How to enter cashback rewards in QuickBooks Desktop

Hi there, Joe.

You'll have to create an income account to keep track of the cashback rewards you've received and enter a bank deposit. To do this, I'll be happy to guide you on how.

To create an income account, see the below steps:

1. On your QuickBooks Desktop account, go to the Lists menu.
2. Choose Chart Of Accounts.
3. From the Account drop-down, select New.
4. Select Income from the Account Type window.
5. Click on Continue.
6. Enter the Account Name and other details.
7. Click on Save & Close.

Once done, you're now ready to make a bank deposit and use the income account you've created. You may also consider checking with your accountant to ensure your books are accounted for correctly. 

For future help, I've included an article that'll help match your QuickBooks account and bank statements: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop.

Please let me know if you have other concerns. I'm just around to help. Have a good day!

The income account is setup.  However, the rest of your instruction is unclear to me. 

Good to see you back, Joe.

Good job in creating an income account in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). You may now track your cashback rewards by making a bank deposit.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Banking menu at the top.
2. Select Make Deposits.
3. In the Make Deposits window, select the account you want to put the deposit into from the Deposit To dropdown.
4. In the Received from column, select the Paypal credit card. If they're not showing in the drop-down, click the Add new and set as a Vendor. Enter the vendor details information.
5. In the From account dropdown, choose the income account you created.
6. Enter the amount and other necessary information.
7. Click Save & Close.

For more details in recording a deposit, see this article: Record and make bank deposits in QuickBooks Desktop.

Before doing the steps above, I recommend consulting with your accountant. They can provide more expert advice in dealing with this situation. You may use our Find an Accountant tool if you don't have one.

If you have any other questions about QuickBooks, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to help. Have a good day.

what about reward points that can be used as cash.  Is this considered "other income"?  Creating this account in "other income" for my AMEX Rewards account has increased the income on the P&L.  Is this correct? and then when these rewards are used to pay something, I just pay the amount from the income account to the airline or whatever?  Is this right.  Please be clear as this doesn't sound right to me.

Hello there, Carolexx. I'm here to help you record your reward points and provide more details.

To enter your reward points in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), you'll need to create a holding account to track the points until you’re ready to spend them.

The increase in income reflected in your Profit and Loss report (P&L) occurs because this report summarizes revenues, costs, and expenses for a specified period, and "Other Income" represents revenue from non-primary business activities.

While you're on the right track with choosing an income account, I highly recommend consulting with an accountant to determine the appropriate category for accurate recording.

Here's how to create an income account:

1. Go to Lists and choose Chart of Accounts.
2. From the Account dropdown, select New.
3. Tick the Other Account Types and choose a category in the dropdown.
4. Click Continue.
5. Fill in the necessary details and click Save & Close.

Next, create a bank deposit to enter the amount of the reward points.

To use the rewards for payment, you can create another bank deposit to transfer the amount from the income account to the bank account that you will use for the payment.

Additionally, ensure to reconcile your accounts to keep them accurate and up-to-date.

If you need further assistance recording your reward points in QBDT, please feel free to return to this thread, Carolexx. We’re here to support you every step of the way.

@Carolexx 

Ignore the response from @JanbonN.  It doesn't make sense. 

When you receive the rewards, record it as 'Other income' and deposit it into a bank account in QB called 'Rewards Points' or something similar.  To do that, create a bank account called 'Rewards Points'.  Then, make a deposit into that account and assign the appropriate other income account to the deposit.  That will increase other income and the newly-created bank account by the amount of the rewards.  When you want to spend the cash, just pay the expense/write the check from the rewards bank account like you would from any other bank account.