In QuickBooks Desktop a receive payment transaction is when a customer makes are payment against an existing outstanding invoice, or to set a discount such as an early payment or to set a credit for returned merchandise. If payment is made at the time of sale then it is recommend to record a sale receipt for this type of transaction. You can
import receive payments into
QuickBooks from text files or from Excel spreadsheets directly
using the
Zed Axis software.

Watch a demonstration of how to import receive payments
Detailed description of the fields
The following fields are the principal fields when importing receive payments into QuickBooks:
QuickBooks field | Format | Description |
Customer Full Name | Str 209 | Mandatory: Customer name as it appears in QuickBooks, if Axis cannot find a Customer then it will create a new customer record |
AR Account | Str 31 | Refers to an Accounts Receivable Account in QuickBooks |
Txn Date | Date | The date of the transaction |
Ref Number | Str 20 | Mandatory: The reference number for the Receive Payment |
Apply To Invoice | Str 11 | Only use if Is Auto Apply is not mapped.The Invoice reference number to which the payment will be applied, if paying multiple invoices you should have multiple lines in the same ReceivePayment transaction..more |
Total Amount | | Total amount of money received. The sum of the PaymentAmount amounts cannot be greater than the TotalAmount, or you will receive an error. |
Exchange Rate | Float | The exchange rate to be used if the receive payment is paying a Customer that is in a foreign currency ONLY when using Multicurrency |
Payment Method | Str 31 | A customers payment method, for example, cash, check, or Master Card. Should match the payment types set in QuickBooks. |
Memo | Str 4095 | Description associated with the payment |
Deposit To Account | Str 159 | Refers to the account where these funds will be (or have been) deposited. If not provided, it will default to Undeposited Funds. |
Is Auto Apply | true or false | Mandatory if Apply To Invoice is not mapped. If IsAutoApply is true, QuickBooks applies Total Amount to any outstanding transaction that exactly matches TotalAmount. If no exact match is found, the payment is applied to the customer jobs outstanding transactions, beginning with the oldest one.If IsAutoApply is false, QuickBooks receives the payment but does not apply it to any outstanding transaction. Instead, the amount will appear as a credit on the customer job’s next transaction ...more |
Payment Amount | Amt | Mandatory if Apply To Invoice method is used. Represents the amount assigned to a particular receivable. (Do not map if you are using AutoApply as true or false) |
Discount Amount | Amt | The amount of the discount |
Discount Account | Str 159 | Refers to the account where this discount is tracked |
Set Credit Memo Ref | Str | The existing Credit Memo Ref Number in QuickBooks which you want to link the Receive Payment too |
Set Credit Amount | Amt | The amount of the payment that is to be applied to the existing Credit Memo |
Set Credit Override | Bool | Expected values true or false |
Discount Class Full Name | Str 159 | The class to be used on the Discount Amount |
How to troubleshoot import errors
Error - Apply To Ref does not exist in invoice - this message appears when you have mapped the field Apply To Invoice and the invoice number that you are specifying is not found in QuickBooks, or has been fully paid, or is not for the same Customer that has been specified, or the AR account does not match, or there are duplicate Invoice numbers used and the first invoice found is not the correct one.
Error - "You need to delete this transaction from the deposit before you can edit its name or amount." - This message is saying that the Receive Payment transaction you are trying to import has already been deposited into a bank account and QuickBooks is not permitting you to edit something that is already deposited, this is standard QuickBooks behaviour.
Error - Object "<U23-..........>" specified in the request cannot be found. - The error can be caused by a number of factors. First check that the customer name and the Invoice reference number you are applying the payment too exist and that the invoice is in fact for that customer (sometimes the invoice reference may have been used previously for another customer ie duplicated, in which case you may need to change the Invoice Ref Number). Also check that date of the payment is not prior to the invoice. Check that if you are mapping AR Account (Accounts Receivable) that the Invoice is posted to that specific AR Account in QuickBooks.
Error - The transaction object <.........> may only be provided once in this request - The error occurs in QuickBooks and is due to the fact that in a single grouped payment there are two or more lines where the payment is being applied to the same Invoice Reference number. Total all the payments together into one line for each invoice in the payment file.
Error - You cannot pay more than the amount due
Cause - The receive payment transactions that you are importing is being applied to an invoice where the outstanding balance is less than the amount being paid, QuickBooks will not permit you to apply a payment greater than the amount that is due on the invoice.
Resolution - Adjust the amount being paid to be equal to or less than the outstanding amount. Also check that the payment is being applied to the correct invoice. As an alternative if the payment is an over payment you can auto apply the payment and the over payment will be added as a credit to the customers account.
Error - Transaction not in balance - The error is caused because the sum of the Payment and Discounts amounts do not match the Total Amount of the entire Receive Payment transaction. Note if there are multiple rows then the Total Amount must be the sum of all the rows on the same Receive Payment transaction.