How to Record Customer Payments in QuickBooks Online

How to Record Customer Payments in QuickBooks Online: Video

            This video lesson, titled “How to Record Customer Payments in QuickBooks Online,” shows you how to record customer payments in QuickBooks Online. It also shows you how to find and manage saved customer payments in QuickBooks Online. This video lesson is from our complete QuickBooks Online tutorial, titled “Mastering QuickBooks Online Made Easy.”

Overview:

How to Receive Customer Payments in QuickBooks Online:

            If using QuickBooks Payments with QuickBooks Online, then customer payments on invoices are automatically recorded when the customer pays the invoice by clicking the link you sent to them. However, you can also manually enter payments received for invoices you sent in QuickBooks Online Plus, if needed.

How to Manually Record a Customer Payment in QuickBooks Online Using the Navigation Bar:

            To manually record a customer payment on an invoice in QuickBooks Online, hover over the “+ Create” button in the Navigation Bar. Then click the “Receive payment” link in the drop-down menu to open the “Receive Payment” window. Then select the customer from whom you are receiving payment from the “Customer” drop-down at the top of the form to show the customer’s open invoices in the “Outstanding Transactions” list below.

How to Find the Customer by Invoice Number:

            Alternatively, to find the customer by invoice number, click the “Find by invoice no.” button to the right to open a drop-down menu where you can type an invoice number into the “Invoice no.” field and then click the “Find” button to select the customer. Alternatively, to close the menu without finding an invoice, click the “Cancel” button in this drop-down menu.

Alternatively, How to Manually Receive a Payment Using the Customers List:

            Alternatively, to open the “Receive Payment” window to receive a payment from a customer when viewing the “Customers” list, find the customer from whom you are receiving payment in the “Customers” list. Then click the “Receive Payment” link from the “Action” column’s drop-down to open the same “Receive Payment” window and show the customer’s open invoices.

Select Whether to Record a Payment or Charge a Payment:

            Next, select whether to record a payment or to charge a new payment by selecting either the “Record payment” or “Charge new payment” option in the “Record or charge” section of the “Receive payment” window. You select the “Record payment” option to record a received payment, and you select the “Charge new payment” option to charge a credit card or process a bank transfer.

            For both options, then select the date of the payment from the “Payment Date” field in this section. If needed, to record a reference number, like a customer’s check number, enter it into the “Reference no” field. Then select the customer’s payment method from the “Payment method” drop-down.

            If you selected the “Record payment” option, then select the account into which to deposit the received funds from the payment from the “Deposit To” drop-down. This field doesn’t appear if you select the “Charge new payment” option.

            Alternatively, if you select the “Charge new payment” option, to process a payment by ACH or credit card after completing the payment if payment processing is enabled in QuickBooks Online and you select “Check” or “Credit Card” from the “Payment method” drop-down, then click the “Enter bank info” or “Enter credit card details” button that appears below here to open a new window where you can enter the bank or credit card details and then click the “Submit” button in the window.

Enter the Payment Amount and Apply It to Outstanding Receivables, as Needed:

            Enter the payment amount into the “Amount received” field. After initially entering a value into the “Amount received” field and then leaving this field, QuickBooks Online automatically applies the amount entered to the oldest invoices in the “Outstanding Transactions” list, but you can change this, if needed.

            All the selected customer’s open invoices and other outstanding receivables transactions appear in the “Outstanding Transactions” list. You will see columns for each transaction’s “Description,” “Due Date,” “Original Amount”, “Open Balance,” and “Payment.” Transactions to which any part of the amount received is applied appear with a check in their leftmost checkbox column.

            If needed, to remove any applied amounts from a transaction, uncheck its checkbox. If you check a transaction’s checkbox, the “Open Balance” amount of the transaction appears in the far-right “Payment” column. If recording a partial payment on an invoice or applying one payment to multiple invoices, it may be better to manually enter the amount to attribute from the “Amount received” to an invoice by typing it into the “Payment” column for the invoice.

            If you change the default application of the “Amount received” by checking the transaction checkboxes or manually entering values into the “Payment” column, double-check the amounts entered to ensure they match the total “Amount received” field and that you do not create any unwanted credits, which appear in the lower-right corner of the “Outstanding Transactions” list.

Optionally, Add Any Notes or Attachments:

            You can enter a note for yourself into the “Memo” field below this list. To attach a file to the payment, use the “Attachments” field. You can click the “Clear Payment” button at the right side of this window to clear any payment amounts entered for the customer if you make a mistake.

Use the Toolbar Buttons to Save the Customer Payment:

            The toolbar at the bottom of this window contains buttons for managing the transaction. To cancel receiving the payment, click the “Cancel” button. To clear the payment window, click the “Clear” button. To save and print the payment, click the “Print” button in this toolbar to save the transaction and open a PDF preview window. You can then print, download, or preview the PDF and close it when finished.

            To record or charge the payment after creating it, click the “Record” or “Charge” button in the toolbar. Alternatively, to record or charge and then send the payment receipt by email, click or select the “Record and send” or “Charge and send” command using the drop-down button at the right end of the toolbar.

            Alternatively, to record or charge the payment and then create a payment, click or select the “Record and new” or “Charge and new” command using the drop-down button at the right end of the toolbar. Alternatively, to record or charge the payment and then close the “Receive Payment” window, click or select the “Record and close” or “Charge and close” command using the drop-down button at the right end of the toolbar.

How to Find and Edit Saved Customer Payments in QuickBooks Online:

            After you save a customer payment, it appears within the list of all sales transactions in the “Sales transactions” page in QuickBooks Online. To open the “Sales transactions” page in QuickBooks Online, select the “Sales transactions” command under the “Sales & Get Paid” app in the “All apps” bar. To open a received payment in the sales transactions list, click the payment in the list to show information about it in a pane at the right side of the window.

            To reopen the payment for editing in the “Receive Payment” window, click the “Edit” button at the bottom of the pane. Alternatively, to select an action from a full menu of possible actions to perform on a received payment, click the “More actions” button in this pane and then select the desired action, like “Print,” “Void” or “Delete.”

            Also, if you reopen the payment for editing within the “Receive Payment” window again, you can click the “More” button that then appears at the right end of the commands in the center of the toolbar at the bottom of the window to show a similar menu of possible action choices for the selected payment, if needed.

            Clicking this button shows commands for “Void,” to void the payment; “Delete,” to delete the payment; “Transaction journal,” to open a report that lists the accounts and credit and debit amounts for the payment; and “Audit history,” which shows an audit history of the payment. You can click any of these actions to perform the related activity.