I just received payment on something that I marked as bad debt. Can someone help me with how to reverse the bad debt??

Help has arrived, wrser13.

I'd be happy to guide you through the steps on how to write off bad debt in QuickBooks Online.

A quick and easy way to do this is to simply void or delete the credit memo (bad debt) that was applied to your invoice. Let me walk you through the steps on how to do it:

1. Click Sales on the left navigation menu.
2. Go to the Customers tab.
3. Click the customer's name.
4. Select the Credit Memo.
5. Click More, then choose Delete.
6. Hit Yes.

That should do it. I'm confident that you'll be able to reverse the bad debt after following these steps.

Keep in touch if there's anything else I can help you with. Thanks for reaching out, wishing you and your business the best!

Hi, what about in the event that it is a new reporting period? I can't just go back and delete a credit memo because that month end AR balance has been reported. Please advise.

Hi there Maggie.

I appreciate you for joining the thread and drop your concern about managing your AR transaction. I'm here to help you today.

Yes, you can. As long this transaction won't affect your books or past reconciliation, you can remove it from your record.

Here's how:

1. Open the Credit Memo transaction.
2. Click on More, then select Delete.
3. Select Yes to confirm the action.

But if removing the credit memo will affect your records, I would recommend seeking help with an accountant for more options on how to handle the transaction.

As you continue working with QuickBooks, I also suggest checking out the topics from our help articles for more related topics and resources about QuickBooks Online.

If you have any other QuickBooks questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. I'm just a few clicks away to help!

If I delete the bad debt, it will affect my books from 2021. How do I apply the credit card payment for an invoice that has already been zeroed out? I'm not sure how this person even paid the invoice online when the balance was zero. Quickbooks shouldn't let someone pay for an invoice that doesn't have a balance. 

Thank you for joining the thread, @KAJH.

Allow me to help you clear things out. Know that paying an invoice with zero balance will result in an overpayment.

We'll need to delete your bad debt this will not affect your book from 2021 if you never reconcile it. However, if you've reconciled the bad debt, we'll need to unreconcile the transaction and then delete it.

Once done, the invoice of that transaction will open again and you can now Receive payment.

Here's how:

1. Click the + New icon. 
2. Below the Customer column select Receive payment.
3. In the Customer field dropdown select the customer who incurred the bad debt.
4. Ensure that the Payment method dropdown is a Credit card.
5. Below the Oustanding transaction, tap the box beside the invoice.
6. Hit Save and Close.

Once done, you can reconcile it again manually.

You can read through this article if your want to learn how you can view, print, or export your reconciliation report.

If you have additional queries about invoices or any related concerns, never hesitate to reply to this post. Have a good one!

Hi Brandon. On the unpaid invoice I just included a line for bad debt and wrote off the remaining amount so it zeroed out the invoice. I can delete that if I want to but my concern is that it would mess things up for my accountant. I don't want to do anything that would change the information for the cutoff date for 2021, which is December 31st. A customer had about 5 different invoices with balances, but I entered a bad debt line of each one, dated December 31, 2021 to zero it out. If I delete these bad debt lines, will it change anything as far as my taxes go? Hope that makes sense.

Hi KAJH,

No, when you delete the bad debt it will not affect your account. You'll have to make sure that the unpaid transactions accumulated on the correct bad debt account.

Feel free to pin this browser for more information: Write off bad debt in QuickBooks Online.

When you're ready to reconcile the account, you can check this reference: Reconcile account.

You can always post in the forum if you need help about the reconciliation process.

I only have one bad debt account in my chart of accounts. Is that what you are talking about? 

Thanks for getting back to this thread, @KAJH.

Yes, that's what my colleague Adrian_A is referring to. 

Once you delete the bad debt, this will increase your Accounts Receivable (A/R) balance. This won't affect your taxes as long as the Tax column box in your line item (invoice) was unchecked. 

Please take note that if your apply the payment to your open invoice, this will reduce your A/R but will increase your bank's balance. 

To know more about writing off bad debts, you can check out this article: Write off bad debt in QuickBooks Online.

If there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I'm always here to help you out. Keep safe.