Quickbooks 2021 Tutorial for Beginners - How to Clear Out Old Unpaid Bills

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Feel free to leave a comment or question here!

[@5541james]

I will be giving this a try I’m a new bookkeeper taking over for someone and my pay bills is full of these old invoices and they are driving me nuts. I had been just going in and writing a check to show it as paid and then going and deleting the check. I’m sitting here at home thinking what new mess have I created I’ve probably done this 20 times to clear out the pay bills section. Thanks for the video I will be doing this in the morning hopefully having success.

[@alleykat1088]

What if you can’t find the source transaction?

[@mdsheldon9]

The bill removed in your video was a PAID (incorrectly) bill. The caption for this tutorial reads, "...Old UNPAID Bills", and therefore didn't address my issue here.

[@tanyam3335]

I did not know this trick thanks.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You're welcome!

[@CraigStevens-v3k]

I have taken over the books for a company where the book keeper only added the bills but didn't record any of the payments on Quickbooks. I know the bills were paid, but nothing was put into Quickbooks. How would I clear those old bills from previous closed years out?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Unfortunately you have to go to each of the payments made, change the account to AP, enter the vendor name, save, then go to Pay Bills and apply the credit to the open bill to pay it

[@pamelacarey9144]

Thanks for the video. What if the payment was made with the correct account, i.e. check or JE and used AP, but the bill is still there? What happens in the GL when I set the credit?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You just apply the credit to the AP and it will clear out the AP

[@alleykat1088]

What if there is an accountants copy already made and it won’t let you make any changes to the bills to be paid?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You have to wait until the accountant sends back the file they are working on. Or if it’s just a mistake and you are not waiting on a file you can cancel the accountants copy and it will go back to a normal working file

[@CorreneaIkerd]

What if you have an unpaid invoice that is due, however we had a credit with the vendor and they wiped out this invoice. We want to keep this invoice in QB but want to remove it from pay bills? can I apply this technique?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

You would actually create a Vendor Credit then apply it to the invoice as payment

[@Tarigmaki]

Hello , it is good that I have gone over your channel , my question is ; I am the owner and I deposited some amount physically to my company account from my own pocket , and for sure later I will take it back , Now : how do I need to register it on quick box ? Under what exactly ?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Enter it as Owner Contribution which is an equity account and when you take it back record as Owner Distribution which is also an equity account

[@Tarigmaki]

Not liability account ? So it will appear as needs to be paid back ? Another question ; How can I take part of the profit and distribute it between two partners registered as shareholders ?

[@mariannecoulter8120]

What about the date that you enter in when applying the credit...do you have to make sure it is the same date as the check that was written, or does it really matter?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Nah it doesn’t really matter

[@lisac2166]

What if the bills are from prior years and the tax returns filed, does this method still work?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Great question! You wouldn’t want to change prior year so in that case I would do a journal entry debiting AP and assigning to that vendor and crediting the expense

[@clairei.montemayorruiz7435]

@@QbuniversityOrg Can you make a video explaining this process with an explanation? This is very helpful. Thank you so much.

[@clairei.montemayorruiz7435]

and what about is from an older year but the check payment has the amount in AP?

[@brandongetten450]

@@clairei.montemayorruiz7435 I encountered this same issue, did you get a chance to find any related video explaining the process?

[@deborahfrancis9872]

Would this method affect 2020 taxes when a cash basis system was used?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Maybe. It all depends on how the original payment was recorded. If it was shown as an expense then no it would not affect a prior period. If it was not then it would

[@tcherylp]

Would this work the same way for QBO?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Yep!

[@katestan7002]

Are these changes will affect the statements?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Affect the statements from the vendor?

[@katestan7002]

@@QbuniversityOrg Income statement, Trail balance. You said that this mistake double the expenses.

[@QbuniversityOrg]

@@katestan7002 gotcha. Yes if you make these changes they will correct the statements

[@katestan7002]

@@QbuniversityOrg thank you, thank you! One more question, what if the bank is reconciled already?

[@QbuniversityOrg]

@@katestan7002 that should be fine since you’re not adding any payments just changing the account on the payment

[@katestan7002]

Awesome!

[@QbuniversityOrg]

Thanks!

[@graceyim2941]

Bravo., I mean.

[@graceyim2941]

Btavo.