Both QuickBooks Online users and Xero Accounting users have the ability to add payments to supplier invoices. Payments can be added within the accounting application and then synchronised to DEAR or added in DEAR and synced to the accounting software. QuickBooks Online users will sync payments automatically, but Xero users will have to ensure the correct payment settings are enabled.
This article explains how different types of payment are handled by DEAR and Xero.
Prerequisites:
- Connect Xero to DEAR Inventory (necessary).
- Ensure your Chart of Accounts is set up correctly. See Xero Integration - Setting up Accounts in Xero.
Table of Contents
Payment Settings
DEAR users with Xero integration have three options for applying payments to invoices:
- Pull payments from Xero
- Push payments to Xero
- Synced both ways (default setting).
For payments applied in DEAR to be applied to DEAR or Xero invoices, payments must be set to push payments to Xero or synced both ways.
To change Xero payment settings:
- Navigate to Integration -> Xero.
- Check that Xero payments are set to either Sync both ways or Pushed to Xero.
- Save your changes.
Payments and Refunds
NOTE: Payments can only be synced if there is a synced invoice to apply the payment to. For example, if an error occurs during syncing of INV-1246, the payment applied to that invoice will not be synced.
Payments applied in DEAR will be exported to Xero during synchronisation if your Xero payment settings are set to Push to Xero or Synced both ways. Payments applied in Xero will be exported to DEAR during sync if your Xero payment settings are set to Pulled from Xero or Synced both ways.
Payments are applied to invoices. Refunds are applied to credit notes (negative invoices).
Customer Credits and Supplier Deposits
Customer Credits and Supplier Deposits are handled slightly differently from regular payments and refunds.
NOTE: To use this feature, you should have created accounts in Xero with the correct settings and mapped them to the equivalent DEAR accounts in Settings -> Reference Books -> Financials -> Account Mapping. It is important that your Customer Credit/Supplier Deposit accounts are set to accept payments.
Account | Account Type | System Account | Accepts Payments? |
Supplier Deposits/Prepayments | Current Asset | None | Accepts payments |
Customer Credits | Current Liability | None | Accepts payments |
Customer credits are amounts owed to customers, which can be used against future payments. In Xero, they are accounted for by a Customer Credits liability account. When a customer credit is applied to a sale quote, it is synced to Xero as a Money Received object. Learn more about Customer Credits.
Supplier Deposits are money that you have paid to a supplier, which can be used against future purchases. In Xero, they are accounted for by a Supplier Deposits asset account. When a supplier deposit is applied to a purchase order, it is synced to Xero as a Money Spent object. Learn more about Supplier Deposits.
Duplicate Payments
In some cases, users can accidentally create duplicate payments. For example, a payment has been applied in DEAR but has yet to be synced to Xero. Another user processes the payment in Xero using bank reconciliation. When the payment from DEAR eventually syncs to Xero, the payment will be duplicated, and an error occurs.
DEAR stops these errors from happening by treating identical payments (payments for the same amount, on the same invoice, on the same day) as duplicates and removes them automatically.