How to Enter Credit Card Transactions in QuickBooks Online

In this lesson, we’ll show you how to enter credit card charges in QuickBooks Online. Entering credit card transactions manually is necessary if you can’t connect your credit card account to your QuickBooks Online account, or you need up-to-date financial information.

We’re happy you’re taking the time to learn QuickBooks Online, our best overall pick for small business accounting software. This tutorial is designed for you to follow along in your own QuickBooks Online account. New subscribers can choose from a 30-day free trial or 50% off for three months.

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This lesson is one of our Free QuickBooks Tutorials. You can either watch the video below, read through the step-by-step instructions, or do both. The video was made with a slightly older version of QuickBooks Online. While the process of entering credit card charges is essentially the same, the layout of the screens is slightly different. The step-by-step instructions are from the most current version of QuickBooks Online.

When to Enter Credit Card Transactions Manually in QuickBooks Online

You’ll need to enter your credit card charges manually in QuickBooks Online if you’re unable to import your credit card transactions. You also might want to enter charges manually to have the most up-to-date financial information. Credit card transactions won’t transfer to QuickBooks from your account until the charges are final, which could take several days. It’s important to have up-to-date financial information prior to printing financial statements at the end of the month, quarter, or year.

Entering Credit Card Charges in QuickBooks in 3 Steps

Entering credit card charges in QuickBooks can be accomplished in three easy steps.

1. Create an expense transaction.
2. Select your payment method and credit card account.
3. Enter the expense details and click the Save button.

Here are our detailed instructions for entering a new credit card charge.

1. Create an Expense Transaction

Create a new expense transaction by clicking on New at the top of the left menu bar and selecting Expense under the Vendor column:

Create a New Expense Transaction in QuickBooks Online.

2. Select Your Payment Method and Credit Card Account

In the expense input screen, change the Payment account to your credit card and Payment method to your type of credit card. If you need to set up an account for a new credit card, see our lesson on How to Set Up the Chart of Accounts:

Select your payment method and account in QuickBooks Online.

3. Enter the Transaction Details

Enter the remaining transaction details on the expense input screen. Depending on the settings you selected in How to Set Up Advanced Settings, you may not have all the fields displayed in this example:

Enter Expense Details in QuickBooks Online.

If you’ve been completing our lessons in order, the information required to create an expense transaction should be familiar as it is the same as creating a bill or check.

1. Payee: Choose the vendor you are paying with a credit card or choose Add new to set up a new vendor.
2. Payment date: Enter the date you are making the credit card charge.
3. Category: If you’re not billing this credit card charge to a customer, assign a category from the drop-down list or click Add new to set up a new account.
4. Description: Provide a description of the credit card charge.
5. Amount: Enter the amount of the expense.
6. Billable: You can make a credit card expense billable to a customer by placing a checkmark here. However, it’s better to create product or service items (item J below) that can be used to assign billable expenses to customers more easily.
7. Markup %: You can markup the expense before billing to your customer by placing an amount here.
8. Tax: Place a checkmark here if you’re required to collect sales tax from your customer when billing them for this expense.
9. Customer/Project: Select the customer or project you wish to bill for this expense, if any. If you wish to bill a new customer or project, select Add new to set up a customer/project.
10. Product/Service Item: Goods that are purchased for sale to customers should be assigned an inventory item. Services and other expenses purchased that will be billed to customers should be assigned a service item. If you have not already created the necessary inventory or service items, click Add new to set up a new product/service item. Once you select a product/service item, the fields for Description, Rate, Billable, Markup%, Tax, and Class will automatically populate.
11. Qty: Enter the quantity of goods or hours of services purchased. After you enter the quantity, the amount and sales amount will calculate.
12. Customer/Project: Select the customer or project to bill for the expense.

When you are finished entering the transaction details, click on the green Save and close button in the bottom right corner of the screen.

How to Review and Modify Credit Card Transactions

You can review all of your credit card transactions by viewing the account register for your credit card. You can then select transactions from the register to modify.

1. Navigate to the Credit Card Register

On the left menu bar, hover your mouse over Accounting and then select Chart of Accounts:

View Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online.

In the Chart of Accounts, scroll down to find your credit card account and then click View register in the far right column:

2. Review the Credit Card Register

The credit card register will provide a list of all transactions in your credit card account. You can modify the fields that appear in your credit card register by clicking on the gear icon immediately above the far right column:

Modify Credit Card Register Settings in QuickBooks Online.

3. Modify a Credit Card Transaction

To modify a credit card transaction that appears in the register, click anywhere on the transaction. The transaction will open to allow you to edit any fields appearing in the register. However, not all fields that are available when inputting transactions appear in the register. To edit fields that do not appear in the register, click the Edit button immediately below the transaction, and the original expense input screen will appear:

Click Edit to Open the Transaction Input Screen.

Whether making changes directly in the register or editing the original input screen, be sure to save your changes when you are finished.

Wrap Up

You have finished another lesson and can now enter credit card charges in QuickBooks Online. The next lesson in our QuickBooks Online Training Course is How to Manage Downloaded Credit Card Transactions. In that lesson, you will learn how to match imported credit card charges to existing QuickBooks transactions or to create a new transaction when none exists.