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a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

I would like to be able to change the account for previously created Discounts.

I had a bunch of Sales Receipts created externally from a Shopify plugin. All of them used to belong to the Sales-Products account. Now I need a more detailed statistics, so I created multiple subaccounts under the Sales-Products account. Then I went to my Products and Services and changed the Income Account for each of the Products I have to one of the newly created subaccounts, as I needed them. I also checked the "Apply to Historic Transactions" checkbox, so, when I applied the changes, all historic transactions were moved to different subaccounts - perfect! BUT! Some of the sales receipts also contained Discounts. And all these Discounts stayed in the old Sales - Products account. I didn't find a way to move them to the new subaccounts.
11 Comments 11
JessT
Moderator

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hi a-kan!


In QuickBooks Online, we can either enable the Discount option in the Sales settings or create a discount item.


The Discount in the Sales settings is associated with the Discount Given account by default, and it’s not changeable. It's still an Income type by nature, but it acts as a contra income, which reduces your revenue. When you run the Profit an Loss report, it will be reported under the Income section, but with a negative amount.

 

Also, you will know that the Discount in the Sales settings was enabled when you see a Discount field in the Total section of your sales transactions, as shown below. Are you seeing the same thing on your sales receipts? If yes, it's possible that the Discount Given account was just renamed as Sales - Products. Again, we're unable change or dissociate it in this setup.

 

discount given.PNG

 

On the other hand, a discount item can be added in the table of a sales transaction. Unlike the Discount in the settings, you can change the income account of this item, and you’ll have an option to reflect the change to your historical transactions. However, this is only advisable if you give discounts before tax.

 

 

You can find more information about a discount in this article: Add a discount to an invoice or sales receipt in QuickBooks Online.

 

With your current setup, I would suggest asking advice from your accountant. Maybe, there are ways to move some amounts from your Sales - Products account to other accounts via journal entry. Only them can give you the best accounting advice for your books.

 

Please don't hesitate to comment below if you need to clarify something or you have other questions. Have a nice weekend!

a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hello Jess, thank you for your reply.
 
Yes, I do see a Discount field in the Total section of my sales transactions.
But no - Discount Given and Sales - Products are two different accounts, I'm absolutely sure about that. Please see the screenshot below.
And you are right, when I create Sales Receipts manually in QuickBooks Online, all discounts indeed go to the Discount Given account.

However, when my Sales Receipts are created externally by the Shopify QuickBooks plugin, the discount goes to the same account where the product sale went. I guess the key here is externally by the Shopify pluginIt looks like the plugin has more capabilities through the API that the user has through the UI, including the capability to define what account the discount goes to.
So, initially, right after I've finished the import from Shopify, the sales and discounts were sitting in the same account. And that was OK. The problem is that after that, I have moved the sales to 3 different subaccounts (Sales of Product - B.., Sales of Product - E.., Sales of Product - U..), but the respective discounts didn't move - they stayed in the parent (Sales - Products) account.
What my accountant wants from me is that they can clearly see (Sales-Discount) for each of 3 product families separately. So:
1) Having 3 subaccounts, each of them containing Sales AND Discounts is OK (that's what I expected when I created 3 subaccounts and changed Income Account in each product's properties);
2) Having 6 subaccounts: 3 for Sales and 3 different ones for Discounts is also OK; BUT
3) Having 3 subaccounts for Sales and just 1 account for Discounts (and that's what I ended up with currently) is NOT OK.
Is there a way for me to achieve the situation 1) or 2) above?
MorganB
Content Leader

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hey there, a-kan.

 

Thank you for following up here. I'd like to provide some additional info about the discount account.

 

You can change the discount account within the Advanced settings in QuickBooks. I'll show you how:

 

1. Click the Gear icon in the top right corner.

2. Select Account and Settings.

3. Choose the Advanced tab on the left.

4. Click the pencil icon in the Chart of Accounts section.

5. Select the account for the discounts.

6. Choose Save and Done when you're finished.

 

Once this is changed, you can then set up subaccounts under the new discount account. This link will show you how to create subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

 

Any other amounts that need to be moved would have to been done with journal entries. You can find out how to do so by clicking this link:

Create a journal entry.

