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Enter and manage bills and bill payments in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•10• Updated 4 weeks ago

If you haven't paid for an expense yet, enter it as a bill. You can record bills for one supplier at a time or multiple suppliers at once. If you've already paid, enter it as an expense.

Essentially, bills, checks, and expenses tell QuickBooks how to record transactions.

Enter bills into QuickBooks

After you get a bill from a supplier, here's how to record it:

Select + New.
Select Bill.
From the Supplier ▼ dropdown, select a supplier.
From the Terms ▼ dropdown, select the bill's terms. This is when your supplier expects to be paid.
Enter the Bill date, Due date, and Bill no. as they're recorded on the bill.
Enter the bill details in the Category details section. From the Category dropdown, select the expense account you use to track expense transactions. Then enter a description.

Tip: You can also enter specific products and services in the Item details section to itemise the bill. To set up, go to Settings ⚙, then select Account and settings. Select Expenses. In the Bills and expenses section, select the pencil ✎ icon. Then, turn on the Show Items table on expense and purchase forms switch.

Enter the Amount and GST. The total amount displayed is based on the option selected in the Amounts field.
If you plan to bill a customer for the expense, tick Billable and enter their name in the Customer field. Learn more about billable expenses.
When you're done, select Save and close.

If you have multiple worksites or business segments, you can also select locations from the Location ▼ dropdown. Learn how to turn on and use location tracking.

Record payments towards bills in QuickBooks

There are two ways to record bill payments. Follow the steps that suit you.

If you paid for the bill with cash or a credit card

Record separate payments each time you make them. Payments made on the same day and from the same account can be recorded together.

Important: This is only recording the accounting for bill payments you make. You still need to process payments the way your supplier requests:

Select + New.
Select Pay bills.

Here, you can see all the bills you've added to QuickBooks. It shows the amounts you owe and when each bill is due. Usually, it shows bills from the last year. If you want to see bills from a different time period or just from a specific company, you can select Filter.

To record payments made towards a bill:

Tip: If you made payments toward the same bill from different accounts (for example, some by check and some by credit card), or if you made separate payments on different days, enter each payment separately. Enter them day by day and account by account.

From the Payment account dropdown, select the account you paid the bill from.
If you select a transaction or savings account, you can enter the Reference no. This is optional.
Enter the Payment date.
Tick the boxes for the bills you made a payment towards.
In the Payment column, enter the amount you paid towards each bill.

If you have credit with the supplier, you can apply it in the Credit Applied column.

Select Save, or Save and close.

The selected bills are marked as paid.

If you paid for the bill with a cheque

Only follow these steps if you paid with a cheque. This records the payment in a specific way so QuickBooks stays accurate:

Select + New..
Select Cheque.
From the Payee dropdown, select the supplier you paid. This opens a window with all of their outstanding bills.
Select Add to add an open bill to the cheque.
Note: If you don't see this, select the small arrow next to the amount. If you have credit with the supplier, you can also add it from the Credits section.
From the Bank account dropdown, select the account you made the cheque payment from.
In the Amount field, enter the cheque amount.
In the Outstanding Transactions section, select the bills the cheque payment went to.
Tip: If it covers multiple bills, tick the boxes for those bills. You can split the payment and enter an amount for each bill in the Payment column.
Select Print.
When you're done, select Save and new or Save and close.

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