The quick answer
Turn on In-Transit Payments under Setup > Company > Enable Features, on the Accounting subtab. Then open the bill, click Make Payment, check the In-Transit box on the bill payment, and save. The payment reads In-Transit, the bank account's Balance doesn't move, and Available Balance shows the balance less the payment. When your bank shows the payment went out, click Confirm, enter that date, and click OK. The payment reads Confirmed and posts a debit to accounts payable and a credit to the bank on that date.
The screenshots show sample data. Person and operating-company names are fictional. Use your own records and values when following the steps.
Before you start
The setup needs the Administrator role, or a role that can enable features and set accounting preferences. Entering, confirming, and declining payments needs access to the bills, bill payments, subsidiary, and bank account. Turning on In-Transit Payments can't be undone.
Before you create an in-transit payment, you need a cash-in-transit (CIT) clearing account. Create it as an Other Current Liability account. NetSuite only lets you use it on journal entries and in-transit payments. Then select it as the Vendor In-Transit Payment Account under Setup > Accounting > Preferences > Accounting Preferences, on the General subtab, in the Accounts Payable section, and save the preferences. In OneWorld, check whether your account uses one CIT account for every subsidiary or one per subsidiary. In this example the CIT account and the preference are already set up.
The same Accounts Payable section has Use In-Transit Vendor Payments by Default. When it's checked, every new bill payment starts with In-Transit already checked. In this example it's unchecked, so the box gets checked by hand.
If you want the bank account to show in-transit amounts on the bank matching pages and confirm payments from imported bank data, edit the account under Lists > Accounting > Accounts and check Use Match Bank Data and Reconcile Account Statement Pages. You don't need this to enter a payment and confirm it by hand. In-transit payments don't work with the ACH vendor payment processing feature.
If approval routing is on for vendor payments, a new in-transit payment saves as Pending Approval instead of In-Transit, and you can't confirm or decline it until it's approved. The bill also has to be payable, which means approved if bills need approval and not on payment hold, and the payment date has to fall in an open period.
In this example, Norcastle Resin Supply's bill NRS-40817 is open for 6,480.00, due 09/27/2026. Accounts payable releases check 20614 from 1015 Operating Checking on 09/24/2026, when the bank account's balance is 184,250.00. The bank processes it on 09/28/2026. Everything is in one subsidiary and US dollars, and approval routing for vendor payments is off.
01. Turn on In-Transit Payments
Go to Setup > Company > Enable Features and click the Accounting subtab. Under Advanced Features, find In-Transit Payments, described as "Allow In-Transit Vendor Payments". Check it and click Save. Enabling it also creates a system Clearing Payment account. That's separate from the CIT account you select in Accounting Preferences.
02. Open the bill
Open bill NRS-40817. It reads Open, the vendor is Norcastle Resin Supply, and Amount is 6,480.00, due 09/27/2026. Make Payment is in the button bar because the bill still has an amount due.
03. Enter the payment and check In-Transit
Click Make Payment. A new Bill Payment opens for Norcastle Resin Supply. Account is 1015 Operating Checking, and the Balance under it is 184,250.00. Amount is 6,480.00, Date is 09/24/2026, the day the check was released, and Check # is 20614.
On the Apply subtab, NRS-40817 is already checked, with Amt. Due 6,480.00 and Payment 6,480.00.
Check In-Transit, in the right column under Memo. The box is there because the feature is on. You can only set it when you create the payment, so check it now. Then click Save.
04. Check what's in transit
Bill payment 20614 saves with the status In-Transit. The button bar has Confirm and Decline instead of Void.
In this example, Balance is still 184,250.00 and Available Balance is 177,770.00, which is 184,250.00 less the 6,480.00 in transit. The payment has already reduced what the bill owes, and the 6,480.00 is held in the cash-in-transit account. The debit to accounts payable and the credit to the bank don't post until you confirm.
