Offsetting employee expense reimbursement against a paid vendor expense

Hello, @ginahicks.

You can just create a deduction item when creating payroll to your employee to reimburse against the amount or expense you paid to the vendor. I'm here to help show you how and to help you all throughout the process.

When creating the bill issued by your vendor, you'll need to remember the expense account you use when recording/creating the transaction. Once you've paid the bill, it increases your company's expenses. 

To deduct/reimburse the company's expenses, you can just directly create a deduction item when creating a paycheck/payroll for your employee and add it under the Other Payroll Items column. To offset the amount/expense please ensure to use the expense account when creating the bill beside Liability account (employee paid) section.

To create a deduction item through the Preview Paycheck page:

1. Click on the drop-down arrow under Other Payroll Items.
2. Click Add New.
3. Select Deduction under Payroll item type, then click Next.
4. Enter the name of the deduction, select Next.
5. Select the expense account use on the bill in the Liability account (employee-paid) section, select Next.
6. Under Tax tracking type, select None.
7. Click Next until you've reach the Gross vs. net page.
8. Select net pay, then click Next.
9. Click Finish.

You can also create a deduction item by going to the Lists menu and selecting on the Payroll Item List.

Please see attached screenshots for additional reference.

On the other hand, if you need further assistance with the process, you can always get in touch with our Support Team. To contact support, you can check it here: Contact the QuickBooks Desktop Customer Support Team.

I'll be always if you have any other QuickBooks or payroll questions, just add a comment below. Have a great day ahead!

Thank you so much.  I'm wondering though, can I do the same process only with a regular check instead of a paycheck?  I'd rather not do this through payroll because we outsource our payroll.

Thanks for coming back to the Community, ginahicks.

Allow me to share some insights about the deduction item for your employee.

Yes, you can record the deduction of the employee using a regular check. This will let your record the transaction on the accounting side. You'll just need to use a specific expense account to record the transaction.

The information above should help you get pointed in the right direction. I'd like to make sure that you're able to resolve this concern, so please let me know how that works for you. Best regards. 

I have a similar issue. My employees get reimbursement checks for mileage. I want to offset the reimbursement checks for personal expenses charged to the corporate credit card.

I tried to set up an accounts receivable and offset the reimbursement but it resulted in a bank debit when I went to reconcile the bank account. I messed up by not just having them write a check!!! but want to be able to deduct against reimbursements in the future.

New scenario:

Exployee has mileage reimbursement of $100.00 and $50 of personal charges against the corporate card.

How can I fix this?

David

Thanks for joining this thread, @YellowRibbonFund. 

I'll share some information about offsetting the reimbursement checks for personal expenses billed to the corporate credit card. 

If you've already issued reimbursement checks that are included on your employees' payroll, you'll need to make sure to select the expense account by editing the payroll item. This way, it'll offset the reimbursement amounts to the personal expenses. Here's how: 

1. Go to the Lists menu at the top. 
2. Select Payroll Item List. 
3. Double-click the Mileage Reimbursement item. 
4. On the Expense account window, make sure to select the correct expense account. 
5. Click Next and Finish. 

If these checks aren't included on your employees' payroll, you'll need to do anything since these should be separated. For more information about the posting accounts in QuickBooks, you can check out this helpful article: Understand QuickBooks Chart of Accounts

The information above will get you in the right direction, @YellowRibbonFund. 

I'm here anytime you have other concerns. Have a good day.