How To Enter Credit Card Payments In Quickbooks Desktop

Credit card transactions and payments are indispensable parts of a business these days. By recording such transactions wisely, you can keep track of your business financials and related expenses more precisely. It will also contribute to preparing a fault-free fiscal report at the completion of a financial year.

If you are new to QuickBooks and are wondering How to enter credit card payments in Quickbooks Desktop, you are at the right place! In this blog, we will tell you everything you need to know in this regard.

Here we go!

First things first! You need to set up the credit card in QuickBooks before entering the card payments. You can also skip this task and enter credit card payments by just treating the card as a vendor. But, if you set up the card beforehand, you will experience more accurate recording of transactions. Individual transactions will be tracked better by the system and it will facilitate better reconciliation of the statements too.

How to Set Up a Credit Card in QuickBooks Desktop?

• Click  ‘Chart of Accounts’ to create a new item for the credit card
• Go to the upper right corner and click ‘New’. The following screen would appear
• Select ‘Credit Card’ in ‘Account Type’.

• Assign an unique name which should include the last 4 digits of the card
• Select “Save & Close”
• Go to ‘QuickBook Desktop Products’
• Click ‘Company’
• Now Click ‘Chart of Accounts’.  A new screen would appear on your screen.
• On the lower left of the new screen, click ‘Account’
• Click ‘New’
• In ‘Account Type’, choose ‘Credit Card’
• Click ‘Continue’
• Give an appropriate name to the account
• Select “Save & Close” to complete

How to Enter Credit Card Payments in Quickbooks Desktop?

Please follow the simple steps mentioned below-

• Go to the QuickBooks desktop icon and open the Company File.
• Next, click on the ‘Banking Menu’
• A list will appear on your screen. Select the option named ‘ Enter Credit Card Charges’ .
• A new window will appear. Select the credit card account.
• By default, the ‘Purchase/Charge’ button is selected. If you wish to refund the credit, you may select the other button alternately.
• From the ‘Purchased from’ dropdown menu, select the name of the appropriate vendor
• Enter the date of the transaction
• In the ‘Memo’ part, you may wish to add some more information related to the transaction ( although it’s optional)
• Now click the ‘Expenses’ tab and ‘Items’ tab if you have more information to add
• Select “Save & Close” to finish

Now that you have learnt how to enter credit card payments in Quickbooks Desktop, it’s time you learn another important  thing- to reconcile your credit card account

How to Reconcile a Credit Card Account in QuickBooks?

Before writing a check, it’s always a better practice to reconcile a card with QuickBooks. In this way, you can also diminish the possibility of an error.

Here are the steps to reconcile a credit card account-

• Go to the QuickBooks desktop icon and open the Company File.
• Next, click on the ‘Banking Menu’
• A list will appear on your screen. Select the option named ‘ Reconcile’.

• Select the credit card account you wish to reconcile from the ‘Account’ drop-down menu
• Enter the credit card statement date in the field named ‘Statement Date’
• From the credit card statement, enter the exact ending balance amount in the ‘Ending Balance’ field.
• Enter the ending date of the statement in the field so named, It may  not always be the last day of the month.
• If you want to add any extra charge such as interest charge, enter these in the ‘Finance charge’ field. Also mentioned the date in the appropriate field, assign a category from the ‘Expense Account’ drop down menu and click on “Start reconciling” tab
• You will now be directed to the ‘Bank Reconciliation’ screen
• The transactions of your credit card will appear on your screen. Match these transactions with those of your card statement and check if there is any error.
• Carry out this exercise till the difference at the bottom right corner of your screen becomes nil. If the difference is still there, scrutinize to detect any inadvertent mistake made. After you are able to nullify the difference, you can start to reconcile.
• Once the reconciliation is complete, QuickBooks would lead you to a new screen , with the dialog box ‘Write a check for payment now’.
• Click “OK” to proceed.

QuickBooks has been no less than a boon for small and medium businesses. No wonder why it has been a craze these days and more and more businesses are using it as a tool to enhance business performance. Hope the above-mentioned details would help you to enter and reconcile credit card transactions in QuickBooks desktop.  Hope it would make your work much simpler. Do reach out to us in case you have any doubt.