Deferred (unearned) revenue journal entries in QuickBooks Online

When a customer pays up front for a year of service, the accrual method says the revenue is earned as you deliver it. Intuit’s own article puts it this way: “You must record unearned revenue as deferred revenue (a liability) until the goods or services have been provided” (Intuit: When is revenue considered earned?).

QuickBooks Online Advanced has this built in: Intuit’s product page offers “automated revenue recognition only in QuickBooks Online Advanced version” (Intuit: revenue recognition). There you assign a revenue recognition template to a service, and QuickBooks moves the amount from the liability to income over time. On Simple Start, Essentials and Plus you do it with journal entries.

The manual way

Have a liability account for deferred revenue (for example “Deferred Revenue”).
When the customer pays in advance, record it to that account. For example (our own illustration, not from Intuit): a customer pays $1,200 on January 1 for 12 months of service, so you debit the bank $1,200 and credit Deferred Revenue $1,200.
As you deliver, move the earned part to income with a journal entry: debit Deferred Revenue, credit your income account. In the example above, that is $100 at the end of each month for 12 months.
Keep a schedule per customer of what is still deferred, and check it against the balance sheet each month.

Recurring transactions are only in Essentials, Plus and Advanced, so on Simple Start each entry is typed by hand (Intuit: plan feature limits). A recurring entry only works for equal amounts, and you have to remember to stop it when a customer cancels or changes plan.

What Periodline does

One row per invoice of type Deferred revenue: reference, customer, amount, service start and end dates, the income account and the deferred revenue account.
Three spreading methods: daily, equal monthly (a part month counts if it covers at least half the month) or monthly by days. Each month-end entry debits deferred revenue and credits income.
Changes: a new amount from a change date (a credit memo or a price change) re-spreads what is left; months already posted stay as posted.
Cancellations: recognition stops at the cancel date. Choose Refund (the refund or credit you post in QuickBooks clears the rest) or Release (the rest goes to income that month).
Optional Name, Location and Class columns are copied to every QuickBooks line of that schedule. Class and location tracking exist only on Plus and Advanced.
A journal entry import file with one balanced entry per month-end not yet posted.
A posting record (CSV) that holds, per line, the month posted up to and what remains, so a rerun never posts the same month twice. If a line changes after months were posted, the difference is posted once as a catch-up adjustment that you confirm first.
A working paper in Excel and PDF: each balance sheet account rolled forward, next to the QuickBooks balance you type in, and the difference.
Runs in your browser. Your schedules are not uploaded, and Periodline never connects to QuickBooks.

To import, in QuickBooks Online go to Settings ⚙, then Import data, then Journal entries, choose the file and map the columns when QuickBooks asks. See the import format.

What it doesn’t do

It spreads an amount evenly over a period you set. It is not a full ASC 606 engine for contracts with several performance obligations or milestones.
Home currency only: a line in another currency needs the home-currency amount booked in QuickBooks.
It doesn’t read invoices from QuickBooks or post anything.

Try it on your own schedule. Free, no account or sign-up, nothing uploaded. The free plan covers one company: every line’s schedule and balances on screen, and the journal entry file, posting record and working paper for 3 lines. Standard ($19 per month or $190 per year) covers every line for up to 3 companies; Practice ($49 per month) covers unlimited companies: see pricing.

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Periodline is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit. QuickBooks is a trademark of Intuit Inc. This guide was checked against the linked sources on 27 October 2026; Intuit changes its product, so check the current Intuit help article if a menu looks different.