How to void & reissue a check from a prior year

dklanter

I have a check from 2 years ago that the payee lost and would like to have a new one reissued in this current year. How do I void & reissue the check without changing the prior years checkbook balance?

Chris_QPW

Is this some kind of thing that you need for a business as such, like you have said that you paid XXX in your past taxes and as such you want to keep it that way?

In that case why don't you just change the check number, put in a memo in the transaction that it was reissued with the old check number.  And then when the person really cashes the check you can reconcile in this year.

q_lurker

To balance to the financial institution it was added back as uncleared checks. 

That sounds like you created a second transaction.
12/1/2019 -- Check (Debit account) to Nincapoop Inc for $10 (Check never cleared / lost)
-------------Category = (expense category?)
12/31/2019 - Deposit (Credit Account) Uncleared Chks for $10 (to balance to FI's statement)
-------------Category = (same expense category)

You have effectively voided the check at that point.  If the next month, he had cashed the check, how would you have handled it?

if I void that check, it will distort my ending balances for that year and each year forward. Is there a way to make a journal entry in the current year to offset the new check that is to be reissued? 

If so, I'd be 'adjusting' both transactions.  Your Ending Balances at the account level will not be altered, though your records for Nincapoop and Uncleared Chks will be.  
[Frankly, this is where Quicken fails as accounting software but it wins for a lot of casual users.  It is too easy to change history.  There is no 'closing' of the book at year-end, quarter end, etc.]

If your standards are higher than the typical Quicken user (good for you!), I'd see it as one simple transaction
11/1/2021 -- Check (Debit account) to Nincapoop Inc for $10 (replacement for lost check from 2019)
-------------Category = (same expense category) 

In asking about a general journal entry, you are basically asking (in Quicken-speak), what category do I assign to this new transaction - the replacement check.  Maybe, my (same expense category) makes some sense, maybe not.  

Asking @Tom Young -- Any opinions?

Tom Young

@q_lurker 's method is exactly what I'd use.

Assuming the original check - say check #103 - was correct in all respects but just wasn't cashed, (it's stale dated now and can't be cashed), I'd make an entry dated "today" reversing check #103.  I'd make a note in the Memo field stating that check #103 was never cashed, and I'd put a "c" in the Clr column for the transaction.

The next entry would be for a new check - check #675 maybe - that in all respects looks exactly the same as check #103, except for the date.  In the Memo field I'd explain that this check replaces check #103.

I'd go back to check #103 and state in the Memo field that the check was not cashed and was replaced by check #675, and I'd put a "c" in that check's Clr column.

Your cash balance is unchanged, your next reconciliation will pick up check #103 and and the reversing entry for a clean reconciliation.

Chris_QPW

If the check was never cashed, it should have never been marked cleared or reconciled.
Therefore your balance in your account should have been off by this amount all along when compared to your financial institution.  As such voiding it and setting its amount to zero should do nothing more than bring your Quicken account balance in line with what the financial institution has.

EDIT if you put it into your reconcile and then did a balance adjustment because you in fact didn't really reconcile the account to what the financial institution had, then you will need to also fix that balance adjustment (remove it).

q_lurker

Following along @Chris_QPW's comment, you can right-click on the transaction to get to a "Void Transaction" option.  That step will prepend "**VOID**" to the Payee name and change the amount to $0.  BEFORE doing that, a common suggestion is to  edit the memo field to include the original dollar amount of the check.  Otherwise, that detail gets lost.

Obviously, you can also simply edit the transaction rather than take the Rt-click -- Void path.   

dklanter

The check has not been flagged as cleared or reconciled. To balance to the financial institution it was added back as uncleared checks. The check needs to be reissued because in checking with the payee he has lost it. How do I keep the posted balances intact for the yearly financial two years ago? if I void that check, it will distort my ending balances for that year and each year forward. Is there a way to make a journal entry in the current year to offset the new check that is to be reissued? Then I could reconcile/clear the old check against the journal entry this year to clean up the old outstanding check. Is that possible?? and if so how do you do it??

Chris_QPW

Is this some kind of thing that you need for a business as such, like you have said that you paid XXX in your past taxes and as such you want to keep it that way?

In that case why don't you just change the check number, put in a memo in the transaction that it was reissued with the old check number.  And then when the person really cashes the check you can reconcile in this year.

q_lurker

To balance to the financial institution it was added back as uncleared checks. 

That sounds like you created a second transaction.
12/1/2019 -- Check (Debit account) to Nincapoop Inc for $10 (Check never cleared / lost)
-------------Category = (expense category?)
12/31/2019 - Deposit (Credit Account) Uncleared Chks for $10 (to balance to FI's statement)
-------------Category = (same expense category)

You have effectively voided the check at that point.  If the next month, he had cashed the check, how would you have handled it?

if I void that check, it will distort my ending balances for that year and each year forward. Is there a way to make a journal entry in the current year to offset the new check that is to be reissued? 

If so, I'd be 'adjusting' both transactions.  Your Ending Balances at the account level will not be altered, though your records for Nincapoop and Uncleared Chks will be.  
[Frankly, this is where Quicken fails as accounting software but it wins for a lot of casual users.  It is too easy to change history.  There is no 'closing' of the book at year-end, quarter end, etc.]

If your standards are higher than the typical Quicken user (good for you!), I'd see it as one simple transaction
11/1/2021 -- Check (Debit account) to Nincapoop Inc for $10 (replacement for lost check from 2019)
-------------Category = (same expense category) 

In asking about a general journal entry, you are basically asking (in Quicken-speak), what category do I assign to this new transaction - the replacement check.  Maybe, my (same expense category) makes some sense, maybe not.  

Asking @Tom Young -- Any opinions?

Tom Young

@q_lurker 's method is exactly what I'd use.

Assuming the original check - say check #103 - was correct in all respects but just wasn't cashed, (it's stale dated now and can't be cashed), I'd make an entry dated "today" reversing check #103.  I'd make a note in the Memo field stating that check #103 was never cashed, and I'd put a "c" in the Clr column for the transaction.

The next entry would be for a new check - check #675 maybe - that in all respects looks exactly the same as check #103, except for the date.  In the Memo field I'd explain that this check replaces check #103.

I'd go back to check #103 and state in the Memo field that the check was not cashed and was replaced by check #675, and I'd put a "c" in that check's Clr column.

Your cash balance is unchanged, your next reconciliation will pick up check #103 and and the reversing entry for a clean reconciliation.