Skip to main content
J
JRR430
September 24, 2022
Question

Help: How do I manually mark an expense/bill as paid?

  • September 24, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 0 views

I'm brand new to QB, practicing entering my professional expenses (using the vendor category) for this calendar year in anticipation of using QB next year for a private psychology practice. I've been able to enter the bills but cannot figure out how to manually document that they've already been paid. Help would be appreciated and thank you in advance.

4 replies

Rose-A
Rose-A
September 24, 2022

Congratulations on your new QuickBooks Online account, JRR430. Let's get these bills paid.

 

Manually paying bills in QuickBooks Online is quick and easy. We can mark them as paid through the Pay bills section, here's how:

 

  1. Click + New in the left panel and choose Pay Bills.
  2. Select the bills you wanted to pay.
  3. Hit Save and close.

     

For more details about paying bills in QuickBooks Online, we can scan through the following articles below. We can find other ways how to record payment bills as well as a link to differentiate between bills, checks, and expenses. Also, I'll be adding a write-up about paying bills online:

 

Enter and manage bills and bill payments in QuickBooks Online.

Learn about QuickBooks Bill Pay.

 

This should keep you moving today, JRR430. Don't hesitate to let me know if I can be of additional assistance while working in QuickBooks or need more help with paying bills. I'm always here to keep helping. Have a good one!

J
JRR430Author
September 24, 2022

This is helpful but my issue is that both with the QB provided practice company examples and a template file provided to me by my accountant based on my past expenses to get started, I've not yet seen this + New button anywhere. I'm sure it is probably human error. For what it's worth, I have Desktop Pro Plus 2022 online subscription. The transactions I'm entering are from earlier 2022, before getting QB.

MariaSoledadG
MariaSoledadG
September 24, 2022

Let me clarify some details about marking the bill as paid, JRR430.

 

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can go to the Pay Bills window to settle your payables. To locate the bills you want to pay, select theShow all bills option on the Pay Bills window, then scroll up or down to find the bill. You can run the Transactions List by Vendors report to check if you've already paid the bill. Here's how:

 

  1. Go to the Reports menu.
  2. Select Vendors & Payables, then Transaction List by Vendor.
  3. Select Customize Report, then Billing Status from the Column section.
  4. Select OK.

 

Then, you can now pay the bills. I've provided the steps below for you to follow: 

 

  1. Go to the Vendors menu, then select Pay Bills.
  2. Select the correct accounts payable account from the dropdown.
  3. Select the checkboxes of the bills you want to pay from the table.
    Note: To unmark or mark all the bills in the list, select Clear Selections or Select All Bills.
  4. Set any discount or credit that you want to apply to the bills.
    • Discount - Select this if your vendor gave you a discount for this transaction.
    • Credit - Select this if you received a credit from your vendor, and used it to reduce your total bill amount.
  5. Enter the date you paid the bill.
  6. Select the payment method:
    • Check - Select the Assign check number if you plan to manually write the check. Select To be Printed to print the check or add it to the list of checks to print.
    • Credit Card - You can use credit cards to pay bills, then print a payment stub.
    • Online Bill Payment - You can directly pay your vendor bills in QuickBooks. It also records your payment automatically so your reports are accurate.
    • Online Bank Payment - The payment processor will print and mail a check to the employee. You can select Include reference number if you want the bill or credit reference number to be sent along with your name and account number.
    • Cash, Debit or ATM card, Paypal, or EFT - You can select Check, then Assign check number even when you’re not paying with an actual check. Enter the type of payment in the check number field or leave it blank.
  7. Select Pay Selected Bills.
  8. Select Done, or select Pay More Bills if you have other bills you need to pay.

 

Please know when you pay the bill, you don't have to write a check. If you do, the bill remains open and unpaid which leads to inaccurate financial reports. In addition, QuickBooks Desktop lets you add and match bank transactions in according to the modes you used. Learn how QuickBooks handles them by going through this article for your reference: Add And Match Bank Feed Transactions In QuickBooks Desktop.

 

Anything else that you need help with? Anyway, just let us know and we are sure ready to help you all the time.

Rainflurry
Rainflurry
September 24, 2022

@JRR430 

 

You can't just mark a bill as paid because that isn't enough information to properly record the bill payment in double-entry accounting.  If you record a bill and then pay it, you are creating transactions that will impact your financial statements in future years.  If this is not a legitimate business yet, but will be in the future, you don't want to do that.   If you were using QB Desktop (a much better product IMO), you could create a practice company file and play around with it all you want since QB Desktop allows you to set up as many companies as you want.  QB Online doesn't allow you to create multiple companies under one subscription. 

 

However, if these are legitimate business expenses that you have paid personally, then you can pay the bills using a bank clearing account (if you don't have one, set one up).  Then, create a journal entry and debit the bank clearing account and credit owner equity.  If you want to just record this as an FYI, that is not really what QB is intended to do.    

J
JRR430Author
September 25, 2022

@Rainflurry 

 

Thanks for the response and the tips.

D
ddddpg2021
August 1, 2023

Not sure if you've resolved it, but I was researching the same issue.  If you created the bill as a bill payement due, then paid the bill outside of QB online, meaning you did not use the pay bills function, instead went to your bank bill pay or direct to the vendor site, QB does not know you did that.  You can go back to the pay bills icon, click on a bill which will allow you to edit it. Then, at the bottom, click the more button and select delete. The "accounts payable" that was there should not be gone.

F
Francine22
February 14, 2024

Hello all, and thank you in advance for your help!  I have QuickBooks Desktop Premier Plus. How do I mark a bill that has been paid already by a credit card?  I first generated a purchase order since this is an inventory item.  I then received the item against the purchase order.  Now I have a bill that needs to be paid, that has already been paid.

 

Thanks again!  

Candice C
Candice C
February 14, 2024

Hey there, @Francine22. 

 

Thanks for chiming in on this thread. 

 

To clarify, have you already enter the payment in QuickBooks? 

 

If so, you should be able to connect the bill to that payment. This is the way QuickBooks is suppose to work, it reflects what happens in real life. 

 

If you took a credit card payment for the bill then you'll need to either enter or match the credit card bill to the payment in QuickBooks. 

 

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask. Have a wonderful day! 

F
Francine22
February 14, 2024

Hello Candice, and thank you for replying.  

 

We do not pay anything with a credit card through QuickBooks.  This was paid with a credit card and I am now trying to receive the inventory item in against the purchase order that I generated.  Should I not have generated a purchase order and just updated the quantities? 

 

 

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement