How do I edit credits applied to a bill payment in QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online does not let you edit a bill payment once it is saved. If a vendor credit was applied to the wrong bill, or for the wrong amount, delete the payment and pay the bills again with the correct credit selections.

This article covers QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Desktop has its own payment flow, with different steps, so the instructions here are not for that program.

A saved payment cannot be edited

A bill payment is not a standalone transaction. It is tied to the bill it pays and to any vendor credits applied at that moment. Once saved, the relationship between the bill, the payment, and the credits is fixed. QuickBooks Online does not support changing the credit split directly.

Deleting the payment is the only way to break that link. When you delete it, the bill returns to unpaid, and any credits that were applied become open again.

Delete the saved payment

Open the Expenses area of QuickBooks Online and locate the original payment. It may be recorded as a check or as a bill payment. You can also find it in the register of the bank account you used.

Open the transaction and choose Delete. Confirm the deletion.

If the payment was reconciled, QuickBooks Online may prevent the delete. In that case, remove the transaction from the reconciliation first, then delete it.

A vendor credit is not a payment. It is an amount the vendor owes you, often from a returned item, a refund, or an adjustment. When you pay bills, QuickBooks Online lets you apply that credit to an open bill, which lowers the amount you pay.

After you delete a payment, the credit is unapplied. That makes it available again in the Pay Bills screen. If the credit does not appear, check whether it was already used on another bill.

Pay the bills again

Use the Pay Bills flow to recreate the payment:

1. Select New, then Pay Bills.
2. Choose the payment account and payment date.
3. Select the vendor.
4. In the open transactions list, select the bill or bills to pay.
5. Apply the vendor credit to the correct bill and amount.
6. Select Save.

The Pay Bills screen has a single Save button. It does not use Save and then Save and close. Selecting Save records the payment and applies the credits in one step.

After the new payment is saved, open the bill to confirm it shows paid. Open the vendor credit to confirm it now shows as used. If the split is still not correct, delete the new payment and run Pay Bills again.

The replacement payment should use the same account and date as the original payment. This matters most when the original payment has already cleared the bank. A different account or date will make your records disagree with the bank statement.

This delete and recreate method is the only supported way to correct credits applied to a bill payment in QuickBooks Online.