QuickBooks FAQs and Their Answers

QuickBooks is the leading accounting software choice for small businesses, with more than 7 million small businesses choosing it to handle their day-to-day needs. This versatile software can handle all of your accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, and tax needs – and so much more!

At inDinero, we help many of our clients establish their accounting and bookkeeping with QuickBooks. We get plenty of questions about its core features, so here are some answers that can let you take full advantage of everything QuickBooks has to offer.

How to Reconcile in QuickBooks?

How to Create an Invoice in QuickBooks

How to Write Off an Invoice in QuickBooks

How to Print a W-2 from QuickBooks

How to Transfer QuickBooks to a New Computer

How to Void a Check in QuickBooks

How to Print 1099 from QuickBooks?

How to Write Off Bad Debt in QuickBooks

How Do I Enter a Customer DBA Name Into QuickBooks?

What Does Revert Mean in QuickBooks?

How to Create an Owner’s Draw Account in QuickBooks Online

How to Merge Customers in QuickBooks

How Can My Business Get Started With QuickBooks?

How to Reconcile in QuickBooks?

Reconciling your accounts to line up with your bank, credit card, and other account statements is a vital part of routine accounting. QuickBooks makes reconciling accounts easy with just a few simple steps.

To prepare for reconciliation, you should back up your company file to ensure that your data is protected. If this is your first time reconciling a specific account, you’ll have to establish your opening balance by entering that value from the beginning of a bank statement.

You’ll need to gather the bank accounts and credit card statements to reconcile and ensure that all relevant transactions have already cleared. When reconciling several months at once, you should start with the oldest statement.

Now, you can open QuickBooks and follow these steps:

1. Select Reconcile from the Banking menu.
2. Select the specific bank or other accounts you wish to reconcile in the Account field.
3. Your Statement Date should fill automatically. Verify that it matches the date on your bank statement, and change it if necessary.
4. The Beginning Balance will fill automatically based on the ending balance of your previous reconciliation.
5. Take the Ending Balance from your bank statement and enter it into QuickBooks.
6. Enter any Interest Earned or Service Charges from your statement, but be careful not to enter any charges already present in QuickBooks.
7. Review the information you’ve entered and select Continue.

If any numbers don’t line up, you can select Locate Discrepancies to generate a report that highlights potential reconciliation issues.

Now, you can compare each individual transaction in QuickBooks to those listed on your bank statement. Simply check off the transaction in the checkmark column if it matches to reconcile it. Once all transactions are cleared, select Reconcile Now to complete the process.

How to Create an Invoice in QuickBooks

Creating and managing invoices is a core feature of QuickBooks accounts receivable functionality. You can create invoices from scratch, for sales orders or for estimates/quotations.

Follow these steps to create an invoice from scratch:

1. Select Create Invoices from the Customers menu.
2. Go to the Customer: Job and select the customer or customer job for the invoice. You can click Add New to create a new customer.

1. Fill out the form with the required information, such as the date, invoice number, bill to, and terms.
2. Add items for the invoice to the detail area. You can create a new item or modify the descriptions and costs of previously entered items.
3. Click Save & Close to complete the invoice.

If you need to create an invoice for an existing sales order, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Sales Orders tab and select Create Invoice.
2. Select the option to either create an invoice for all sales orders or create an invoice for selected items.
3. Make changes to the invoice as needed. For example, quantity, price, or other details may have changed between the order and the invoice.
4. Click Save & Close.

You can also create an invoice from an estimate with these steps:

1. Open the estimate.
2. Click on Create Invoice near the top of the form.
3. You may be prompted to select which items and quantities to apply to the invoice.
4. The invoice will generate, and you can modify any information if needed.
5. Click Save & Close.

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How to Write Off an Invoice in QuickBooks

QuickBooks is an excellent choice of accounting software to handle invoices. You can easily write off invoices due to minor discrepancies if needed in just a few simple steps. Handling this process properly ensures accurate accounting and that you don’t overpay your tax obligations.

