Taking Discounts

When you pay your bills early, you might be entitled to take a discount offered by your vendor. Check the terms of the bill you received to see whether there is an option for a discount. Terms such as "2% 10 Net 30" provide for a 2% discount if the bill is paid within 10 days. Some companies also offer a discount if the entire balance is paid in full within 30 days as opposed to financing over a longer period of time. When you enter your bill in QuickBooks, you can describe the discount terms, and then you can apply the discount right in QuickBooks. The discount is calculated automatically, but you can override the calculation if necessary.

Choose Pay Bills from the Vendors menu, or click the Pay Bills button on the Home page.

Click the Show All Bills option.

Did You Know?

Bills still in the discount period might not appear on the unpaid bills list. If a vendor offers a discount for early payment, and the bill is technically not due yet, the bill does not appear on the list. Clicking the Show All Bills option displays all bills currently outstanding, including those not yet due.

Check off bills for payment.

Click a bill with a discount date (there will be a date in the Disc. Date column).

Click the Set Discount button.

You will see the discount has been calculated. Verify that the amount is correct and make any necessary changes.

Enter an account in which the discount will be recorded.

Click Done to return to the Pay Bill window.

Complete the bill payment process.