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Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

I accidentally entered credit card bill (which has been paid and cleared) instead of reconciling it then entering it.  Is there a way to link the bill to the credit card (so the balance will go down).  If not I am not sure what other account to use besides the credit card when doing the journal entry.

Solved
Best answer November 27, 2018

Best Answers
qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

With this comment: "The expenses on the bill need to be categorized correctly."

Let's start Over.

 

The only reason the card account in QB is seen as increasing is because you entered the individual Purchases as "expense" from the Credit Card. If you did this, there are the details, already. The entry of the payment is against the Card account, because this is when you paid down that Debt Balance. The Check Expense lists only Credit Card Account as the category or detail type.

 

If you use a Bill to reflect the credit card balance, you are hiding CC debt in AP liability. If you never pay that bill or partially pay that bill, the reconciliation of the credit card account to its statement is impossible, because the Bill is treated as Paying the CC balance in full; you hid the rest in AP.

 

If you used a bill instead of entering the individual charges, then the Bill is where you broke out your spending details. However, you did not buy anything from VISA or AMEX; they are your Lender. They do not sell Office Supplies. You also did not buy everything on that one date. If you did this "batched bill" method and also paid it and all the purchases fall entirely in your fiscal year, then make sure this is now a Paid Bill and never do this part, again. And this method does not affect the Credit Card Account in the data file, so if you already put the details in as individual credit card charge expenses, this Batched Bill would have Duplicated these details and that is an error; the bill in this example is supposed to show only the CC account.

 

If you made a bill to pay the CC account after reconciling, and you didn't pay it, then it is safe to delete it. When you enter your real payment, simply do that correctly, as a check or paperless check Transfer, between Checking and CC. There is no AP involved.

 

If you made a Bill and also made the credit card charges, and also already Paid that bill, then you have an AP check and the bill needs to show only the CC account is being paid. Never have the spending details in two different entries.

 

If you entered a Batched bill, breaking out and categorizing the spending on that bill, and have not yet paid it, and did not put that in Credit Card Charge expense, then delete the bill and do the entries properly, for each purchased From name and each Purchased date. If you also already paid that batched bill, then do not also put the spending in your Credit Card account as expense entries.

 

The question here asked how to get a Bill to reduce the credit card account balance: if the bill is not paid, Delete it, since it isn't the right entry type. If it is Paid, then the check is linked to the bill and the Bill is supposed to show the CC account, which will reflect it reducing the CC account, even if the bill Never Gets Paid.

 

And this is why there is no Bill. That is your account activity statement.

 

Hope that helps.

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16 Comments 16
Charies_M
Moderator

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Hello there, Allied3.

 

To link Credit Card Charges or Journal Entries to a bill, you’ll have to use the Accounts Payable as your account.

 

Since the bill has already been paid, you'll just need to click Pay Bill and apply the credit. This will now link the bill to the credit card. Let me show  you how:

 

  1.  Open the Bill.
  2. Click Pay Bill at the top.
  3. Check the box beside the credit you want to apply.
  4. Click Pay Selected Bills.
  5. Click Done.

For Journal Entries, you'll have to change the account to Accounts Payable to change your vendor balance. 

 

Feel free to reach out to me if you have additional questions about linking bills to credit card in QuickBooks. I'll be sure to answer them for you.

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

This does not work on desktop.  Also, the bill has already been paid and cleared by the bank.  The vendor name of the credit card is not linked to the credit card.  Only when I reconcile the credit card and then go on to enter the bill does it link it to the vendor name.

Charies_M
Moderator

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Thanks for getting back and clarifying things out, llied3.

 

I want to make sure your concerns about linking bill to credit card or journal entry will be taken cared of. I've updated the steps above specific for QuickBooks Desktop for you to follow. 

 

I'd still be around if there's anything else you need. Drop me a reply and I'll get back to you. Have a good day.

qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

There is No Bill for your own credit card. That is your Statement. You do not use a Bill for it, nor for showing you intend to pay it later; Paying it using Bill is hiding the amount in AP, which implies the CC is Paid and cannot be properly reconciled next time unless that Bill was paid, in full.

 

The process is: Enter individual Charges, as Charges, by actual date and who you already paid when you Charged it by borrowing from the card provider. This is not AP. They got paid; you gave them the card number, so they are paid and you are more in debt, having taken a micro-loan from VISA or AMEX.

 

You get the Activity statement and reconcile. Do not create a bill; escape when you are done, or use a Check to reflect the amount paid and the date paid, against the Card account, which you enter on the Expenses tab.

 

Never mix AP into your management of the CC liability account. They are handled differently for financial reporting. CC = already paid for these purchases, and now more in debt to the Card Provider. AP = have not yet paid for these purchases.

qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Oh, I forgot: you don't use JE with Names; you don't use JE for AP, AR, items, inventory, QB Payroll, QB sales or Sales taxes. You just bypassed Cash vs Accrual basis reporting, for the most significant reason not to do this.

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

I know how to handle it.  I normally do the steps you provided.  Unfortunately, this one time I entered it as a bill which has already been paid and cleared.  I just need to know what accounts to use in my journal entry to rectify this.  Because it has paid and cleared I can't void it and do it correctly and there is no way to link the bill or bill payment to the credit card.  Since accounts payable is not the right account what is? 

qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

If you entered the statement as a Bill and broke out everything, and you Paid the bill, then you don't need to do more entries. You would just not use Bills, again. And you still don't use JE to "rectify" anything of this nature. You would not make More Entries, as well. Just Edit that bill; as the "expense" listing, remove any details. The only entry here is the Credit Card account; that's why it makes the balance you owe there go down.