1. Go to Sales and select Customers, then find the specific customer and select the appropriate invoice to write off.
2. Select New from the main menu and then choose Credit Memo under the Customers column.
3. Input the customer information from the invoice and select the date for the write off.
4. Fill out the credit memo with quantities, rates, and amounts from the invoice, but use the Bad Debt item instead of the original product or service.
5. Apply the sales tax to the credit memo if it was applied to the original invoice.
6. Apply the credit memo to the invoice by selecting the invoice, selecting Receive Payment, and then selecting the credit memo as payment.

1. The payment amount will now be $0.
2. There will be a $0 transaction in the check register during your next reconciliation. Clear that transaction to complete the write off.

How to Print a W-2 from QuickBooks

QuickBooks provides a wide range of tax features, including easy access to W-2 and W-3 forms. How you access these forms will vary depending on your payroll service. QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Basic doesn’t provide any access to W-2 and W-3 forms.

QuickBooks Online Payroll

If you have QuickBooks handle your taxes and forms automatically, they mail out W-2s to your employees throughout January and provide the option to print them yourself by January 13th.

To access and print W-2s and W-3s, follow these steps:

1. Go to Taxes, and then Payroll Tax.
2. Go to Filings, and either select directly for the current year or select Annual Forms to access previous years.
3. You can click on View beside the options listed for Employer W-2, Employee W-2, or W-3.
4. This opens the forms as a PDF, which you can then print as needed.

If you don’t automate forms through QuickBooks, you’ll need to purchase proper W-2 paper to provide official copies for employees. Intuit, the company behind QuickBooks, sells W-2 kits for this purpose.

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Assisted

Under this plan, QuickBooks files W-2s and W-3s with the IRS and SSA on your behalf. You can access W-2s to print manually with these steps:

1. Go to Employees, and then Payroll Center.
2. Click on the File Forms tab.
3. Click on View/Print Forms & W-2s.
4. Provide your payroll PIN for verification.
5. Go to the W-2s tab and select the year.
6. Select individual employees or all employees.

1. Click on Open/Save Selected.
2. This opens the forms as PDFs for printing.

QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Enhanced and Standard

To create and print your W-2s and W-3s, follow these steps:

1. Select Payroll Tax Forms from the Employees dropdown menu, then click Process Payroll Forms.
2. Select Annual Form W-2/W-3 from the File Forms tab.
3. Click on Create Form.
4. Select the employees to file and enter the year.
5. Select employees to print.
6. Click on Review/Edit to review each W-2, and then Submit Form to print and file.

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How to Transfer QuickBooks to a New Computer

If you’re using QuickBooks Online, you can already access QuickBooks from any device by simply signing in. If you’re using QuickBooks Desktop, you’ll have to manually move or reinstall QuickBooks for use on another computer.

inDinero can help you handle your QuickBooks implementation. You can also follow these steps to move or reinstall QuickBooks:

1. Make sure that you have your product and license information on hand.
2. Uninstall QuickBooks from the computer you’re using if you’re reinstalling.
3. Download the installation files or insert your CD into the computer you want to install QuickBooks Desktop for.
4. Open QuickBooks.exe from the file or CD.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the software and accept the software license agreement.
6. Enter your product and license numbers.
7. Select Express for express installation or Custom and Network Options to change settings and install location.
8. Once installation is complete, click Open QuickBooks.

1. You’ll be prompted to Activate QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Follow the onscreen instructions to verify your info.

If you don’t have your CD, you can download the files for your version of QuickBooks from their website. If you don’t know your product and license numbers, you can go to the computer you currently have QuickBooks installed on and press F2 to bring up your product information.

How to Void a Check in QuickBooks

The instructions for how to void a check in QuickBooks depend on whether you’re using QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks Online

1. Click on Bookkeeping, then Transactions, and then choose Expenses.
2. Click on Filter, and then select Check in the Type field.
3. Select the appropriate date range to find the check and click Apply.
4. Choose the check you wish to void in the Expense Transactions list.
5. Click on More, and choose Void from the options listed.
6. Select Yes to void the check.

