Create an invoice in QuickBooks Desktop

You use the invoice to record sales transactions from customers who make no or partial payment during the time of the sale. Invoices help you keep track of your accounts receivable. Depending on your transaction with a customer, you can create an invoice in QuickBooks Desktop in different ways.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Create an invoice from scratch
• Create an invoice for a Sales Order
  • From the Sales Orders window
  • From the Invoice window
• Create an invoice for an Estimate
  • From the Estimate window
  • From the Invoice window

Create an invoice from scratch

If your business doesn't require creating sales orders or estimates, your A/R workflow starts with creating the invoice.

1. Go to QuickBooks Home or Customers and select Create Invoices.
2. From the Customer: Job ▼ dropdown, select a customer or customer job. If the customer or job isn't on the list, select Add New.
3. Fill in the relevant information.
4. Select Item.
   Note: When you select or add an item, the description and amount are automatically populated based on the description and unit cost entered when the item was set up. You can delete or modify this when creating sales orders.
5. (Optional) If you want to apply for a discount, you need to create a discount item.
   1. Go to Lists and select Item List.
   2. Right-click anywhere and select New.
   3. In the New Item window, from the Type ▼ dropdown, select Discount.
   4. Enter an Item Name/Number and a brief Description.
   5. In the Amount or % field, enter the discount amount or percentage. If your discount amounts vary, leave the Amount or % field blank and enter the amount directly on your sales forms.
   6. From the Account ▼ dropdown, select the income account you want to use to track discounts you give to customers.
   7. Select the appropriate Sales Tax Code for the item.
   8. Select OK.
6. Select Save & Close.

Create an invoice for a Sales Order

If you have created a sales order and you've fulfilled it, you need to create an invoice. There are two ways to do this:

From the Sales Orders window

1. On the Create Sales Orders screen, go to the Main tab.
2. Select Create Invoice.
3. On the prompt that appears, choose:
   • Select Create invoice for all of the sales order(s) to add all items from the sales order to the invoice.
   • Select Create invoice for selected items if you want to put only some of the items on the invoice.
4. Make the necessary changes in the Invoice. 
   Note: In the list of items, enter a quantity in the To Invoice (Or Invoiced) column for each item. If you don't want to invoice any of the listed item, enter 0 (zero) as the quantity.
5. Select Save & Close.

From the Invoice window

1. Go to QuickBooks Home or Customers and select Create Invoices.
2. From the Customer: Job ▼ dropdown, select a customer or customer job.
   The available Sales Order window appears.
3. Select one or more sales orders that have items you want to include in the invoice.
4. Make the necessary changes in the Invoice. 
   Note: In the list of items, enter a quantity in the To Invoice (Or Invoiced) column for each item. If you don't want to invoice any of the listed items, enter 0 (zero) as the quantity.
5. Select Save & Close.

Create an invoice for an Estimate

When your customer has accepted your estimate and agreed to pay a fixed amount (rather than for actual time and costs), you can turn the entire estimate into an invoice.

From the Estimate window

1. Open the correct estimate.
2. Select Create Invoice.
3. If you have progress invoicing turned on, you may get a prompt asking what items and quantities to put on the invoice. Specify what to include as prompted.
4. When the invoice appears, edit the information as needed.
5. Select Save & Close.

From the Invoice window

1. Go to QuickBooks Home or Customers and select Create Invoices.
2. From the Customer: Job ▼ dropdown, select a customer or customer job. The available Estimates window appears.
3. Select the estimate you want to include in the invoice. Note that QuickBooks allows you to select one estimate to invoice. 
   Note: If you have progress invoicing turned on, you may get a prompt asking what you want to have on the invoice. You can simply specify what to include as prompted.
4. When the invoice appears, edit the information as needed.
5. Select Save & Close.