Using & Paying a Credit Card

[suzannemead]

To use the credit card account: The account must be set up as a Credit Card "type" account and you go through Banking>Enter Credit Card Charges to enter the purchases you charge. At the top of the form you choose the name of the credit card, and on the "Purchased From" line you enter the vendor you bought from. On the bottom section of the form you enter the account to which the purchased product or service belongs. When you do that then you have posted all the charges to their proper accounts as you entered them from the monthly statement or from individual receipts.
To make a payment on a credit card simply write a check for the payment and use the Credit Card account as the account to post to. You do not enter your purchases when you make the payment, as they were already entered on the Enter Credit Card Charges screen. You can reconcile the credit card account exactly as you do your bank accounts. Go to Banking>Reconcile. You can enter your finance charges on the Reconcile screen.

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[lisa_mn]

I would add that if you don't want to junk up your vendor list with every single restaurant/hotel/store you buy from, you can create generic "Misc. Restaurant", "Misc. Hotel", etc.

Also, if you use a credit card to pay another vendor bill through pay bills, remember that you do not have to enter it again through the enter credit card charges function.

[qbsrox]

Lisa,

Good catch! I do this with ALL my clients - we tweak the vendor list and just include the name of the company in the memo line:

Transportation (air fare, taxi, train, parking, etc.)
Fuel (all the gas stations)
Meals (all the Pizza places, Starbucks, MickyD's, etc.)
Misc. Vendors (you buy from someplace once or twice - ever)

I also include a Vendor and a Chart of Account called 'Temporary Distribution' (or Ask Rox) - if they do not know how to code something, they use that vendor name and account and use the memo field - then we recode together. It's great for training and also it gives us all one place to look for issues.

[mikeo56]

In setting up a credit card, what tax line does the card track to for 1120s? Thanks

Mike

[suzannemead]

I use B/S-Liabilities-Other Current.