.

I have to agree with this.  QB is the only accounting system I have ever worked with that you cannot void a check in the current date or whatever date you choose.  I'm not a software expert by any means, but this seems to me it should be a fairly easy fix.