How to split payments in QuickBooks

Make sure a split is what the transaction needs. Matching links a downloaded transaction to one already in your books, such as an expense you've posted or the payment on an invoice you sent, so the amount isn't counted twice. Splitting is a way of categorising: you choose the accounts or categories the money goes to yourself. When the bank line is a record you've already entered, match it instead.

Have the amount of each part ready, and know which category each part belongs in. Intuit points out that the category decides a lot about how the amount is treated in your books, such as the type of income, expense or capital it represents and which reports it lands on. If you're unsure which categories to use, check with your accountant before you post.

If you track products and services, the banking page has a Product/Service field next to the category. Choosing a Product/Service clears the category, and choosing a category clears the Product/Service, so a transaction that needs both has to be split.

Sharing one customer payment across several invoices isn't done with Split: you tick each invoice under Outstanding Transactions in Receive payment, as the page on applying a payment to an invoice explains.

1. Go to All apps, select Accounting, then select Bank transactions.
2. Choose the connected account and open its Pending tab, which holds downloaded transactions not yet accounted for.
3. Select the transaction you want to divide so its row expands.
4. If the switch is set to Match and the suggested match isn't right for this transaction, change it to Categorise.
5. Select the dropdown next to Post.
6. Select Split.
7. Follow the on-screen steps to divide the transaction into its categories, with the amount for each part.

When the split transaction is posted, it leaves the Pending tab and moves to the Posted tab. Posted transactions are the ones QuickBooks treats as officially tracked and accounted for, so each part of the split now shows up in your reports.

To find it again later, open the Posted tab. Selecting All accounts at the top of the account selector there gives a single list of posted transactions from every connected bank account.

Filling in From/To with a customer or supplier also feeds that payee's categorisation history, which helps when a similar transaction arrives. The Bank Description column isn't tracked for this, because it can hold all sorts of information. To start a history for someone new, add them as a new customer or supplier.

A Rule badge in the category field means one of your bank rules is setting the category, and a rule always takes precedence over the category QuickBooks would otherwise suggest.

A Pair badge means QuickBooks found the same transaction in another account you've connected, so it reads the line as a transfer or credit card payment between those two accounts. You can unpair it if that's wrong.

If Categorisation history isn't in the dropdown, there's no history on file yet for the customer or supplier named in From/To.