Apply Customer Credits to a New Invoice
If a customer has unapplied credits and no open invoices, you can apply the credit to the next invoice you create. Otherwise, you'd have to notify the customer of the existing credit, and wait for the payment for the new invoice to arrive in order to apply the credit (assuming the customer remembered to deduct the amount of the credit from the payment). This isn't as easy to accomplish as it seems, and this article provides the information needed to carry out this task. When you create an invoice for a customer with open credits, after you click Save & Close (or Save & New) QuickBooks tells you about the available credits.
When you click Yes, the Apply Credits dialog opens and you can select the credit to apply. The dialog displays the amount of the new invoice and the net due after you select the credit. If the credit is larger than the amount of the invoice you're creating, you can specify the amount to apply and QuickBooks retains the remaining amount as an available credit.
When you click Done, QuickBooks closes the Apply Credits dialog and also closes the invoice.
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Apply Credits to a New Invoice
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This seems quick and easy, but there's a problem. The customer doesn't know anything about the credit. If you re-open the invoice you see that the credit is applied (although it's called a payment). But you're looking at the screen version of the invoice, and the printed version has no reference to the credit, or to the net amount. The original amount of the invoice is the only amount displayed on the printed transaction document. The way to fix this is to create a customized invoice transaction form that shows the applied credit and then displays the actual amount due (the net amount). Following is an easy way to create an invoice template that displays credits: 1. Choose Lists | Templates to open the Templates List window. 2. Right-click anywhere in the window and choose New to open the Select Template Type dialog. 3. Select Invoice and click OK to open the Basic Customization dialog for an invoice. 4. Click Manage Templates at the top of the dialog to open the Manage Templates dialog. 5. In the right pane of the dialog, enter a name for this template in the Template Name field. Use a descriptive name such as InvoiceShowingCredits. 6. Click OK to return to the Basic Customization dialog. 7. Click Additional Customization to begin customizing the template. 8. Move to the Footer tab, where the fields for the appropriate data are already selected (Payments/Credits and Balance Due). The right pane of the dialog displays the way the printed version of the invoice appears. 9. Click OK twice to return to the Templates List window, and close the window. 10. Open the invoice you prepared and select the new template you created from the drop-down list in the Template field. Now you can print the invoice with accurate information and send it to the customer.
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Apply Credits to a New Invoice
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