Have you ever looked at your Profit & Loss report in QuickBooks Online and thought:
“There is no way I made this much money.”
If so, you’re not alone. One of the most common QuickBooks Online bookkeeping mistakes I see is income being double-counted — especially for businesses that send invoices.
The good news?
This usually isn’t fraud or missing money. It’s almost always a workflow issue, and it’s very fixable.
Let’s keep this simple.
When you create an invoice, QuickBooks records income.
When your customer pays the invoice, that payment should be applied to the invoice and clears Accounts Receivable.
Income should only be recorded once.
The payment itself is not new income — it’s just collecting money that was already recorded when the invoice was created.
Here’s the scenario I see all the time:
You send an invoice to a customer
The customer pays
The deposit shows up in your bank feed
Instead of matching the deposit to the invoice, the deposit is added and coded to income
Now QuickBooks thinks:
The invoice = income
The deposit = income
Same money. Counted twice.
Your bank balance may look correct, but your reports are not.
If any of these sound familiar, it’s worth taking a closer look:
Your Profit & Loss shows much higher income than expected
Accounts Receivable doesn’t make sense
Invoices appear unpaid even though customers have paid
You’re worried about paying taxes on income you don’t think you actually earned
These are classic red flags of income being recorded twice.
This is where QuickBooks Online trips people up.
Yes, the money is real.
But when income is recorded matters.
If you invoice first, income is already recorded. The bank deposit is simply the payment of that invoice — not additional income.
In the bank feed, QuickBooks gives you two options:
Match → correct when an invoice exists
Add → only correct when no invoice was created
Choosing the wrong option is how double-counting happens.
A few simple habits can prevent this issue:
Always match deposits to invoices when possible
Be cautious when clicking “Add” in the bank feed
Don’t manually code customer payments directly to income if you invoiced
Use Undeposited Funds consistently if you batch deposits
If you’re unsure which option to choose, it’s better to pause than guess.
First — don’t panic.
Second — don’t start deleting transactions randomly.
Fixing double-counted income usually involves:
Identifying duplicate income entries
Properly linking payments to invoices
Correcting how deposits were recorded
If it’s a one-time issue, it’s often an easy fix. If it’s been happening for months, it’s still fixable — but cleaning it up sooner rather than later can save time, stress, and money.
Overstated income doesn’t just affect your books — it affects real decisions:
You may overpay taxes
Profit margins may be misleading
Cash flow decisions may be based on incorrect data
Clean books aren’t just about compliance. They’re about clarity and confidence.
If your income “feels wrong” in QuickBooks Online, trust that instinct. Double-counted income is one of the most common issues I see, especially in businesses that invoice customers.
Catching it early makes everything easier — especially when tax time rolls around.
If you’re not sure whether this is happening in your books, a quick review can usually tell the story.
If you’re not sure whether your income is being recorded correctly in QuickBooks Online, a quick review can usually tell the story. Catching issues like this early can save time, stress, and surprises later — especially at tax time.
If you’d like help reviewing or cleaning up your books, feel free to reach out.