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arkvalleyinfo
December 11, 2018
Solved

Paid bills show as unpaid in the Pay Bills window

  • December 11, 2018
  • 10 replies
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Hello,

In the A/P Aging Reports, I have one vendor showing an open balance.  When I look at detail, there is a Bill and a Bill Payment that match the open balance.  When I click transaction history for the bill payment, it shows it was applied to the bill.  The bill (which is marked paid) shows the bill payment in its history.  Everything agrees.  No open balance shows in Vendor Center, only in A/P Aging.

To further investigate, I found the transaction in the A/P register and ran a Quick Report on the Vendor.  Sure enough, it shows the Bill, marked paid, followed by the Bill Payment, which is strangely marked "Unpaid," thus showing an open balance.  This bill payment check has cleared, and from all I can see in transaction history, was applied to the bill.  

To experiment, I selected a check from the vendor in the Pay Bills screen, and sure enough, a credit for the amount in question is displayed.

Something is out of whack - any help?



Best answer by btautimer

When bills, which are already paid, show as unpaid in the Pay Bills window, or, in this case, the A/P Aging Report, check if there are available credits (from unapplied bill payments, recorded credits, or journal entries to the Accounts Payable account) that should be applied to those bills. Another possible issue, though less likely occurrence, is transaction damage.

Before proceeding with the recommended solutions below, use Vendor QuickReports to verify if the bill showing as unpaid is actually paid.

  1. From the Vendors menu, select Vendor Center.
  2. Right-click the vendor of the bill in question, and select QuickReport.
  3. Set the date of the report to All.
  4. Find and double click the bill that shows in the Pay Bills window.

If the bill was paid, select History (or press Ctrl+H) to see the details of how it was paid. If not, proceed with the solutions below.

 

Check and apply available credits

 

Important: This solution applies if there is available credit balance that came from unapplied bill credit, payment, or a journal entry to Accounts Payable.

 

  1. From the Vendors menu, select Pay Bills.
  2. Select the bill in question, then select Set Credits.
  3. Go to the Credits tab and see if there are available credits.
  4. If a credit exists, select the credit and click Done.
  5. Select Pay Selected Bills.

If after following the steps in this solution and the bill still appears unpaid in the Pay Bills window or Unpaid Bills Detail Report, the transaction might be damaged.

 

Troubleshoot damaged bill payment or bill

Solution 1: Edit the transaction

  1. Create a backup of the company file.
  2. For reference, take note of the important information of the bill payment check like Date, Amount, and Vendor Name.
  3. Change the date of the bill payment check.
    1. Open the bill payment check associated with the bill.
    2. Change the date to 10 years in the future.
    3. Select Save & Close.
    4. Re-open the bill payment check and change the date back to its original date.
    5. Select Save & Close.

If the bill still shows as unpaid, proceed to solution 2.

Solution 2: Delete and re-enter the bill payment check and bill

  1. Create a backup of the company file.
  2. Delete the bill payment check.
    1. From the Unpaid Bills Detail report, double-click the payment check.
    2. Take note of the Date, Check Number and Amount.
    3. On your keyboard, press Ctrl+D to delete the transaction.
    4. Select OK to confirm the action.
    5. Close the currently displayed check.
  3. Delete the bill.
    1. From the Unpaid Bills Detail report, double-click the bill.
    2. Take note of the Date, Reference Number, Accounts, Items and Amount.
    3. On your keyboard, press Ctrl+D to delete the transaction.
    4. Select OK to confirm the action.
    5. Close the currently displayed bill.
  4. Re-enter the bill and bill payment check using the same information from the original transaction.

Note: If the bill payment check has been cleared, a mini-reconciliation is necessary.

