How can i enter materials purchased as there is no category listed

@ gjflooring

If you are buying materials for a job, then create an expense account called job material expense and use that when for the expense when you purchase.

What would you use for the income account? Would it be COGS or Construction Income?

Thanks.

How do you invoice the job materials so it doesn't look like you earned more money then what you charged for labor?

Hi @CHCollins,

I'll take care of your query about your materials purchased in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

You have the option to enter different amounts on the Sales price/rate and the Cost of each inventory item. 

Let me show you how:

1. Highlight the Sales tab.
2. Select Products and Services. 
3. Choose from the list of products the inventory item you want to change the amounts, then click the Edit link.
4. Enter the appropriate amounts under the Sales price/rate and Cost boxes.
5. Hit Save and close.

You can then create a Service item for your labor charge. 

Here's how:

1. Still, on the Products and Services page, click New.
2. Select Service.
3. Enter the details as necessary.
4. (Optional) You can leave the Sales price/rate box blank if you wish to manually enter an amount each time you use this service item.
5. When done, hit Save and close.

Take a look at this article to learn more about how you can track your prepaid stock: How to track your prepaid stock. You can apply the steps listed here for payments you made to your supplier without affecting your stock. This is until you record the bill with the stock. The steps are also provided in the same article.

Feel free to drop a comment below, in case you have other questions in mind. I'll be sure to get back to you.

How shoule I record the taxes from the material that I've purchased when recording under the product/service items?

Let me help you from here, Yongyin Chen.

You can create an expense or cheque transaction to record the purchased amount and taxes after adding the items. Here's how:

1. Click the New or Plus sign (+) button.
2. Select either Expense or Cheque.
3. Fill in the necessary fields.
4. Select if amounts are Exclusive of Tax or Inclusive of Tax so taxes will calculate automatically. 
5. Click Save and close. 

If you haven't turned on the VAT feature yet, you can refer to this article: Set up and edit VAT settings, VAT codes, and VAT rates.

Get back to this thread if you have additional questions. We'll help you as soon as we can.

So are you saying under the "payment account" to create a new account calling it expense account? My QB is a mess because I purchase materials for customers then just include the total in the invoice under "materials." I'm not sure how to categorize anything and can't get a hold of someone from qb to help for the life of me! 

Hello @DavidandMelissa,

Let me help share how you can enter materials you purchased for your customers in QuickBooks Online.

To start with, you'll have to create stock or non-stock items depending on the materials your purchased. Once done, you'll have to associate them with a bill or any purchase transaction based on the payment made.

You can do so by following the steps outlined in the following articles:

• Set up and track your stock in QuickBooks Online
• What is the difference between bills, cheques, and expenses?

From here, you can go ahead and mark your purchases billable to associate them with the customers in question. To start using this feature, here's how you can turn it on from the settings:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Under YOUR COMPANY, select Accounts and settings.
3. Select Expenses.
4. On the Bills and expenses section, select the Pencil icon.
5. Toggle to turn on the Make expenses and items billable feature.
6. Choose how you wanted to track them in your accounts.
7. Select Save.
8. Click Done.

In addition, here's an article you can read to learn more about your billable expenses: How to record billable expenses in QuickBooks Online?

Lastly, I've also included this article helpful for the steps in accepting payment from your customers: How to receive and record the accounting for invoice payments.?

If you have any other questions, please let me know in the comments below. I'll be here to lend a hand.