You are witnessing the effects of the difference between cash method accounting and accrual method accounting. You have a choice to make when you start a new business, between cash method or accrual method. Generally, if you produce, purchase, or sell merchandise, you must keep
an inventory and use an accrual method for sales and purchases of
merchandise.
Under the cash method, you include in your gross income all items of
income you actually or constructively receive during the tax year. Under the cash method, generally, you deduct expenses in the tax year in which you actually pay them.
Under an accrual method of accounting, you generally report income in
the year it is earned and deduct or capitalize expenses in the year
incurred. The purpose of an accrual method of accounting is to match
income and expenses in the correct year.
It sounds like your QuickBooks accounts are set to accrual method and are bringing your income into TurboTax in the year of the sales, without regard to when payment was received. If that was your intent, everything is fine. However, if you intend to, and are eligible to, use the cash method, you will want to change your reporting preference in QuickBooks before exporting your information to TurboTax.
