QuickBooks 2005: The Missing Manual

Discounting for Early Payment

You don't know if customers are eligible for an early payment discount until they actually pay early, so it makes sense that you apply early payment discounts in the Receive Payments dialog box. The procedure to apply an early payment discount is almost identical to that of applying a credit. In fact, if an invoice qualifies for both a credit and an early payment discount, you can apply them both while the Discount and Credits dialog box is open.

These steps show how to take an early payment discount from the beginning:

Note

If the discount is for something other than early payment, such as a product that's on sale, add a Discount item to the invoice instead (page199).

Figure 9-8.  In the Amount of Discount box, QuickBooks automatically fills in the suggested discount. You can type a different discount, for instance, when the customer paid only part of the invoice early. The Invoice section at the top of the dialog box shows the amount due on the invoice and the balance due after applying the early payment discount you chose. If the customer has already paid the invoice in full, the early payment discount becomes a credit for the next invoice.

1. Choose Customers→Receive Payments.

   QuickBooks opens the Receive Payments dialog box.

2. In the Received From drop-down list, choose the customer or job for the payment you received.

   In the table of open invoices, the program ...