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Has your business received an underpayment from a customer? Known as an underpayment, this occurs when a customer pays an amount that’s lower than the cost of the product or service your business sold to them. Underpayments can occur for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is human error. While attempting to collect the difference between the underpayment and the cost of the product or service is always an option, many businesses prefer to write off the difference because it’s easier and faster. In Quickbooks, you can write off underpayments such as this using the accounting software’s “discounts” feature.

Steps to Writing Off an Underpayment

To write off an underpayment in Quickbooks, log in to your Quickbooks account and create a charge off account. This is done by choosing “Chart of Accounts” from the “Lists” menu. After accessing the “Lists” menu, select Account > New > Income > Continue. For the “Account Name” field, type “A/R Charge Off,” followed by “Save & Close.” You can technically create any name for the “Account Name,” but using “A/R Charge Off” will help you remember that the write off was for an accounts receivable that was charged off and forgiven.

With the new account created, you’ll need to add a charge-off item to it. This is done by going back to the “Lists” menu and choosing “Item Lists.” Next, click Item > New. For the “Item Type,” select “Other Charge,” followed by “Continue.” For the “Item Name” field, type “Charge Off .” Quickbooks will then ask you for some other basic information associated with the account, including the type of account. For the account type, choose “Minor A/R Charge Off.” For the tax code, choose “Non-Taxable Sales.” When finished, click “OK” to complete the process.

There are a few more steps to writing off an underpayment. Go back to the “Customers” menu in Quickbooks and click “Receive Payments.” Scroll through the list and click the name of the customer who made the underpayment to your business. You must then choose the invoice that associated with the underpayment, followed by “Discounts & Credits.” In the “Discounts” menu, enter the difference between the underpayment and original cost of the product or service. Next, choose “Minor A/R Charge Off” for the “Discount Account” section, followed by “Done.” Quickbooks will now write off the underpayment so that it doesn’t increase your business’s taxable income.

Did this tutorial work for you? Let us know in the comments section below!