Upfront payments

Good day, @worldwide Wine. I'll be happy to share some details on what will happen to the invoices if not paid on time by your customers in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

When creating an invoice, you can specify a due date. If the due date passes without payment from your clients, the invoice will be marked as Overdue and will continue to be displayed as an Open invoice. But if you received an upfront payment from your customer, you can consider recording a deposit or retainer in your QBO account to get through this.

To begin, you'll want to create a liability account. Here's how:

1. Select the Gear icon, then select Chart of accounts.
2. Select New.
3. From the Account Type ▼ dropdown menu, select Other Current Liabilities.
4. From the Detail Type ▼ dropdown menu, Trust Accounts - Liabilities.
5. Enter a Name for the account (for example, Trust Liabilities) or accept the suggested name.
6. Select an option from the When do you want to start tracking your finances from the is account in QuickBooks? dropdown list.
7. Select Save and Close.

I recommend visiting this article for further guidelines on how to record a retainer or deposit in QBO: Record a retainer or deposit.

Once done and the invoice has been paid, you'll want to customize a report to show all your invoices and see their status. Refer to this article for the steps on how to customize a report in QBO: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

In addition, I've got you this article in case you'd like to make personalization with your sales forms in QBO: Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

@worldwide Wine, if you need further help to manage your invoices in QuickBooks. Know that you can always post here again in the Community space, and our team of dedicated experts will gladly assist you once again. Thanks for choosing QuickBooks. Take care, and have a good one!