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

The expenses on the bill need to be categorized correctly.  

qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

With this comment: "The expenses on the bill need to be categorized correctly."

Let's start Over.

 

The only reason the card account in QB is seen as increasing is because you entered the individual Purchases as "expense" from the Credit Card. If you did this, there are the details, already. The entry of the payment is against the Card account, because this is when you paid down that Debt Balance. The Check Expense lists only Credit Card Account as the category or detail type.

 

If you use a Bill to reflect the credit card balance, you are hiding CC debt in AP liability. If you never pay that bill or partially pay that bill, the reconciliation of the credit card account to its statement is impossible, because the Bill is treated as Paying the CC balance in full; you hid the rest in AP.

 

If you used a bill instead of entering the individual charges, then the Bill is where you broke out your spending details. However, you did not buy anything from VISA or AMEX; they are your Lender. They do not sell Office Supplies. You also did not buy everything on that one date. If you did this "batched bill" method and also paid it and all the purchases fall entirely in your fiscal year, then make sure this is now a Paid Bill and never do this part, again. And this method does not affect the Credit Card Account in the data file, so if you already put the details in as individual credit card charge expenses, this Batched Bill would have Duplicated these details and that is an error; the bill in this example is supposed to show only the CC account.

 

If you made a bill to pay the CC account after reconciling, and you didn't pay it, then it is safe to delete it. When you enter your real payment, simply do that correctly, as a check or paperless check Transfer, between Checking and CC. There is no AP involved.

 

If you made a Bill and also made the credit card charges, and also already Paid that bill, then you have an AP check and the bill needs to show only the CC account is being paid. Never have the spending details in two different entries.

 

If you entered a Batched bill, breaking out and categorizing the spending on that bill, and have not yet paid it, and did not put that in Credit Card Charge expense, then delete the bill and do the entries properly, for each purchased From name and each Purchased date. If you also already paid that batched bill, then do not also put the spending in your Credit Card account as expense entries.

 

The question here asked how to get a Bill to reduce the credit card account balance: if the bill is not paid, Delete it, since it isn't the right entry type. If it is Paid, then the check is linked to the bill and the Bill is supposed to show the CC account, which will reflect it reducing the CC account, even if the bill Never Gets Paid.

 

And this is why there is no Bill. That is your account activity statement.

 

Hope that helps.

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

I have known and understand what you are saying, and that is normally the way we process any credit cards that we hold a balance on.  The problem is the the bill (that was done in error) and has been paid and already cleared the back.  The bill/bill payment does not reflect the credit card account.  The vendor that is paid with this card is not linked to the credit card account (even though when we reconcile account and enter the bill it then the vendor is linked to the credit card) the We normally don't keep a balance on our credit cards but this one and normally don't put any other charges against it.  We have to cards with this same bank and the payments go to the same place.  Because this bill has been paid and cleared I need to know how I can get this linked to the credit card.  The bill does not show the credit card or link to it in anyway.     

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Would the best way be to enter the credit card charges (like what would normally be done) and just include it the next reconciliation.  And enter the credit card as the expense on the bill?

qbteachmt
Level 15

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Let's break these out a bit:

 

"Would the best way be to enter the credit card charges (like what would normally be done)"

Yes; do that always. That is your Spending, by individual dates and names.

 

"and just include it the next reconciliation."

Once you have made the entries, it is time to Reconcile to the statement for the date range. You use the statement and reconcile when you have the data entered that is part of that statement's period.

 

The payment you just made is not part of that statement; it has a Cut off date and only includes transactions within that date range. If you made a payment prior to the cut off date, that simply is one of the entries you should already have entered.

 

"And enter the credit card as the expense on the bill?"

 

If you already had entered a bill and it has a bill payment check, then it is time to change the Bill to show only the Credit Card account as the Spending reason for this payment. And from now on, we never use AP bill processes at all, for CC activity.

Allied3
Level 3

link bill to credit card or journal entry

The credit card balance when down when I used the credit card as the expense account.  The problem is when I entered the credit card charges the balance went back up.  I need the account balance to be the correct amount but I also need those charges to be reflected in the correct expense accounts.

Rasa-LilaM
QuickBooks Team

link bill to credit card or journal entry

Hello again, Allied3.


Let me help and ensure the credit card charges are properly recorded, so it won’t throw off your records.

 

Our Established Community @qbteachmt's is correct. Since the bill is already linked to the credit card charges, make sure the credit card details are not entered twice in your account.


The duplicate entries can usually cause the discrepancy in your records. You’ll need to run through the transaction and delete any duplicate entries.


Before making any changes to your account, I recommend consulting with your accountant to ensure the accuracy of your books.

 

Drop a comment below if you have questions about working in QuickBooks. I'm here to help make running your business more easy. Wishing you the best.

eSGlobal
Level 1

link bill to credit card or journal entry

I just began with this company and  I am not sure they have QuickBooks Desktop process correct. I discovered that we have AmExpress set up as a Vendor in AP and payments are being posted to that Vendor account.  However, there was never a bill entered for the AmEx Vendor.  All the credit card charges are going into and being paid from a AmEx Credit Card account.  What is the best process for recording AmEx charges we make and payment to Amex.  ?

eSGlobal
Level 1

link bill to credit card or journal entry

So how do you record the payment made to the ' Lender' Credit Card ( AmEx, VIsa etc.)?  do you create an AP 'bill' for the amount " borrowed" so when you pay them back there is something to match the payment made?  

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