When you receive money from a customer, you must receive the payment in QuickBooks so that it records the transaction and marks the invoice as paid.  Upon receipt of a payment, the accounts receivable records are updated, and the payment is ready to be posted as a deposit into an account (i.e., generally a bank account).

To receive a payment, follow the steps below:

1. Choose the Customers menu and choose Receive Payments.
2. Fill in the top portion of the form, including the customer’s name, the payment amount, payment method, and the date on which the payment was received.
3. Check the column to the left of the invoice to which you want to apply the payment.  You might be asked to decide how to apply the payment for one of the following scenarios: (a) Overpayment can become a credit or refund, (b) Underpayment can be left as is or written off, (c) Customer has unused credit to be applied, or (d) Customer has available discounts.
4. Choose the appropriate selection and you should see your choices reflected in total amounts for selected invoices.  If the customer has a discount or available credits, you can chose how to apply them.
5. Save the payment.

Did You Know?  You can set a preference so that payments received:

• Automatically go to the undeposited funds account, or
• Automatically get calculated an applied as you select invoices in the list.

Choose the Edit menu, followed by selecting Preferences and clicking Company Preferences tab in the Sales & Customers area to set this preference.