QuickBooks Desktop

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can either void or delete a check. Voiding a check changes its amount to $0 and prints VOID in the memo. The check is void, but the information stays recorded in the system. Deleting a check removes it entirely.

To void a check, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Banking menu and select Use Register.
2. Choose the account associated with the check from the dropdown list.
3. Select the appropriate check from the Bank Register.

1. Select the Edit menu and choose Void Check.
2. Click on Record.

To delete a check, follow these steps:

1. Go to the banking menu and select Use Register.
2. Choose the account associated with the check from the dropdown list.
3. Select the appropriate check from the Bank Register.
4. Select the Edit menu and choose Delete Check.
5. Click on Record.

If a check is from a previous month and has already been reconciled, you’ll have to undo the reconciliation. After you delete the transaction, you can redo the reconciliation process.

Credit: Leon Dewiwje

How to Print 1099 from QuickBooks?

If your business works with independent contractors, then providing 1099 forms is an important part of proper tax compliance. QuickBooks makes it easy to prepare 1099s with information already entered into your records.

With QuickBooks, you can e-file through Intuit to simplify dealing with 1099s. If you file yourself, you’ll need the right 1099 paper to print and mail forms. Intuit sells kits for printing 1099s. If you are printing and filing your 1099s manually, you can follow these steps.

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Contractor Payments

1. Go to Payroll, and click on Contractors or Vendors. For QuickBooks Contractor Payments, click on 1099 filings.
2. Click on Prepare 1099s to create your 1099s.
3. Choose the appropriate type of form you’re printing.
4. Select Print sample on blank paper to verify that the form will print properly on your 1099 paper.

1. Confirm the form and click on View selected 1099 contractors.
2. Select Print on 1099 forms, then click on Print to complete.

QuickBooks Desktop

1. Make sure that your version of QuickBooks Desktop is updated to the latest release.
2. In the Vendors menu, select 1099 Forms. Click on Print/E-file 1099 forms to create your 1099 forms.
3. Select Print 1099-NEC or Print 1099-MISC in the Choose a filing method window.
4. Select the date range for your forms and the vendors to print for.
5. Click on Print 1099, confirm printer settings, and click on Print.

You can then send your 1099 forms to your contractors. Be careful not to miss the deadline, as 1099s must be postmarked by January 31st.

How to Write Off Bad Debt in QuickBooks

In QuickBooks, you can easily write off bad debt to avoid overpaying your tax obligations while maintaining accurate records. To write off bad debt, you can define a Bad Debt expense item to apply to credit memos against any invoices you wish to write off.

To create the Bad Debt expense item, you can follow these steps:

1. Select New from the main menu and then Credit Memo.
2. Inside the credit memo, click on the Product/Service Field and then select Add new.
3. Select Service as the product type.
4. Enter the name of the item as “Bad Debt.”

1. Select an expense account to be used for bad debt as the income account type.
2. Set the sales tax category to Nontaxable so you can define tax on each individual credit memo.

Once the Bad Debt expense item has been created, you can use it whenever you need to write off bad debt. Each time you create a credit memo for a write off, simply select the already created Bad Debt item under Product/Service. Apply the sales tax to match the original invoice, and then apply the credit memo to the appropriate invoice to complete the write off.

How Do I Enter a Customer DBA Name Into QuickBooks?

Adding customers and managing their information is generally straightforward and easy in QuickBooks. In most cases, you can select Customers under the Sales tab and click Edit to update names, addresses, and other details.

However, there’s often some confusion around businesses that use a Doing Business As (DBA) name different from their legal business entity name. Businesses that register for a DBA name have certain requirements, but that’s all on their end.

