Duplicate entries in QuickBooks Online (QBO)—whether for bills, expenses, or other transactions—can throw off your financial records.
This makes it harder to reconcile accounts and generate accurate reports.
Thankfully, tools within QuickBooks Online can help you identify and resolve these duplicates effectively.
In this post, we’ll walk you through how to spot, fix, and prevent duplicate bill and expense entries in QBO so you can maintain clean and accurate books.
Quick Instructions:
Match the Bill & Expense:
- Open the expense
- Click the arrow in a gray box in the upper right edge
- Click Add on the bill
- On the Bill Payment, verify the Bank/Credit account and AMOUNT PAID are correct
- Click Save and close
Mark the Bill Paid:
- Open the bill
- Click the Mark as paid button
- Make sure the correct Bill and Expense are checked
- Click Save and close
Keep reading for a complete walkthrough with screenshots:
Why Duplicate Entries Happen in QuickBooks Online
Duplicate bills and expenses can occur for several reasons:
- Manual Entry Errors: A bill or expense may be accidentally entered twice.
- Bank Feed Imports: Transactions downloaded from your bank feed might overlap with entries manually created in QuickBooks.
- Receipt Uploads: Adding receipts to QuickBooks without matching them to existing transactions can result in duplication.
- Bill and Payment Not Matched: A bill is entered, and payment is made, but the payment is entered as an expense, and they’re not matched.
That last one is what we’re talking about in this post.
How to Identify Duplicate Bill/Expense Entries in QuickBooks Online
Before fixing duplicates, you need to identify them.
Vendor Screen
One of the ways to spot duplicate bill and expense entries is if you’re on a Vendor’s screen and notice that the Open balance is $0.00, but there’s an Overdue payment.
QuickBooks is smart enough to add everything up, and when it does, the result is $0.00, which is the Open balance.
So why is there any Overdue payment? Because there’s something that hasn’t been marked as paid.
A/P Aging Summary Report
It’s a good idea to check the Accounts Payable Aging Summary Report regularly.
You know something is wrong if you ever see a vendor on this list with a $0.00 total.
When you click on $0.00, you will see a list of the transactions. Here, you can see a Bill and Expense that add up to $0.00, and they need to be connected:
Two Methods to Fix Duplicate Bill and Expense Entries
You can fix this problem in two ways, starting with the bill or starting with the expense.
Match the Bill to the Expense
This is the method I prefer; it’s cleaner than the other method.
The first step is to open the Expense. Then, on the far right, up towards the top of the screen, look for a gray box with an arrow inside (it can be hard to see).
When you click that arrow, an Add to Expense screen slides out. Click the blue Add link on the Bill.
This converts the expense to a Bill Payment.
The bill will already be checked off in the Outstanding Transactions section. Verify that the Bank/Credit account is where the money came from and the AMOUNT PAID is correct. Then click Save and close in the lower right corner.
Now, on the Vendor screen, you’ll see a Bill and Bill Payment, no more Expense, and the Overdue payment amount will be $0.00.
Mark the Bill Paid
The second method to match a duplicate bill and expense starts with the Bill.
On the right of the Bill click the Mark as paid button.
This will create a Bill Payment. Make sure the correct Bill and Expense are checked. Then click Save and close in the lower right corner.
This marks the bill paid, and the Overdue payment amount is $0.00, but you now have three transactions: a Bill, Expense, and Bill Payment.
This is why I prefer the first method. It leaves you with just a Bill and Bill Payment.
Final Thoughts
Duplicate bill and expense entries in QuickBooks Online can disrupt your financial records, but they’re easy to fix when you find them.
You can keep your books clean and error-free by running reports, reviewing transactions, and leveraging QuickBooks’ built-in tools like bank rules and receipt matching.
If you need further assistance with QuickBooks Online or help managing your financial records, feel free to reach out for expert guidance. Keeping your books organized has never been easier!
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