Issuing Discounts

If you offer discounts to your customers, you can record that information on a separate Discounts and Credits screen in QuickBooks. There are three types of discounts you can issuesales discounts that you enter on a customer's invoice, early payment discounts recorded automatically for customers who pay within a specified time period, and company-wide discounts such as when your company has a clearance sale on excess inventory items. The first two types of discounts are discussed here. Company-wide discounts are discussed in the "Adjusting Price of Inventory" section of Chapter 14.

Enter a Sales Discount on an Invoice

Press Ctrl+I to open an invoice.

Enter the relevant customer information and a description of the items this customer is purchasing.

Enter Discount in the Item section.

Add a description of the discount, or revise the description that appears.

Enter the percent or exact amount of the discount. Enter the percent or amount as a negative number. If you enter a percent, the discount is calculated based on the item on the line above.

Complete the invoice.

Did You Know?

A discount can be applied to more than one invoice item. Use Subtotal as an invoice item if you want to subtotal two or more items above the subtotal line, and then apply the discount to the subtotal line.

Enter a Discount for Early Payment

Select Receive Payments from the Customers menu.

Enter the customer's name.

Verify the date on which the payment is received.

Did You Know?

Date of receipt can differ from date of deposit. When issuing a discount for an early payment, the date on which the payment was received is of paramount importance. QuickBooks automatically enters today's date when you open the Receive Payments form. Make sure the date on which the payment was actually received appears on this form.

Enter the amount received.

Click the invoice to which you want to apply a discount.

Click Discount & Credits to open the Discount & Credits window.

Confirm the discount amount as computed by QuickBooks, and make any necessary changes.

Verify the account to which the discount will be charged.

Click Done.

Check off the invoice(s) being paid.

Note that the discount has been applied.

Save the customer payment screen.

Did You Know?

A discount date appears next to invoices eligible for early payment discount. If the terms you assigned to an invoice make the invoice eligible for early payment discount, the date of eligibility appears in the Disc. Date column in the Receive Payments window.