How to Retrieve and Identify Reconciled Transactions in QuickBooks Online API

introduction

When working with accounting automation, one common requirement is to pull all transactions and check whether they are Reconciled, Cleared, or UnCleared.

At first glance, QuickBooks Online’s TransactionList API seems perfect for this.

But when I started experimenting, I discovered a limitation that every developer integrating QuickBooks should know about.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the process with real examples, screenshots, and API calls so you know exactly what to expect.

Step 1: Fetch Transactions using TransactionList API

QuickBooks provides the TransactionList report API:

GET /v3/company/{companyId}/reports/TransactionList

You can pass parameters like:

• start_date / end_date → Filter by transaction date range
• columns → Choose fields like txn_date, txn_type, doc_num, account_name, etc.
• cleared → Possible values are Reconciled, Cleared, UnCleared

That means:

• You can fetch only Reconciled transactions, or only UnCleared ones,
• But you can’t pull all transactions with their status in a single call.

Step 2: Example Reconciled Transaction

In my sandbox, I created a Bill Payment transaction and reconciled it.

Here’s the API call I used:

GET .../reports/TransactionList?start_date=2025-09-11&end_date=2025-09-11&cleared=Reconciled

The result included the transaction confirming that the API can detect reconciled entries, but only when filtered.

Step 3: Example UnCleared Transaction

Next, I created an Invoice Payment and left it uncleared.

When I ran:

GET
.../reports/TransactionList?start_date=2025-09-11&end_date=2025-09-11&cleared=Uncleared

It showed up correctly in the API response.

Step 4: Mixed Transactions on the Same Day

Here’s where it gets tricky. On the same date, I had multiple transactions:

• One reconciled bill payment
• One uncleared payment
• One cleared bill

But when fetching via API, you must query them separately by status.

There’s no way to retrieve a single dataset that contains the cleared status for every transaction.

Key Limitation

This is the main takeaway:

For auditors, accountants, or SaaS developers building reconciliation tools, this creates extra complexity you must run multiple API calls and merge results manually.

Why This Matters

If you’re building automation to audit or reconcile accounts across hundreds of QuickBooks clients, this limitation can slow down your process.

I came across a similar problem Satva Solutions’ blog on QuickBooks Online Reconciliation API Solutions.

Which shared that CPA firm with 200+ clients that needed automation around reconciliation, but QuickBooks’ API restrictions forced them to build workarounds.

That story resonated with my findings here.

Conclusion

• Use the TransactionList API to fetch transactions.
• Apply the cleared filter when you need only one type of status.
• Be aware: QuickBooks does not provide status per transaction in bulk results.
• For large-scale reconciliation projects, you’ll need to run multiple API calls (Reconciled, Cleared, UnCleared) and stitch them together.

Until QuickBooks improves this endpoint, this is the only way to identify reconciled transactions via the API.