For your accounting purposes, you can treat a customer’s DBA name exactly the same as their company name. If you’re adding a new customer, follow these steps:

1. Click on Sales, and then Customers.
2. Click on New customer.
3. Enter their DBA name in the Company field, and fill out the rest of the information as usual.
4. Be sure to include their tax registration number under the Tax info tab.

If a customer changes their DBA name, you can update their information with these steps:

1. Click on Sales, and then Customers.
2. Select the appropriate customer.

1. Click Edit.
2. Update their information.

If you’re unsure about the proper company name to use for any customer, the best approach is to ask them. If you have accidentally added invoices for the same company under different names, you can always merge those customer accounts later.

What Does Revert Mean in QuickBooks?

Revert is a useful feature of QuickBooks that makes dealing with simple accounting and data entry errors much easier. In certain situations, when handling certain forms and documents, the Revert option lets you undo changes and restore the most recent version of a document.

When creating or editing invoices, you may make minor data entry accidents or changes that have unexpected results. You can click the Revert button to bring the invoice back to its previously saved form, undoing added, deleted, or edited items.

You can also click Revert to undo any changes made to sales receipts. Bills, estimates, and other types of documents can easily be returned to their previously saved state if you make any mistakes.

While this feature is useful, your company should also perform regular backups. You can easily set up scheduled backups by going to the File menu, selecting Backup Company, and then scheduling backups. You can choose a specific time or day of the week to back up your files.

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How to Create an Owner’s Draw Account in QuickBooks Online

Small businesses can operate under a variety of different structures. If your business is a sole proprietorship, you’ll rely on an owner’s draw to pay yourself and to recover any investment in your own business.

In QuickBooks, you’ll need to establish an owner’s equity account to start paying out an owner’s draw. After that, performing an owner’s draw is as simple as writing any other check through QuickBooks.

You can add an owner’s equity account to your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online or Desktop. To do so, just follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings, and then Chart of Accounts.
2. Click on New, and select Equity from the Account Type dropdown menu.
3. Select Owner’s Equity from the Detail Type dropdown menu.
4. Click on Save to complete the owner’s equity account creation.

The process to create a check for an owner’s draw differs between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks Online

1. Click on New in the main menu.
2. Click on Check.
3. Select the Payee from the dropdown (create a new Payee if necessary).
4. Choose the Owner’s Equity account in the Bank account menu.
5. Select Print check to print, or Print later to save for later.
6. Click on Save and close to complete the owner’s draw.

QuickBooks Desktop

1. Select Write Checks in the Banking menu.
2. Select the Owner’s Equity account as the bank account.
3. Enter the Payee Name.

1. Fill in the date, amount, and memo if necessary.
2. Check Print Later to print at a later time or Pay Online to process payment online.
3. Click on Save and Close to complete the owner’s draw.

How to Merge Customers in QuickBooks

You might find yourself in a situation where the same customer has been added to your customer list multiple times due to mistakes or miscommunication. When this happens, QuickBooks provides a simple solution to merge duplicate clients.

Before merging customers, check to see if those customers have any sub-customers. If they do, change those sub-customers into regular customers beforehand. You can simply uncheck the ‘Is a sub-customer’ checkbox on the sub-customer’s profile.

To merge duplicate customers in, you can follow these steps:

1. Go to Customers and open the custom profile that you want to merge into another profile.
2. Select Edit.
3. Copy and paste the name of the duplicate profile in the Customer display name (it must be an exact match).
4. Click on Save.
5. You will be prompted asking to merge the two profiles. Click on Yes.
6. The two profiles are now merged.

This same process can be used for entries in your Chart of Accounts, Item List, Vendor List, and Employee List. Simply edit the name of one entry to match that of another, and you’ll be asked if you wish to merge the two entries.

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How Can My Business Get Started With QuickBooks?

If you’re looking to get started with QuickBooks or other accounting solutions, inDinero can help. We’ll match your needs to the right product and can provide a wide range of additional services and support. You can talk to an expert today to find the right accounting solution for you.