How to Record a Donation in QuickBooks

Above all, charitable donations help those in need — but for a business, making a donation also helps you out on your taxes. Intuit's online-based QuickBooks software, which the company positions as accounting tools tailored for small businesses, offers billing, invoicing and bookkeeping features, including the ability to record item donations and charitable contributions.

In QuickBooks Point of Sale, enter the QuickBooks Customer Center and select “Create Sales Receipt.” From the drop-down Customer menu, click “Add new” and type in the name of the organization to which you've made an item donation. Enter the date, and in the blank fields labeled “Item” and “Description,” enter the name of the item you've donated and a brief description of the item, including data such as the condition, features or year of manufacture. Select an item quantity from the drop-down menu. Under Amount, enter a dollar value equivalent to the value of the item. Click “I Want To,” then “Change Tax Location” and then “Exempt” before you click to “Save” button to record the donation.

Create an expense account for your charitable contributions to help you keep track of money you've donated. Enter QuickBooks' “List” menu and select “Chart of Accounts.” Click “Account,” then click “New” and “Continue.” When prompted to enter a name in the Account Name field, enter a name that will help you identify this account, such as “Charitable Contributions.” Click “Save and Close” to save the account.

Click the “Banking” tab to record a check you made as a charitable contribution. Select “Write Check.” From the drop-down menu, choose the bank account from which the check expense will be paid. Click “Add New” in the “Pay to the order of” field, and type in the name of the charity or organization to whom you wrote the check. Enter the check number, date, amount of the check and — if you wish — an additional memo, in the associated blank fields. From the drop-down menu under “Itemize by Account,” select the name of the account you created for charitable contributions. Click “Save” to record this expense.