Record Payments and Refunds in the Payment Journal

On the Payment Journal page, you record payments that you make to vendors and refunds that you make to customers. When you post a payment journal line, the paid amount is recorded on the specified system bank account. You must then take steps to perform the actual money transfer from the related bank account.

The payment journal is a general journal that is optimized for making payments. You can quickly add lines manually, you can let Business Central suggest vendor payments, and you can apply the payment to posted documents. Even though you are making payments, you enter a positive amount in the Document Amount field. Depending on the document type for the journal line, this amount is then converted to a negative amount in the underlying transactions. This way, it's faster for you to add journal lines manually. If you prefer to enter negative amounts, you can personalize the payment journal to show the Amount field instead.

• Applying payments to invoices or credit memos

  If you fill in the Applies-to Doc. No. field with the invoice or credit memo that must be paid or refunded, then the document in question is set to paid when you post the journal. This is referred to as "applied". As an alternative to applying during payment posting, you can use the Apply Vendor Entries and Apply Customer Entries page after you have made the payment posting. For more information, see, for example, Reconcile Vendor Payments with the Payment Journal or from Vendor Ledger Entries.

• Get suggested payments to vendors or employees

  The Suggest Vendor Payments and Suggest Employee Payments functions can help you fill payment journal lines automatically according to vendor prioritization and due dates. For more information, see Suggest Vendor Payments. With this function, the Applies-to Doc. No. field is always filled in.

• Print checks and submit payments electronically to your bank

  In addition to recording that the payment is made, you can also use the Payment Journal page to output the payment for further processing by your bank. For more information, see Make Check Payments and Make Electronic Payments.

To make payments in the payment journal

1. Choose the icon, enter Payment Journals, and then choose the related link.

2. Open the journal batch that is dedicated to payments.

3. If you know who to pay, fill in the fields manually. Hover over a field to read a short description.

4. To also apply the payment to the related invoice or credit memo, choose the Applies-to Doc No. field, on the Apply Vendor Entries page, select the relevant invoice or credit memo, and then choose the OK button.

   Many fields, such as the Document Amount and Due Date fields, are now filled in with information from the selected document.

5. Alternatively, use the Suggest Vendor Payments function. All the applies-to information and amounts are then also entered on the journal lines. For more information, see Suggest Vendor Payments.

   Messages will guide you to fill in the required fields correctly.

6. When all payment journal lines are completed, choose the Post action.

To issue a refund check

1. Choose the icon, enter Payment Journals, and then choose the related link.
2. In the Document Type field, select Refund.
3. In the External Document No. field, use this as a reference for the refund check (for example, return order number).
4. In the Account Type field, select Customer.
5. In the Account No. field, select the customer's account number that the refund check is being issued to.
6. In the Amount field, enter the amount to be refunded.
7. In the Bal Account Type field, select Bank Account.
8. In the Bal Account No. field, select the bank account the check will come out of.
9. In the Applies To Doc. No. field, select the documents requiring a refund.
10. When all payment journal lines are completed, choose the Post/Print action, then choose the Post and Print action, and select Yes.

See Also

Make Check Payments
Make Electronic Payments
Managing Payables
Setting Up Banking
Export a Positive Pay file
Work with General Journals
Personalize Your Workspace
Work with Business Central

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