Enter and manage bills and bill payments in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to track bills and record the payments.

In addition to tracking sales, QuickBooks Online makes it easy to record business expenses. Entering your income and expenses gives a more complete picture of your business and profit.

If you plan to pay for the expense in the future, enter it as a bill. You can record bills one at a time, or record multiple bills for multiple suppliers at once. On the other hand, if you've already paid for a business expense, enter it as an expense. These specific transaction types tell QuickBooks how to record everything.

Or, learn the difference between bills, cheques, and expenses.

Here's how to enter bills and record payments towards them in QuickBooks.

Learn how to:

• Enter bills into QuickBooks
• Record payments toward bills

Enter bills into QuickBooks

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

1. Select + New.
2. Select Bill.
3. From the Supplier ▼ dropdown, select a supplier.
4. From the Terms ▼ dropdown, select the bill's terms. This is when your supplier expects to be paid.
5. Enter the Bill date, Due date, and Bill no. as they're recorded on the bill.
6. 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 itemize 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.
7. Enter the Amount and sales tax.
8. If you plan to bill a customer for the expense, select the Billable checkbox and enter their name in the Customer field. Learn more about billable expenses.
9. When you're done, select Save and close.

Bills added manually appear directly in the Unpaid tab. Because you added the bill, you don’t need to review it.

Tip: 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 toward bills

There are two ways to record bill payments. Follow the relevant steps below.

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

Use this method to record cash and credit card payments towards a bill. Record separate payments each time you make them, or they 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:

1. Open Pay bills.

This shows all outstanding bills you've entered into QuickBooks, including their balances and due dates. By default, it shows the last 365 days. To change the date range or to view one specific payee (for example, supplier), select Filter.

To record payments made towards a bill:

1. From the Payment account dropdown, select the account you paid the bill from. For instance, if you paid from your chequing account, select chequing. 
   Tip: To record payments for the same bill from different accounts (ex. part by cheque and part by credit card), or record separate payments on different days.
2. If you select a chequing or savings account, you can enter the Starting cheque no. This is optional.
3. Enter the Payment date.
4. Select the checkboxes for the bills you made a payment towards.
5. In the Payment column, enter the amount you paid towards each bill.
    Tip: If you have credit with the supplier, you can apply it in the Credit Applied column.
6. Select Save, or Save and close.

Each time you record a payment, it shows up on the Expenses menu. The bills are marked as paid and cheques are prepared for printing. Learn more about printing cheques in QuickBooks Online.

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:

1. Open a new Cheque.
2. From the Payee dropdown, select the supplier you paid. This opens a window with all of their outstanding bills.
3. 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.
4. From the Bank Account dropdown, select the account you made the cheque payment from.
5. In the Amount field, enter the cheque amount.
6. In the Outstanding Transactions section, select the bills the cheque payment went to.
    Tip: If it covers multiple bills, select the checkboxes for those bills. You can split the payment and enter an amount for each bill in the Payment column.
7. Select Print or Preview then select Print or Print cheque.
8. When you're done, select Save and new or Save and close.