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Enter and manage bills and bill payments in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•8• Updated 4 days ago

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.

You can record bills one at a time, or record multiple bills for multiple suppliers at once for QuickBooks Online. If you've already paid for a business expense, enter it as an expense. Bills is not available in Simple Start.

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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 itemise the bill. To set up, go to Settings ⚙ and 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.

  1. Enter the Amount and VAT. The total amount displayed is based on the option selected in the VAT field.
  2. If you plan to bill a customer for the expense, select Billable and select their name from the Customer ▼ dropdown. Learn more about billable expenses.
  3. When you're done, select Save and close.

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.

Turn on Billable Field

  • Select Settings ⚙, Company Settings, then Time. 
  • Select Timesheet and make sure Show service field and Allow time to be billable are turned on. 
  • Select Save, then Done.

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

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

  1. Select + New.
  2. 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 Filters Image Alt Text.

To record payments made towards a bill:

Tip: If you made payments toward the same bill from different accounts (for example, some by cheque 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.
  1. From the Payment account ▼ dropdown, select the account you paid the bill from.
  2. If you select a current or savings account, you can enter the Reference number. 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.

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

  1. Select Save, Save and close, or Save and print.

The selected bills are marked as paid.

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

  1. Select + New.
  2. Select Cheque.
  3. From the Payee ▼ dropdown, select the supplier you paid. This opens a window with all of their outstanding bills.
  4. 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 field. If you have credit with the supplier, you can also add it from the Credits section.
  5. From the Bank/Credit account ▼ dropdown, select the account you made the cheque payment from.
  6. In the Amount field, enter the cheque amount.
  7. 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.
  8. When you're done, select Save and new or Save and close, or Save and send.
    Tip: You can also select Print to print out a physical cheque.

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