Unapplied payments in QuickBooks: match them to invoices

An unapplied payment in QuickBooks is a customer payment recorded but not linked to any invoice, so the invoices it should have paid still show as open. To fix it, find the customer's remittance, match each line to an open invoice, and apply the payment to those invoices. The matching is the slow part.

This guide shows how to do that matching outside QuickBooks from an export, then apply the result. Menu names and screens differ between QuickBooks Online and Desktop and change over time, so follow your own edition's help for the exact clicks. Remit Match has no QuickBooks connection and does not post cash. You use its output to apply payments yourself.

How do you find unapplied payments in QuickBooks?

Look for a report or list of open customer balances and unapplied payments or credits; your edition's help lists the report names. For each payment note the customer, date and amount. Those are the payments you need a remittance for.

How do you match a lump payment to several invoices?

Get the remittance, then compare each line to the customer's open invoices:

1. Export the customer's open invoices (customer, invoice number, date, open amount, PO number if you track it) to CSV or Excel.
2. Put the remittance lines in the same layout: invoice number, PO number, amount paid.
3. Match on invoice number, then PO number, then a unique amount.
4. Check that the paid amounts add up to the payment you received.
5. Apply the payment to those invoices in QuickBooks, one by one, with any short pay or overpay noted.

Remit Match does steps 1 to 4 for you: it reads the remittance (text PDF, Excel or CSV) and your open-invoice export, and gives you a CSV with payer, invoice, paid, open, difference and status. Step 5 is yours.

What is a worked example?

Illustrative figures. A customer pays 3,559.00 with a remittance listing INV-10421 for 2,104.00, INV-10422 for 455.00 and INV-10412 for 1,000.00, while the open amount of INV-10412 is 1,248.00.

• INV-10421 and INV-10422 match their open amounts.
• INV-10412 is a short pay of 248.00. Before you apply it, find out why: a deduction, a dispute or a mistake.

You apply the first two in full, apply 1,000.00 to the third, and leave 248.00 open or credit it as your policy says.

What do you do with short pays and overpays?

• Short pay: leave the invoice partly open and follow up on the shortfall, or issue a credit if the deduction is agreed.
• Overpay: keep the excess as a customer credit or send it back.

Note each decision. Remit Match carries the difference on every line and keeps a resolved note on each exception.

What if the remittance is a scan or has no invoice numbers?

A scanned PDF has no text to read, so Remit Match asks you to type its lines beside the preview. It does not guess. If the remittance has no invoice number, the PO number is tried next, and then a unique amount.

For the longer routine see unapplied cash and the general cash application process. To try the matching on your own two files first, use the free run above.

How do you keep the export clean?

The match is only as good as the open-invoice export. Export it fresh before each matching session, so invoices paid since the last export are not listed as open. Keep the same columns every time: customer, invoice number, invoice date, open amount and, if you use it, PO number.

In Remit Match you map those columns once and the mapping is saved. Uploading a new export replaces the open set, and invoices no longer listed are archived. If a line comes back unmatched, check first whether the invoice is missing from your export or listed under a different customer name.

What should you do first if there are dozens of unapplied payments?

Start with the customers whose invoices are furthest past due, because those are the ones most likely to be chased in error. Work one customer at a time: gather all their unapplied payments, then match them against that customer's single open-invoice export. A customer paying several invoices in one lump is the case where the matching saves the most effort.

FAQ

Why does QuickBooks show a payment as unapplied?

Usually because it was recorded without choosing which invoices it pays, for example from a bank feed deposit. It then waits for someone to link it.

Can Remit Match apply payments inside QuickBooks?

No. It has no connection to QuickBooks or any ERP. It produces a CSV of matches that you use to apply payments yourself.

Does it need a particular export format?

Any CSV or Excel export of open invoices works. You map the columns once and it remembers them.