How to clear multiple invoices for one combined payment/deposit

Question

I have two scenarios and I want to see if they're handled the same way:

Scenario 1 (same customer/one combined payment):

CLIENT A

Invoice 1: $100

Invoice 2: $200

Combined deposit (i.e. Zelle): $300

Scenario 2 (different customers/one combined payment):

CLIENT B

Invoice: $200

CLIENT C

Invoice: $325

Combined deposit (i.e. check): $525

In each of the the two scenarios above, there is one single combined payment that is made for two invoices - the only difference is that the first scenario is for one customer, and the second scenario is for two separate customers.  In another post it was suggested to do the following:

* Create a cash account (i.e. Checks to deposit)
* Transfer the combined deposit transaction to Checks to deposit
* Go to Customer invoices
* Go to the first invoice, record a New Customer Payment transaction and select "Deposit to [Checks to deposit]"
* Go to the second invoice, record a New Customer Payment transaction and select "Deposit to [Checks to deposit]"

Here's the original post:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7851337/clearing-multiple-invoices-after-a-single-grouped-deposit

What I wanted to know is the following:

* Since that post was from 2019, is this still the recommended way of handling this situation, or is there a better method?
* Do I handle this situation the same way regardless of whether it's two invoices from one customer or two invoices from separate customers?

Thanks!

Mike

msoultan · Answer

In your checking account, when you accept a downloaded transaction and change it to both have the correct customer name and categorize it as a transfer to the [Customer Invoices] account register, a transaction will be posted to the Customer Invoices account with a type of Credit or Refund. This does not mark any of this customer's invoices as paid.

If you don't spell the customer name correctly, you'll also not be able to mark invoices as paid.

Just so we're clear, I'm never manually modifying the payee or the category for any transactions in my checking - Quicken is changing those fields when I match the recorded payment transaction to the downloaded transaction.

The way the programmers designed the Customer (and Vendor) Account routines decades ago, all activity takes place in the Customer (and Vendor) Accounts … Create Invoice, Receive Customer Payment, Issue Credit or Refund, etc. Every transaction originates in these accounts. Direct deposit to checking accounts (like Zelle) or using credit cards (like PayPal) as means to receive payments are functions that had not been invented at that time … and Quicken has not been updated to be able to make better use of electronic payments.

Whether it's direct deposit or a check or Zelle or Venmo transfer, in my checking account they all show up in my Downloaded Transactions pane the same way - they're just transactions with a Payee (i.e. "Gusto Payroll Des…" or "Venmo Des Cashout") and some deposit amount.  When I accept them, they show up as transactions in the checking register - nothing particularly special there.

Now, when I use any of the three methods mentioned above, I end up with a payment transaction in my Accounts Receivable (Customer Invoices) account and an associated (linked) transaction in my checking account (which is essentially the duplicate amount of the downloaded transaction because they haven't been matched yet).  Further, using any of the three methods above to match the newly recorded payment (that was previously performed via the New Customer Payment dialog) to a transaction in my checking, it combines the downloaded transaction and the recorded payment into one single transaction (in my checking account).  When I right click that newly generated transaction in my checking and select Go to matching transfer it takes me to my Customer Invoices (Accounts Receivable) account and highlights the invoice payment.  There is a C in the cleared column for the associated invoice and payment and the invoice is marked as PAID when I view the invoice form.  This works whether I recorded one single invoice as paid, or 10 invoices all paid by a single combined deposit.

That's why I'm a bit confused when you say it doesn't work, as it seems to be doing exactly what you say it should, and the preferred method actually seems to be to download the transaction first and then let it do the matching for you (method 3), assuming it's able to figure it out (it doesn't always pop up the dialog).  But even if it can't figure it out, it puts a little red pencil next to the payment transaction in your checking to allow you to match it to the associated downloaded transaction (method 2).

UKR · Answer

In your checking account, when you accept a downloaded transaction and change it to both have the correct customer name and categorize it as a transfer to the [Customer Invoices] account register, a transaction will be posted to the Customer Invoices account with a type of Credit or Refund. This does not mark any of this customer's invoices as paid.

If you don't spell the customer name correctly, you'll also not be able to mark invoices as paid.

The way the programmers designed the Customer (and Vendor) Account routines decades ago, all activity takes place in the Customer (and Vendor) Accounts … Create Invoice, Receive Customer Payment, Issue Credit or Refund, etc. Every transaction originates in these accounts. Direct deposit to checking accounts (like Zelle) or using credit cards (like PayPal) as means to receive payments are functions that had not been invented at that time … and Quicken has not been updated to be able to make better use of electronic payments.

msoultan · Answer

I played with things some more and that raised some questions regarding Scenario 1 (I have some questions about Scenario 2, but I'll focus on 1 first):

For Scenario 1, I'm confused as to why I need make sure not to accept downloaded transactions before recording the payment via the New Customer Payment dialog.  Unless I'm missing something, it seems like I can do any of the following with the same end result:

* Don't accept the downloaded transaction, record the new payment, manually match the downloaded payment by clicking on the transaction in the Downloaded Transactions list and then select Match manually to match that downloaded transaction to the payment transaction that was recorded to the checking account - this automatically accepts the deposit and matches it to the recorded invoice payment.
* Accept the downloaded transaction, record the new payment, and then in my checking account click the red pencil next to the new transaction and manually associate it with the downloaded deposit.
* Accept the transaction, record the new payment, and then click "Yes" to allow Quicken to associate the payment with the existing deposit transaction in my checking account.

It seems like all three methods yield the exact same result - am I missing something?  Heck, option 3 seems to be the best as it helps do the matching for you.  Is there a reason that you're suggesting to do otherwise?

Also, as a side-question - I noticed that when you match a payment to a downloaded transaction, it changes the payee and also sets the date to the date of the recorded payment and not the date of the actual deposit.  Is this date-change behavior intended and does it make more sense to revert the payee to show the original transaction data from the bank?

thanks!

Mike