How do I enter a transaction as a credit such as a return of materials to the store I bought them from?

I've got you covered, @kdoug.

You have two options to track credit or refund in QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE). Firstly, you can tag it as Personal. Here's how:

1. Click Transactions from the left menu, then select Add transaction.
2. Enter the transaction in the box and the amount.
3. Select Personal and choose the appropriate category. Please know that QBSE doesn't have any specific category for refunds. If you aren't sure what category to select, I suggest seeking help from your accountant for more guidance.
4. Click Save once finished.

The other way is to exclude it since you’re not receiving or spending anything from your account. Let me guide you how.

1. Click Transactions from the left menu, then find the credit you're working on.
2. Select the right arrow under the ACTION column.
3. Tick the Exclude this transaction (this is for duplicates, reimbursements, customer refunds, and returned purchases) box.
4. Click Save.

After following the steps, the transaction will not be included in the estimated taxes calculation.

Just in case you need more help categorizing your transactions in QBSE, you can read this article here for more guidance.

Please post a reply below if you have other concerns with your transactions in QuickBooks Self-Employed. I'll be more than happy to assist you again. 

Sincerely, thanks for the reply! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Unfortunately, I don't think either of those are correct or helpful. The fact that the program allows partial returns with downloaded transactions shows me that what I'm trying to do is possible. But both solutions you suggest result in inaccurate account totals for the category in question. Unless you're suggesting that I exclude the original transaction, then do the math manually to figure out the net amount and manually enter that transaction. It just feels like a glitch. If we could just enter either negative or positive amounts in an expense transaction, the problem is solved. 

Thanks for getting back to us, kdoug. 

The option to track your returned materials in QBSE is unavailable. This is because refund transactions are not included in the Schedule C category. As a workaround, you can follow the steps provided by my colleague on either recording the refund as a business/personal expense, or excluding the transaction in the program.

Either way, the expense transaction will be excluded once it gets reimbursed. Let me show you how.

1. Go to the Transactions tab located on the upper left side. 
2. Click Add transaction. 
3. Enter a transaction name, amount, and category. 
4. Click Save. 
5. Then exclude the transactions once it gets reimbursed.

Also, I would suggest consulting with your accountant for additional guidance. That way, we can guarantee your account is well organized after recording this.

I'm also including an article about categorizing transactions for additional reference: Categorize transactions in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

 If you have any other concerns or questions about managing your transactions in QBSE. I’ll be around to help.