How to Enter a Credit Card Refund in QuickBooks Online

In this lesson, we’ll show you how to enter a credit card refund in QuickBooks Online. When you pay a vendor with a credit card and that charge is eventually reversed or reduced, you’ll need to reduce your credit card balance by the vendor credit.

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This lesson is one of our Free QuickBooks Tutorials. There are multiple ways of entering QuickBooks credit card refunds, and the video and step-by-step instructions that follow offer different alternatives. Although the video was made with a slightly older version of QuickBooks Online, we suggest you study both the video and step-by-step instructions to decide which works best for you.

When to Enter a QuickBooks Credit Card Refund

After you purchase items using your credit card, you may need to return something because it was damaged or you didn’t need it. The vendor will usually process the return using the same credit card that you used to make the purchase. This refund will appear on your credit card statement as a reduction in your balance. You need to enter this refund so that your QuickBooks credit card balance is correct.

How Do I Enter a Credit Card Refund in QuickBooks?

There are four basic steps to enter a credit card refund in QuickBooks Online:

1. Click on the New button at the top of the left menu bar.
2. Select Credit card credit in the Vendors column.
3. Input the credit transaction information.
4. Click Save and close.

Let’s take a more detailed look at how to enter QuickBooks credit card credits.

1. Navigate to the Credit Card Credit Screen

From the QuickBooks Online dashboard, click on the New button at the top of the left menu bar and then select Credit Card Credit in the second column under Vendors:

2. Input the Transaction Information

The Credit Card Credit screen is nearly identical to the Expense screen you use to input credit card transactions manually:

A. Payee: Select the vendor issuing a credit to your credit card.

B. Bank/credit account: Choose the credit card account on which the credit is issued.

C. Payment date: Enter the date the credit was issued, not the date of the original charge.

D. Category details: Refer to the original credit card expense entry to determine which category should be reduced by the credit.

E. Item details: Use the same items as were on the original credit card expense. If the credit is because you are returning inventory items purchased, be sure to include the number of items returned in the QTY field so that your units of inventory owned is reduced.

When you have entered the credit information so that it reverses the appropriate portions of the original expense, click the green Save and close button in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Reviewing and Editing Credit Card Charges and Credits in QuickBooks Online

After a credit card credit has been entered, it should appear in the credit card register. The following steps will show you how to find the credit in the register, review the details, and make any needed adjustments.

1. Navigate to the Credit Card Register

Hover your mouse over Accounting in the left menu bar and then select Chart of Accounts from the pop-up menu:

Scroll through the Chart of Accounts to find the credit card account you want to review. Then, click View register in the last column for that account:

2. Select a Credit Card Transaction

From the credit card register, find the credit card charge or credit you want to review and click anywhere on the transaction to open more detail:

I recommend making any necessary corrections on the original input screen, which you can open by clicking the Edit button under the transaction. When you are satisfied with your review or corrections, click Save.

Wrap Up

You’ve finished another of our QuickBooks lessons and can now enter credits issued to your credit card account. If you’re completing our lessons in order, you’ve probably noticed the lessons are getting quicker as you get comfortable with QuickBooks and how transactions are laid out. If you haven’t completed our previous lessons, you can view our entire tutorial by clicking the link below. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course is How to Reconcile a Credit Card Account.