10 replies

A
arkvalleyinfoAuthor
December 11, 2018
it is showing a negative on my aging report but when I go to payables it is not there when I run report on that vendor It is now there
M
Mistami
December 11, 2018
Check your date entered on your bill. If it is in the future it will cause it to show up on your AP report even though it has in fact been paid.
    A
    arkvalleyinfoAuthor
    December 11, 2018
    "Open the bill payment check > uncheck the bill it paid > then re-cehck it" I tried this and it didn't work. any other suggestions to zero out my open balance showing up on A/R report?
    A
    arkvalleyinfoAuthor
    December 11, 2018
    Thx for responding but you took my question out of context... I have payments applied to the invoice directly yet on my A/R report the invoice still shows with the balance as if there is no payment linked to it. I tried unchecking and rechecking and logging out of QB after doing so and logging back in after and my report still shows the customer's invoice with a balance on the A/R report. Please suggest a remedy.

    "Let's review that a 0 balance on the report means things are not applied to each other.

    The request to Zero Out a balance means you Do Not Already have the offset or something that needs to be applied to it. Having a balance means it is waiting for you to Deal with it. Having a Zero Balance, but showing on the report, means things did not get Linked to each other, so the Math of the balance for the name is Zero.

    These are two completely different conditions.

    If you have an AP balance that you want to Offset, a positive balance or Bill is offset with a Bill Payment or a Vendor Credit. A negative AP balance means you have no Bill entered."
    A
    arkvalleyinfoAuthor
    December 11, 2018
    If you have this problem, double check your dates. The year for the date of payment was the wrong year. now the A/R has zero balance after fixing this.
    qbteachmt
    qbteachmt
    December 11, 2018
    You posted about AR in a topic for AP. The tasks are Different.
    K
    kmbush56
    December 11, 2018
    My Bill Pay Screen shows bills already paid in past years. How do I remove them from this screen without changing the financials?
    Raywhite28
    Raywhite28
    December 11, 2018
    Open the bill payment check > uncheck the bill it paid > then re-cehck it
    A
    arkvalleyinfoAuthor
    December 11, 2018
    Worked perfectly! Thank you for this!
    qbteachmt
    qbteachmt
    December 11, 2018

    "any other suggestions to zero out my open balance showing up on A/R report?"

    Let's review that a 0 balance on the report means things are not applied to each other.

    The request to Zero Out a balance means you Do Not Already have the offset or something that needs to be applied to it. Having a balance means it is waiting for you to Deal with it. Having a Zero Balance, but showing on the report, means things did not get Linked to each other, so the Math of the balance for the name is Zero.

    These are two completely different conditions.


    If you have an AP balance that you want to Offset, a positive balance or Bill is offset with a Bill Payment or a Vendor Credit. A negative AP balance means you have no Bill entered.


    L
    loree.thompson
    December 11, 2018
    Reference this post in my new post. Please.
    B
    btautimerAnswer
    May 6, 2019

    When bills, which are already paid, show as unpaid in the Pay Bills window, or, in this case, the A/P Aging Report, check if there are available credits (from unapplied bill payments, recorded credits, or journal entries to the Accounts Payable account) that should be applied to those bills. Another possible issue, though less likely occurrence, is transaction damage.

    Before proceeding with the recommended solutions below, use Vendor QuickReports to verify if the bill showing as unpaid is actually paid.

    1. From the Vendors menu, select Vendor Center.
    2. Right-click the vendor of the bill in question, and select QuickReport.
    3. Set the date of the report to All.
    4. Find and double click the bill that shows in the Pay Bills window.

    If the bill was paid, select History (or press Ctrl+H) to see the details of how it was paid. If not, proceed with the solutions below.

     

    Check and apply available credits

     

    Important: This solution applies if there is available credit balance that came from unapplied bill credit, payment, or a journal entry to Accounts Payable.

     

    1. From the Vendors menu, select Pay Bills.
    2. Select the bill in question, then select Set Credits.
    3. Go to the Credits tab and see if there are available credits.
    4. If a credit exists, select the credit and click Done.
    5. Select Pay Selected Bills.

    If after following the steps in this solution and the bill still appears unpaid in the Pay Bills window or Unpaid Bills Detail Report, the transaction might be damaged.

