A few years back Intuit updated QuickBooks Point-of-Sale (for Desktop) to process EMV credit cards. These are the chip cards that you insert into a reader for a much more secure experience. At that time, debit cards with chips were not supported and still needed to be swiped through the reader leading to confusion at the register as to dip or swipe the card. With the release of the R9 Update1 for QuickBooks Point-of-Sale V18, Intuit has added the EMV 'Debit' functionality.
To download the latest release, click on: Help > Software Updates > Check for Updates
Downloading Updates on QuickBooks Point-of-sale
QBPOS_EMV_02_01
If you are on the most current release, Point-of-Sale will tell you that your software is up to date, if not, it will download the latest release (R9). After the patch is installed, a new option is added under Workstation preferences, EMV Debit Setting (as shown below).
New Workstation (PIN pads) Preferences for EMV Debit Setting (feature is part of the R9 update for QBPOS V18).
QBPOS_02_02
By default, the box (Accept only PIN Debit payments for EMV Debit Cards) is checked, meaning that the customer only has the choice to process a transaction using a debit card with their Pin. By unchecking the box, customers will be prompted to choose credit or debit. Since debit transactions are generally less expensive for the retailer, I personally recommend leaving the box checked so that customers process their sale as a true 'debit' transaction. If for some reason, the customer insists on processing the card as credit transaction, the retailer will be forced to go to workstation preferences uncheck the box and then after that transaction is finalized, recheck the box.
But, there is one more piece to 'EMV Debit' puzzle. The Ingenico IPP 350 must have the 23.XXX firmware update installed. To identify which firmware version your pinpad is currently running simply unplug the USB and then plugging it back in, upon boot-up, you will see the following screen displayed.
QBPOS users much check their Ingenico IPP 350 to ensure it has the proper firmware to process EMV Debit transactions.
QBPOS_EMV_02_03
If the Pinpad is running 23.XX firmware, then the client is good to go and they have everything they need to process EMV Debit transactions. If they are running a pinpad with 15.XX firmware, Intuit plans to release a patch to update the pinpad to 23.XX at a later date and so they will need to wait until that update to be able to process EMV Debit transactions.. If the retailer's pinpad is running the 13.XX firmware then their pinpad is incapable of update to meet the EMV Debit requirements and they will need to purchase a new pinpad. For those retailers needing a new pinpad, Intuit is offering special pricing of $99 per device (normally these pinpads are $369.00, so this is a great deal). Retailers can contact Intuit POS directly or can get the special pricing from an Intuit Reseller (like English Management Solutions).
All retailers using QuickBooks Point-of-Sale V18 should have already been notified to update to R8 to continue to process credit cards. R9 adds EMV 'Debit' capability as long as they are running the correct version of firmware on their Ingenico pinpad device.
If you have retailers still running QuickBooks Point-of-Sale V12 there are similar updates available, but I would encourage all Point-of-Sale users to update to the latest version as support for V12 is limited to only merchant service issues.
William English
About the Author:
William English is president of English Management Solutions, Inc. of San Diego, CA. Will's company has been serving clients across the United States, including Hawaii, since 2002.
He was one of the first employees Intuit hired when they released the very first version of QuickBooks which was then a DOS-based product.
William is considered one of the Nation's leading experts in QuickBooks Point-of-Sale so much so that he was just awarded the 2019 Insightful Accountant Top ProAdvisor Niche Practice Award based upon his work with Retail Point-of-Sale systems.
Footnote(s):
1- additional changes, improvements and fixes were made to QuickBooks (Desktop) Point-of-Sale V18 as part of the Release 9 Update in addition to EMV 'Debit' processing capabilities, these included several 'Mobile Sync' related bug fixes. Refer to the 'release notes' provided via the link included for more details.