Importing credit memos into QuickBooks

Overview of importing credit memos into QuickBooks Desktop

In QuickBooks Desktop a credit memo is used to track credits sent to customers.  Using Zed Axis software you can import credit memos from text files or from Excel spreadsheets directly into QuickBooks.  

Step to import credit memos

After downloading and installing the Zed Axis software on your computer.  Follow these steps

  1. Open your QuickBooks company file as Administrator and open Zed Axis
  2. Select your text file or spreadsheet which contains the credit memos that you want to import.
  3. Set up the a Mapping of the columns in your credit memos import file to the corresponding fields in QuickBooks
  4. Click Import and your credit memos will be directly added to your QuickBooks company file:

More help?

For more information about importing credit memos into QuickBooks, search the Knowledge Base, watch the movies in the Learning Centre, or raise a ticket with Zed Support

  • Need to apply a credit memo to an invoice? In order to apply a credit memo to an invoice make sure that the credit memo and invoice already exist in QuickBooks then use the Receive Payment type transaction import and when applying the credit to the specific invoice set the fields for SetCreditMemoRef (ie the reference number of the credit memo in QuickBooks) and SetCreditAmount fields
  • Need to create a refund from a Credit Memo? - If you need to create a refund of a payment to a customer for a credit then use a Check type import and use the fields for Apply Check to Txn ID and Apply Check to Txn Amount in order to apply refund amount to the Credit Memo, you will also need to map the Expense Account to the Accounts Receivable account and the Expense Amount as the amount of the refund.

 What fields can be mapped when importing credit memos

QuickBooks FieldFormatDescription
Customer Refstr 209 MANDATORY FIELD - Customer Full Name as appears in QuickBooks ie ACME Inc:Project 101:Job A ,colons are used as a separators. If Axis cannot find a Customer then it will create a new customer record. 
CurrencyStrCurrency to be used if creating a new Customer, otherwise currency is determined by the currency for the existing Customer
Class Refstr Class used for the credit memo, must exist in QuickBooks
Account Refstr 159Refers to an accounts receivable account in the QuickBooks file
Template Refstr 31templates specify how to print the credit memo
Txn DatedateThe date of the credit memo, If you leave TxnDate out the mapping, QuickBooks will prefill it with the date of the credit memo that was most recently saved.
Credit Memo Ref Number str 11MANDATORY FIELD - Credit Memo Reference number, duplicate RefNumbers are accepted in QuickBooks, see also Auto Numbering
BillAddr1.. etc strBilling Address lines 1-5, City, State, Postal Code and Country see importing address into QuickBooks for more information
Bill Note str 41written at the bottom of the address
Phone If Update address details selected then customers Phone number updated
Fax If Update address details selected then customers Fax number updated
Email If Update address details selected then customers Email number updated
ShipAddr1.. etc Shipping Address lines 1-5, City, State, Postal Code and Country see importing address into QuickBooks for more information
Ship Notestr 41written at the bottom of the address
IsPendingboolIf IsPending is set to true, the credit memo has not been completed. value accepted true or false
IsFinanceChargeboola finance-charge item has been added to the credit memo
Item Sales Tax Refstr 31Sales tax code item (US only) more on importing Sales Tax Codes into QuickBooks. Assigned to the entire transaction.
A sales-tax item is used to calculate a single sales tax that is collected at a specified rate and paid to a single agency
Ship Methodstr 15A shipping method, for example, standard mail or overnight delivery 
PO Numberstr 25Purchase order number
Terms Refstr 31Payment terms for the Customer, This will be an item on the DateDrivenTerms or StandardTerms list
Due date dateDate payment due, if not mapped QuickBooks may calculate this based on Customers defualt terms
Sales Rep str 5Initials of the sale rep, A sales representative must be on the Employee, Vendor, or Other Names list within QuickBooks
FOB str 13QuickBooks uses the term FOB, ?freight on board,? to indicate the place from which the product is shipped 
Ship date dateDate the goods were shipped
Customer Msg str 101A standard message to a customer that comes from the QuickBooks list
IsToBe PrintedboolCheck box to prompt user to print the form (accepted values true or false)
IsToBe EmailedboolPrompt user to email this credit memo from QuickBooks, customer needs to have email address (accepted values true or false)
IsTaxIncludedboolFlag to determine whether the amounts are inclusive or exclusive of tax. Only for CA, UK and AU editions of QuickBooks. More in importing tax transactions (accepted values true or false)
CustomerSalesTax Codestr 3Refers to the sales-tax code for sales related to this customer.
Other Other field included in the header area of the credit memo
Memostr 4000 
Exchange RatefloatThe exchange rate is the market price for which this currency can be exchanged for the currency used by the QuickBooks company file as the "home" currency. More on importing multi currency
Item Ref strMANDATORY FIELD - ItemRef FullName can refer to an item on any Item list (ItemDiscount, ItemInventory, and so on excluding Group Items). ZA will look for Items in QuickBooks, if not recognised then it will create a new item according to the settings
Description  str 4095A descriptive text field for the Item 
Rate price 13The rate or price of the item. If not mapped QuickBooks will use the default rate for the item. Decimal values include amounts, quantities, and percents. can be positive or negative 
Line Class str 159Classes (at the line level) can be used to separate transactions into meaningful categories
Quantity quana decimal value that refers to how much of something is sold
Unit Of Measure str 31The name of the unit of measure selected from within the items available units more on importing units of measure
Sales Tax Code str 3Each item on a sales form is assigned a sales-tax code that indicates whether the item is taxable or non-taxable, and why.
Amount decimal value that represents an amount
Service Date dateIndicates the date on which the QuickBooks user performs the service for the customer
Other1str 29The Other1 field exists at the line item level
Other2str 29The Other2 field exists at the line item level
Item Group Namestr 31 The name of the Group Item sold on the credit memo 
Item Group QuantityquanThe quanity of the Group Item sold on the credit memo
Item Group Unit Measurestr 31The unit of measure of the group item sold on the credit memo
Freightstr 31The amount of freight charged, see how to import shopping cart fields
Insurancestr 31The amount of insurance charged see how to import shopping cart fields
Discountstr 31The amount of discount charged see how to import shopping cart fields
Link To Sales Orderstr 31The sale order reference number the credit memo is linked to read more
InventorySiteLocationstr 31The full name of the Bin location of the item read more
Serial Numberstr4095The serial number of the item read more
Lot Numberstr 40The lot number of the item read more

Feedback

I'm using Zed bld no. 12.0.1. When I initiate mapping using Import type: CreditMemo, the QuickBooks files offered for mapping ARE NOTHING LIKE what is shown here.

This is NO HELP.

Jeffrey Johnson (3/14/2018 at 9:11 PM)
Hi Jeffrey, can you check as i am guessing that you may be importing into QuickBooks Online and this support article is for QuickBooks desktop the fields are different.
Steve (3/15/2018 at 10:36 PM)
Is there a way in Zed Axis 13.2 (QB Desktop) to automate linking and applying credit memos to invoices?
Maggie (7/22/2019 at 4:18 PM)
We are working on that feature for an upcoming release.

Steve

Steve (11/5/2019 at 4:01 AM)
Any update on the ability to link credit memos to invoices coming in version 15? Thought this was coming in version 14. We do not generate Sales Orders so we must go back into every credited customer and apply the credit against the proper transaction.
Charles Neff (5/4/2020 at 8:44 PM)