 

Please feel free to reach back out here if you have any other questions.

a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hi Morgan,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I know that I can define the account for Discount in the settings. But it is still only one account. I cannot define 3 different accounts, depending on what Product the discount is applied to, can I?

I also know I can create subaccounts for that Discount account. But just merely creating subaccounts won't affect the discount records that I already have, they will stay in their current account. How do I move those existing records to those newly created subaccounts?
I also know that I can create journal transactions. But my question is not how to create new journal transactions, but how to edit already existing journal transactions, that were automatically created from my sales receipts. When I open them through Chart of Accounts or through Sales Receipt -> More -> Transaction Journal, there's no any kind of Edit or Pencil button to just change Account for a transaction. And when I click the transaction, it just takes me back to the originating Sales Receipt, and that's it.

MadelynC
Moderator

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hello  a-kan,

 

Having a respective discount account for each sub-accounts is unavailable. The discount feature can only be allocated to one specified account.

 

If the transaction is created externally from Shopify, It depends on how Shopify migrates the sales receipt.

 

If it is recorded using the discount feature in QuickBooks Online, you can edit the discount account through the steps provided by MorganB.

 

If it was using an Item on the sales receipt. Then update the discount Item on the Product and services.

 

Moving forward, you can look for some information on how to organize well your QuickBooks account. You can visit this link: Help articles. You can click each topic to view them.

 

The Community is always here to have your back.

a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hello Madelyn, thank you for your response.

 

The Shopify plugin does use the discount feature in QuickBooks Online. The discounts do appear as a "Discount" line in the Totals section of the Sales Receipt, and NOT as a line item of the invoice. However, they end up being in the same account as the product that was sold, and NOT in the account that I specified as the discount account in the settings. That is unlike the case when I create a sales receipt manually. When I create it manually, the discount is indeed created in the discount account. Please see the screenshots in my reply above.

I guess this is the peculiarity of the plugin, and, if so, it looks like it's impossible to move such discount to another account later in the QBO User Interface. I wish I could just edit the respective automatically generated journal transaction manually, but looks like it's not possible. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Michael K
Moderator

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hi there, @a-kan. Thanks for providing an update.

 

Due to the nature of how the Shopify integration works with QuickBooks Online and since they developed the integration, I recommend reaching out to their Support Team to see if it's possible to change this configuration on their side. You can find their contact information on the integration page.

 

I'll be here if you have any other questions. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hi Michael,

 

Yes, I'm working with them on what's the best way to configure the plugin so that NEW discounts are created in the right accounts. Actually, it looks like it will work exactly like I need - it will create the discount for each product in the same account that is bound to that particular product. That's is awesome, perfect, absolutely what I need.

 

But my question is different. How to change discounts that already exist? I mean, they are already there. I mean, I already have it in my database. I mean, I did the export earlier and now the records exist. They are already recorded. Is there a way to CHANGE (edit, modify, adjust, correct) them in QuickBooks?

SarahannC
Moderator

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

I'm here to continue to help you out, a-kan.

 

We can go to the lists of sales transactions to edit the discount that has been imported to your book.

 

Let me guide you on how to do it: Here's how:

  1. From the left panel, click Sales and select the All Sales tab.
  2. Click the Filter drop-down arrow and select Sales Receipt as a type of transaction.
  3. Select the appropriate dates to generate all transactions.
  4. Tap the Apply button.
  5. Select the transaction and enter the modify the amount to correct it.
  6. Once done, click Save.

apply.PNGdiscount.PNG

 

You'll want to know more about adding a discount in the sales transactions and customizing them in your book. 

 

Get back to this thread anytime you need help with changing data from your book. I'm right here together with my colleagues to assist you further. Take care!

a-kan
Level 1

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Thank you, Sarahann. I've already tried it, but it doesn't change the account the discount belongs to.

Michael K
Moderator

Can I change the account for previously created Discounts?

Hey there, @a-kan.

 

Thanks for providing an update. Due to the nature of how the discounts were added when imported to your books, the best option would be to do a journal entry debiting the discount amount from the wrong account to the correct one. While we'd love to help out with this, it'd be best to consult with your accountant when entering these journal entries to make sure they're posting to the correct accounts.

 

Here's a great resource on journal entries that I recommend: Create a journal entry in QuickBooks Online

 

I'm only a reply away if you need further help. Have a great weekend!

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