How do I apply a payment that was applied to the wrong bill?

If a payment is applied to the right customer but to the wrong bill, no payment that is received from the customer will be applied correctly. To fix this problem, you'll need to unapply the payment that is tied to the wrong item and then apply the payment to the right item.

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How do I apply a payment that was applied to the wrong bill?

Before you get started

Has the payment been updated to the General Ledger? If the payment has not been updated to the General Ledger, following these instructions will unapply the payment. If the payment has been updated to the General Ledger, following these instructions will create a reversing entry.
You'll need the date of the payment and the reference number. Use Inquiry to look up the transactions on the customer's account. The Transactions tab in Inquiry will give you the payment date and the reference number.

Step 1: Unapplying a payment assigned to the wrong item

1. Open Connect Accounts Receivable > Customers > Unapply Payments.

Customers menu

What if I can't click Unapply Payments? You need to update your user security profile. See the help topic titled Why can't I launch Unapply Payments?

2. Enter the Beginning Payment Date and Ending Payment Date.

If you know the payment date, enter it as the Beginning Payment Date AND Ending Payment Date.

If you know the approximate date range, use the Beginning Payment Date and Ending Payment Date fields to enter the date range.

3. Enter the Date for Reversal Transactions.

Use the current date to record the reversal transaction. Even if the payment was applied in the past, you want to use the current date to create the unapplied payment transaction.

Connect will search for all of the applied payments in the selected date range for the customer and display the transactions in the section titled Applied Payments.

Applied payments grid

4. Enter the Customer Number.

If you're unapplying a payment for a specific customer, use the section titled Beginning Payment Date to enter the customer number.

Customer.customer number value

Connect will show only transactions for the selected customer in the section titled Applied Payments.

Value set to a specific customer number

5. Use the section titled Applied Payments to select the checkbox next to the payment to unapply.

Unapply payments checkbox

6. Click GO (CTRL+G).

Connect creates a transaction to unapply the payment and the payment is saved as an unapplied payment.

Step 2: Applying the payment to the correct item

1. Open Connect Accounts Receivable > Customers > Apply Payments.

The Apply Payment Options form displays.

Apply payment options form

Enter the customer number.

Use the customer number that you want to apply the payment to.

Enter the Apply Using This Date.

Use the current date. Even if the payment was created in the past, you want to record the applied payment transaction on the same day as the transaction that unapplied the payment so the two transactions will cancel each other.

Set up the Include Unapplied Payments From MM/DD/YYYY to MM/DD/YYYY.

Use the current date to show the payment that was unapplied in Step 1.

Click OK.

The Apply Payments screen shows the unapplied payments that were created in the selected date range.

Apply payments screen

2. Find the payment and click the blank cell in the last column.

Blank cell in the last column

The Apply Payments form displays open invoices on the customer's account.

Apply payments form

3. Find the open invoice that you want to apply the payment to, and then click on the column titled Apply to enter the payment amount.

Enter the payment amount in the Amount column

4. Click OK.

The payment is applied to the open invoice. You can use Inquiry to make sure the payment is applied to the correct item.