How to remove old paid bills from bill pay screen

Hello there, kmbush56.

Here are some instances why paid bills still show on the bill page:

• A check is created to pay the bill.
• The bill payment was deleted/unlinked.
• Damaged data.

We'll try some steps that will help you remove them from the bill pay screen.

If you've paid the bills using checks, you'll have to link them.  First, change the check's account to Accounts Payable. Here's how:

1. Open the check.
2. Change the account to Accounts Payable.
3. Add the vendor's name in the CUSTOMER:JOB column.
4. Click Save & Close.
5. You'll receive a message, "You have changed the transaction. Do you want to record your changes?", choose Yes.

Then, here's how you can link it to the bill:

1. Open the bill, then click Pay Bill.
2. Make sure the bill is checked, then click Set Credits.
3. Put a check mark in the credit, then click Done.
4. Click Pay Selected Bills.

If the payment was deleted/unlinked, you'll want to recreate the bill payment or link it again. Here's how to link it:

1. Go to the vendor's profile, look for the payment, then open it.
2. Enter the amount in the AMT. PAID column, then click Save & Close.
3. You'll receive a message, "You have changed the transaction. Do you want to record your changes?", choose Yes.

If this is a data issue, let's run the verify/rebuild data tool. The verify data tool recognizes data issues, then the rebuild tool fixes data integrity issues that the verify data tool discovers.

Feel free to drop a comment if you need further help or if you have other questions. Have a great day! 

Some of the bills in the Pay Bill Screen are no longer due to vendor. They are from a previously closed period. Can I make a "fake" check, create a credit, and then pay with the credit and then delete the "fake" check?

Thanks,

Karen

Hey there, Karen.

The process will still affect your balance. I suggest conferring with your accountant to know the best way to keep your books balanced. 

Don't hesitate to post anytime if you have other concerns! 

Kristine - I'm using QB 2016 for Mac. A bunch of paid bills showed up when I first switched over from a PC. I'm guessing this is due to corrupted data. They've been sitting in my 'Pay Bills' window forever and I want them gone. Some go as far back as 1998 and were paid with an old closed bank account. I haven't been able to follow your instructions. When I click on the paid bill (which shows as a negative amount) it opens the check, but I can't see where to change the account to 'Accounts Payable'. I played around with a really old one (1998) by deleting the bill payment, recreating the bill (using the original dates) and paying it from the right bank account. I then reconciling the bank account. I'm not sure that was the right thing to do, but it did remove it from the window. PLEASE HELP!

This works great Thank you! However, I have a few that have 2 different accounts linked to 1 bill, Quickbooks does not allow me to change both to accounts payable.

Any other ideas how to remove these from my pay bill screen?

Thanks so much!

Hey there, CC1000.

Thanks for joining this thread. I'm here to lend a hand so you're able to get those old paid bills cleared out from your Desktop account.

Ideally, the workflow for paying any bills within the system would consist of one check to pay one bill with one accounts payable tied to the bill. I was curious about how there are two different accounts linked to one bill?

You may want to void or delete a bill or bill payment check, which could affect your balance. I suggest speaking with your accountant to go over the setup before moving forward to make sure what would work best for your books. If you don't currently have an accountant, you can find one in your area with a quick search on the ProAdvisor site. 

Please feel free to reach back out if you have any other questions. I'll be here to help in any way that I can.

Thank you so much for your response.  The reason there are 2 accounts, is because we have one bank account, but several different "accounts" (areas that we designate monies too) within that one bank account.  For example, this allows us to show that $50 was deposited from one "account" that goes into the main account.  It just one big pot, and then I have to designate where the different money goes too or comes from, if that makes sense, it is hard to explain via text.  Because of this, a bill was paid to a vendor from our account (the actual bank account, the large pot) but 2 of our entities use this vendor. So both had 2 separate bills, and when you enter 2 separate bills to the same vendor, Quickbooks combines it to one check, but will show the 2 different "accounts" (entities) to that one check.  I was able to link the bills with the instructions in this thread, but now I can't change both accounts listed on the bill to accounts payable.

I hope I explained it right.  I now have a couple of bills that are showing outstanding in my "pay bills"  I think because checks were created to pay this rather than entering a bill.  I was out on leave and someone was covering for me so I don't know exactly what happened.  I do not want to delete anything as this was already cleared and I do not want it to effect my balance etc.

Hope you can help!

Thanks so much!

Thank you so much for your response! 

I was able to fix this with the instructions to changing the account to accounts payable to link the payment, but I have several in my "pay bills" that are there, but these transactions have already been paid.

The reason I have multiple accounts, is because we have one main bank account, but several entities that contribute to this account, as well as payments get disbursed from.  So since its just one big pot, I have to label where certain money is coming from and going too so I know how much each entity is contributing to the large pot (account)  My Quickbooks was set up this way, so when I am paying a bill I select the "Account" it is coming from, to show that a specific entity is paying a bill from the account (main account, the large "pot".  I have 2 entities that use the same vendor, so when paying a bill, Quickbooks will combine both bills to one check for the vendor, and then it labels how much money came from each entity. I hope that makes sense, it is hard to explain via text.

Because of this, I have several bills that were paid  (I think just a check was written, not really sure what happened, as I was out on a leave) but they are already cleared, and my bank account is accurate, so I do not want to delete anything. I just need to remove these from showing up in "pay bills"

Hope this makes sense.  Thanks so much!