     

    Troubleshoot damaged bill payment or bill

    Solution 1: Edit the transaction

    1. Create a backup of the company file.
    2. For reference, take note of the important information of the bill payment check like Date, Amount, and Vendor Name.
    3. Change the date of the bill payment check.
      1. Open the bill payment check associated with the bill.
      2. Change the date to 10 years in the future.
      3. Select Save & Close.
      4. Re-open the bill payment check and change the date back to its original date.
      5. Select Save & Close.

    If the bill still shows as unpaid, proceed to solution 2.

    Solution 2: Delete and re-enter the bill payment check and bill

    1. Create a backup of the company file.
    2. Delete the bill payment check.
      1. From the Unpaid Bills Detail report, double-click the payment check.
      2. Take note of the Date, Check Number and Amount.
      3. On your keyboard, press Ctrl+D to delete the transaction.
      4. Select OK to confirm the action.
      5. Close the currently displayed check.
    3. Delete the bill.
      1. From the Unpaid Bills Detail report, double-click the bill.
      2. Take note of the Date, Reference Number, Accounts, Items and Amount.
      3. On your keyboard, press Ctrl+D to delete the transaction.
      4. Select OK to confirm the action.
      5. Close the currently displayed bill.
    4. Re-enter the bill and bill payment check using the same information from the original transaction.

    Note: If the bill payment check has been cleared, a mini-reconciliation is necessary.

      W
      Wray
      September 7, 2019

      Hi, I've been trying your fixes for this error, and sadly no success.  I enter the bill.  It appears correctly in the pay bills window.  I pay the bill, the vendor now has zero balance.  However, the invoice has magically reappeared in the pay bills window.  There is no balance owing in the vendor home page, and no balance owing in the AP summary.  There are no credits to apply.

       

      If I tick and untick the bill to apply the payment to in the payment screen, the amount owing somehow doubles.

       

      This has not happened to any other payable invoices.

      R
      Rasa-LilaM
      September 8, 2019

      Thanks for reaching out to us here in the Community, @Wray.


      Based on the information provided, it looks like the transaction is damaged. To resolve the issue, let’s delete and recreate the bill and bill payment.


      Before proceeding, it’s always a good idea to create a backup copy of the company file. Next, open the Unpaid Bills Detail Report and double-click the bill to see the complete details.

       

      Please note of the Date, Check Number and Amount. You'll need the following information when creating the transaction.

       

      Now, let’s go ahead and remove it. Here’s how:

       

      1. On the Bill page, choose the Edit menu to select Edit Bill.
      2. In the Delete Transaction window, hit the OK button to confirm the process.

       

      To delete the bill payment check:

       

      1. Open the transaction.
      2. Choose the Edit menu then pick Delete Bill/Bill Pmt-Check.
      3. Click OK to confirm the action.

      The following article provides detailed information when to void or delete a transaction: Bill or bill payment check.

       

      Next, re-enter the bill and bill payment check using the same information from the original transaction. However, if none of these suggestions work, run the Rebuild and Verify Data utility tools to detect any issues in your company file and to correct it.

       

      Here's how to rebuild:

       

      1. Go to the File tab to select the Utilities menu, and then choose Rebuild Data.
      2. When the QuickBooks Desktop Information window opens, hit the OK button.
      3. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a backup copy.
      4. Click on OK once you see the following message “Rebuild has completed”.


      To verify the data:

       

      1. Go to the File tab to select the Utilities menu, and then choose Verify Data.
      2. Once you see receive this message “QuickBooks detected no problems with your data”, click the OK button.
      3. If the tool finds an issue with your data, you’ll be prompted to Rebuild Now or View errors.
      4. Hit OK and continue performing the troubleshooting steps.


      For detailed instructions, go directly to the Review Last Verify/Rebuild section to continue. Click here to view the steps.


      For future reference, check out the following article: A paid bill or invoice shows on report or window of open transactions.


      Stay in touch if you have any other concerns or questions. Please know I’m always ready to help you. Have a good one.  

       

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