When I add a payment to an invoice and then create a receipt to send to a client, the transaction is doubled and creates a false income statement. How can I fix this?

Hello veermanacres,

Thanks for sharing a bit about what's going on when you're working with your customer payments and sending them receipts in QuickBooks Online. I know the accuracy of your numbers is integral to both you and your customer, and I can help you sort this out to make sure that the figures aren't doubled.

From what you're describing, I suspect you may be using both the Receive Payment and Sales Receipt feature for the same payment transaction. If that's the case, that's where the doubling is coming from as these are individual features that shouldn't be used for the same transaction. The Receive Payment is to record a payment against an invoice, whereas the Sales Receipt function is to record a single transaction where the product or service and funds were exchanged at the same time.

In this case, select one method or the other. When you're working with an invoice, the Receive Payment option is the way to go. Once you've filled out that form with the appropriate details, you can choose Save and send from the green button drop-down at the bottom of the window to send a receipt for that payment to the customer. This option won't double your numbers as it's just sending your customer a copy of the info you entered into Receive Payment.

If you have been entering sales receipts in addition to the Receive Payment transaction, I recommend going through and deleting those so that you don't have duplicate figures in your books. This article can help: Void or delete transactions in QuickBooks Online

For you reference, here's our Community article about invoices and sales receipts: Should I use an invoice or a sales receipt?

That should get you back on track, but don't hesitate if you have further questions. I'm here to help!