Get started with GoCardless in QuickBooks Online

All you need to do is sign up for a GoCardless account before connecting the app to QuickBooks Online. Here's how you can get started with GoCardless.

Once you're set up, you can collect invoices via direct debit, schedule recurring invoices for direct debit, set up new mandates with customers, import existing mandates from GoCardless, and manage your mandates from within QuickBooks.

A direct debit lets your bank know that businesses and services can take money from your account on a set date. This lets the company collect how much you owe them, and they'll usually let you know in advance how much they'll take, when and how often.

GoCardless puts you in control of collecting payments directly from your customer's bank accounts. When you set up a mandate (this is an agreement between you and your customer that authorises you to collect money due from your customer's bank using direct debit), you can then schedule direct debit payments.

GoCardless has a direct integration so you can use it from within QuickBooks Online. GoCardless is a bank-to-bank payment method which uses direct debit to automatically collect payments directly from your customer's bank account.

First, you need to set your customers up to pay via GoCardless within QuickBooks Online. Then, all you'll need to do is send your customer an invoice, and GoCardless will collect the total amount as payment directly from their bank account on the invoice due date. Once collected, the payment is automatically reconciled against your invoice. That's it!

All you need to do is create an invoice as you normally would. Then, select the Use direct debit option on the invoice.

The direct debit process starts as soon as you send the invoice to your customer. Payment will be scheduled for collection 10 working days before the due date and the money will be collected in around 5 to 6 working days.

Direct debit starts processing 10 days before the invoice due date, or immediately if the due date is less than 10 days. The invoice will be marked as paid after the payment has been received in your bank.

Payments can fail if a customer has changed their bank account details, declined the direct debit request, or has insufficient funds. Then, the invoice status reverts to Open and the payment is voided, if it has not yet been settled.

The invoice will be marked as paid after you receive the payment.

The invoice due date is the date at which an invoice needs to be paid. On this date, we will collect the payment from your customer's bank account. The direct debit process will start 10 working days before the due date and the money will be collected in around 5 to 6 working days.

The direct debit will start on the next working day.

When the payment appears on your statement it will show 'GC C1' as the reference.

The payment reference comes from the name of the creditor that is set up in the GoCardless dashboard when your customers add their bank account details.

It appears as GOCARDLESS LTD REF (Payment reference) - (Mandate reference). But the payment reference might look a bit different with different banks.

Yes, there is a limit on the maximum and minimum amount that can be collected in a single transaction via direct debit. These are:

• Maximum of £5,000 GBP
• Minimum of £1 GBP

There's no limit to how many transactions you can make.

If your invoice is higher than £5,000, your direct debit payment will fail unless you raise the maximum limit. You can reach out to GoCardless if you need to raise the maximum limit.

Payments using GoCardless direct debit can take up to 5 to 6 working days to process. The payment instructions are sent to the customer 10 days (to allow for weekends) before the invoice's due date.

If the invoice is to be paid immediately or within 10 days, then the payment instructions are sent immediately.

Here's an example of an invoice that is to be paid within 30 days:

If the invoice is set to due on the receipt, then the payment instructions will be sent to the customer immediately. QuickBooks Online will mark the invoice as Paid in once the payment is received in your bank account.

If the invoice is due immediately, this will show as Overdue in QuickBooks until the payments is received in your bank account. You can include a note on your email reminders to your customers that direct debit payments can take up to 5 or 6 working days to process.

A change that came into effect in July 2022 where the invoice is marked as Paid when the funds have been received in your bank account, rather than when the payment process is initiated. This was to ensure the appropriate accounting treatment is applied to the payment.

You can collect payments through GoCardless in a currency from over 30+ countries including Eurozone, USA and Australia.

To accept international payments, you’ll need to turn on multicurrency in QuickBooks Online before assigning a foreign currency to your customer. Here's a full list of countries you can accept payments from.