How to Clear an Overpayment Made By a Customer in Quickbooks
Has one of your business’s customers accidentally overpaid you for a product or service they purchased? If so, you’ll need to clear the customer’s overpayment in your accounting books. If you use Quickbooks, you can do this by writing a refund check to the customer for the difference between the purchase price of the product or service and the amount he or she paid your business.
To clear an overpayment in Quickbooks, start by creating a credit memo for the refund. This is done by logging in to your account and choosing “Create Credit Memos/Refunds” under the “Customers” menu. From here, you can choose the customer from the “Customer:Job” menu, followed by entering an item and amount of the credit. When finished, click “OK” to complete the process.
After creating a credit memo, open the credit memo and select “Refund” at the top of the screen. Double-check to make sure this information is correct, at which point you can click “OK” to proceed. You aren’t out of the woods just yet. You must still connect the check with the credit memo that you just recently created. Otherwise, Quickbooks won’t be able to track the overpayment and record it properly. From the main Quickbooks screen, select the “Customers” menu, followed by “Receive Payments.” From here, choose the customer who overpaid your business for their purchased product or service. You should notice the amount of the credit listed here. Assuming it’s correct, click “Apply Existing Credits” to place a check mark in this box. For the field titled “Refund,” enter the check amount in the column for “Refund.”
When finished, go back to the main screen and click “Customers,” followed by “Create Credit Memos/Refunds.” This will bring up the credit memo that you recently created. You can then select “Tx History” to see the refund check displayed in the history.
Overpayments are a common occurrence, especially with businesses that sell a service rather than a product. If your business sells a service — and the price of that services vary depending on the customer’s preferences or requirements — there’s a good chance that you’ll encounter an overpayment. The good news is that you can handle overpayments in just a few easy steps. Using Quickbooks, credit a credit memo and refund check, and then connect those two items together. When done correctly, it will properly refund the customer while recording his or her overpayment in your accounting books.
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