Bad Debt
Bad debt is money owed to your business that you've determined is uncollectible — a customer who can't or won't pay their invoice. When you write off bad debt, you remove it from accounts receivable and record it as an expense, acknowledging that the revenue you recognized will never turn into cash.
Bad Debt Definition
Bad debt is money owed to your business that you've determined is uncollectible — a customer who can't or won't pay their invoice. When you write off bad debt, you remove it from accounts receivable and record it as an expense, acknowledging that the revenue you recognized will never turn into cash.
Bad Debt in Practice — Example
You run a small web design agency and completed a $4,000 website for a client six months ago. Despite sending five invoices, two collection emails, and a phone call, the client has gone dark — their business appears to have shut down. After 180 days of non-payment, you decide to write it off as bad debt. You debit Bad Debt Expense $4,000 and credit Accounts Receivable $4,000, removing the invoice from your books and recognizing the loss.
Why Bad Debt Matters for Your Books
Carrying uncollectible invoices in accounts receivable inflates your assets and overstates your income. If you recognized $4,000 in revenue when the project was completed (accrual basis), but the money never comes, your financial statements are lying. Writing off bad debt corrects this.
Bad debt also affects your taxes. The write-off creates an expense that reduces taxable income — so you're not paying taxes on money you never received. However, the IRS has rules about when and how you can deduct bad debt, so documentation matters.
Tracking bad debt over time reveals patterns. If you're consistently writing off receivables from the same type of client, industry, or payment term, it's a signal to tighten your credit policies or require deposits upfront.
How Bad Debt Shows Up in QuickBooks
In QBO, write off bad debt by creating a Credit Memo or Journal Entry. First, create a "Bad Debt Expense" account (under Expenses). Then create a credit memo for the uncollectible amount, applying it to the outstanding invoice. Alternatively, make a journal entry debiting Bad Debt Expense and crediting Accounts Receivable. The bad debt expense appears on your Profit and Loss report, and the receivable is cleared from the Balance Sheet.
Common Mistakes
FAQ
Q: Is bad debt tax-deductible? A: Yes, for accrual basis businesses. You can deduct the amount as a business bad debt expense. Cash basis businesses can only deduct it if the income was previously reported.
Q: How long should I wait before writing off bad debt? A: There's no strict rule, but 90-180 days of non-payment after reasonable collection efforts is a common threshold. Document everything.
Related Terms
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