“No matter what happens, there is no reason to print a deposit slip from QuickBooks. You can fill one out by hand at the bank, if they require it, or the teller will do it for you. Or, deposit the check into the bank's ATM.”

I don’t care whether I print it or fill it out by hand, that’s irrelevant. And I know how to make a deposit with a teller or an ATM (and fill out my own deposit slip). That’s not the point. The point is making QB match my credit to the paper check I’m holding in my hand right now. Just that. How do I get QB to create a link between the credit memo and the actual refund (paper) check? (As in, how to prevent the "QuickBooks generated zero amount transaction for bill payment stub" that it automatically does when you use a credit to pay a bill.)

“Since you recorded a deposit in your bank account, I'd think you can print a deposit slip from the deposit. It doesn't matter if the thing you're depositing is from a vendor or a customer.  What happens when you edit the deposit and click the Print | Deposit Slip from the top of the window?”

A couple of things here:

• I need to match the credit to the check I received, right? Otherwise, it sits on my books as an available credit when it’s not.
• No, it doesn’t matter who the check is from when you’re creating a deposit slip. I know how to create a deposit and print a deposit slip. I know that I can add or delete entries from my deposit slip once created, and I know I can enter the refund check at that time. But that doesn't link it the way it needs to be linked.
• I’m not sure what you’re asking by “what happens when you edit the deposit and click print” - ? It does what it always does, it’s prints a deposit.
• When I enter checks from customers I put it into Undeposited Funds, which populates my deposit slip when I’m ready to go to the bank. But I cannot enter a check FROM a vendor, so Undeposited Funds isn't available.

Through all of this discussion I (think) I can narrow it down at least a little bit. 

You can’t enter a check FROM a vendor, only checks TO a vendor, so I can’t bring in the Undeposited Funds account, which is where every other incoming funds are entered if it’s a paper check.

The purpose of a credit memo is to remove the returned item from my inventory and show that it’s been credited to me – so at that point my inventory is correct.

It’s how QB handles the remaining process that’s all twisted up.

If I enter a deposit for, let’s say, a $25.00 refund, and a corresponding credit memo for the $25.00 inventory item I returned, I have to link them in QB for my vendor and inventory numbers to be correct. But as soon as you link them through Pay Bills, you get a check for $0.00 and the message: “QuickBooks generated zero amount transaction for bill payment stub”.

That doesn't work. I need to show a REAL deposit for $25.00 from that vendor for that item. And obviously my checking account won’t balance if that $25.00 refund check comes up as $0.00.

In my mind there’s steps missing or too many steps taken in this process to make this happen correctly. Do away with the credit memo? It doesn’t get my inventory item out. Just throw the check in with my other deposits when I run them? It doesn’t show under my vendor. There’s no history to link the refund from my vendor to a deposit of a paper check.

I can’t believe it’s this difficult. Am I asking the wrong questions? Wrong terminology? QB is supposed to be able to handle the basic functions. I’m using QB 2024 Premier, not just the basic QB. I’d think this kind of thing would be built in. But if it’s not, I need a workaround.

Would using a pass-through account work in this situation? And if it would, what are the steps?