Checks not showing as cleared in QuickBooks Online: 8 causes and fixes

What cleared means in QuickBooks Online

Every transaction in a bank register has a reconcile status. Blank means QuickBooks has no record that the bank has processed it. C means cleared: the bank has processed it, but it has not yet been included in a finished reconciliation. R means reconciled: it was ticked in a reconciliation that you completed with Finish now.

A check gets a C in one of three ways: you match it to a downloaded bank transaction in Bank transactions, you tick it in the reconcile window, or you set the status by hand in the register. Cleared items are pre-ticked the next time you open Reconcile. A check only becomes R when a reconciliation is finished, so a C that never turns into R usually means the reconciliation was saved for later rather than finished.

How to check the status of a check in the register

1. Open Chart of accounts. Depending on your layout it is under Accounting (go to All apps if it is not pinned), under Transactions, or under Settings (the gear icon).
2. Find the bank account the check was written from and select View register in the Action column.
3. Search or filter for the check number, payee or amount.
4. Look at the reconcile status column (headed with a check mark in most layouts). Blank, C or R tells you where the check stands.
5. If you cannot see the column, open the register settings (the small gear above the register) and tick the reconcile and banking status option.

Why a check is not showing as cleared, and the fix for each cause

• The bank's copy is still waiting for review. If the cleared check is sitting on the For review tab (called Pending in the newer Bank transactions layout), nothing has touched your original check yet. Fix: open Bank transactions, find the item and select Match against your recorded check.
• It was added instead of matched. If someone selected Add or Post on the bank's copy, QuickBooks created a second transaction. The new copy is cleared and your original check stays blank, and the account is now overstated by one check. Fix: undo the added copy (steps below) and match it to the original.
• The amounts or payees do not agree. QuickBooks only suggests a match when the details line up. A check entered as 1,245.00 that cleared at 1,254.00 will not be offered as a match. Fix: confirm the amount against the check image from your bank, correct the entry if it was a typo, then match.
• The check is in the wrong bank account. A check recorded against your savings account, or a bill payment made from a different account, will never appear in the checking account reconciliation. Fix: open the check, change the bank account to the right one, save, and match again.
• The check is dated after the statement ending date. The reconcile window shows transactions up to the statement ending date, so a check dated a day later stays hidden. Fix: confirm the date the check was written, correct it if needed, or clear the date filter in the reconcile window to see later items.
• The reconciliation was saved for later, not finished. Ticked items show C until you complete the reconciliation. Fix: open Reconcile, resume the saved reconciliation, get the difference to 0.00 and select Finish now.
• The bank really has not paid it. Some checks are simply outstanding: the payee has not deposited them. Fix: confirm on your bank statement or in online banking. If it is not there, leave it blank and follow up with the payee if it gets old.
• It is a customer check that was never deposited in QuickBooks. Received payments sit in Undeposited Funds (labelled Payments to deposit in some accounts) until you record a bank deposit. Fix: create the bank deposit that includes the payment, then match the deposit to the bank feed.

How to fix a check that was added instead of matched

If the added copy was already reconciled, QuickBooks warns that the change may affect your next reconciliation. Read the section below before you continue.

1. Go to Bank transactions (under Accounting in the current layout, or Banking or Transactions in older ones) and pick the bank account.
2. Open the Categorized tab (called Posted in the newer layout) and find the bank copy of the check.
3. Select Undo. The item moves back to For review (or Pending).
4. Expand the item and match it to your original check instead of adding it.
5. Open the register and confirm the original check now shows C and the duplicate is gone.

Before you change a check that is already reconciled (R)

Editing the amount, account or date of an R transaction, deleting it, voiding it, or flipping its status back to blank changes the balance of a reconciliation you already finished. QuickBooks warns you when you open such a transaction, and the next time you reconcile the beginning balance will not match your statement. QuickBooks then shows a discrepancy report listing what changed.

Intuit's current help article says the Primary Admin and accountant users can undo a whole reconciliation from Reconcile, then History by account, using Undo in the Action column. Older guidance limited this to accountant users in QuickBooks Online Accountant, so if you do not see the option, ask your accountant. Undoing a reconciliation also undoes every later one and deletes its saved report, so download reports first and change R items only when you know why.

A quick checklist before you reconcile

• All bank feed items for the statement period are matched, added or excluded. Nothing is left on For review or Pending.
• No check number appears twice in the register for the same account.
• The statement ending date and ending balance in the reconcile setup match the paper or PDF statement exactly.
• Checks from previous months that are still outstanding are listed on your last reconciliation report, so you know which ones to expect.

Clearing hundreds of checks at once

Working through these causes one check at a time is fine for a handful of items. It gets slow when a statement has hundreds of checks. Kyriq reads the bank statement PDF you upload, extracts each check, including handwritten ones, with a confidence score, and compares it with your QuickBooks Online register.

Exact matches are grouped so you can approve them in bulk. Duplicates, amount differences and checks with no register entry go to Needs Attention, which covers most of the causes listed above. Nothing is cleared until an authorized user approves it. Kyriq then clears the approved matches in the QuickBooks Online reconciliation and keeps an audit trail. Kyriq works with QuickBooks Online only. The trial covers 14 days or 250 checks and needs no card.