05. Confirm it with the bank's date
Wait for the bank to show the payment went out. Here the bank statement shows check 20614 processed on 09/28/2026. Open the payment and click Confirm. In the Confirm Information window, Date starts on today's date. Replace it with 09/28/2026, the date on the bank statement. The date can change Posting Period and, in a foreign currency, Exchange Rate, so check both after you enter it. The period has to be open. Here they stay Sep 2026 and 1.00. Clear Payment, when checked, marks the payment cleared for bank reconciliation. Leave it checked if the bank statement shows the payment cleared, as it does here. Click OK.
06. Check the confirmed payment
The payment now reads Confirmed and its Date is 09/28/2026. Void has replaced Confirm and Decline. In this example, Balance is now 177,770.00, the same as Available Balance, because the payment has posted to the bank.
Click the GL Impact subtab. Here it shows 2000 Accounts Payable with Amount (Debit) 6,480.00 and 1015 Operating Checking with Amount (Credit) 6,480.00, both with Posting Yes. Confirmation also reverses the cash-in-transit amount. In a foreign currency, a different exchange rate at confirmation can add a realized gain or loss.
Check the result
- The payment reads Confirmed and its Date is the bank's processing date.
- Balance equals Available Balance, lower by the payment amount.
- GL Impact shows a debit to accounts payable and a credit to the bank for the payment amount.
- Void is available, and Confirm and Decline are gone.
07. Check the bill
On the payment's Apply subtab, click the bill's Date Due link, 09/27/2026. The payment covered the whole bill, so NRS-40817 now reads Paid In Full, and Make Payment is gone from the button bar. While the payment was in transit, a bill paid in full by it reads Payment In-Transit instead.
If the bank shows the payment didn't go through, click Decline on the in-transit payment instead. It reads Declined, the cash-in-transit posting is reversed, nothing posts to accounts payable or the bank, and the bill goes back to Open with its amount due restored.
Common questions
What's the difference between Balance and Available Balance on an in-transit payment?
Balance is the bank account's balance, and it doesn't move while the payment is In-Transit. Available Balance is that balance less the payments still in transit. In this example it's 177,770.00, which is the 184,250.00 balance less the 6,480.00 check. Once you confirm, Balance drops and the two match.
What date should I use when I confirm the payment?
Use the date your bank shows the payment went out, not the date you entered it. Here the payment was entered on 09/24/2026 and confirmed with 09/28/2026 from the bank statement. After you enter the date, check that Posting Period is the open period you expect, and in a foreign currency check Exchange Rate too.
Can I change In-Transit after saving, or void an in-transit payment?
No. You can only set In-Transit when you create the payment, and an In-Transit payment offers Confirm and Decline instead of Void because nothing has posted to accounts payable or the bank yet. If you entered it wrong, delete it and enter a new payment. Void shows up once the payment is confirmed.
What does Decline do?
Decline is for a payment the bank rejected or never processed. The payment reads Declined, the cash-in-transit amount is reversed, nothing posts to accounts payable or the bank, and the bill goes back to Open with its amount due restored so you can pay it another way.
Why is In-Transit already checked on new bill payments?
Use In-Transit Vendor Payments by Default is checked in Accounting Preferences, in the Accounts Payable section. You can uncheck the box on a payment before saving if you want it to post straight to the bank. In this example the preference is off, so the box was checked by hand.
What's the GL impact before and after confirmation?
Before confirmation, the payment reduces what the bill owes and holds the amount in the cash-in-transit account. The final debit to accounts payable and credit to the bank don't post yet. After confirmation, the cash-in-transit amount is reversed and the payment posts a debit to accounts payable and a credit to the bank, 6,480.00 each in this example.
Does approval routing change any of this?
Yes. If approval routing is on for vendor payments, a new in-transit payment saves as Pending Approval instead of In-Transit. You can't confirm or decline it until it's approved. This example has approval routing off.