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Those of us who train passionate teams want to devote our energy to developing their talents, not endlessly managing their billable hours. Time-tracking is especially challenging if you bill services by the hour or if your team has constantly varied, irregular schedules.
New community member @LAAttorney recently asked how to automatically add employee’s billable time to invoices in QuickBooks Online.
If you’re using the Weekly Timesheet feature to track employees’ billable hours in QuickBooks Online, those hours automatically populate in a side menu on the next invoice you send to your client. In one click, they’re added – with minimal input, no guesswork and no working overtime doing manual data entry!
The tutorial above provides step-by-step instructions for (1) how to use Weekly Timesheets to record each employee’s billable hours and (2) how to add these hours to client invoices. Click here if you prefer the written guide.
As you’re setting up and working with Weekly Timesheets, keep these tips in mind:
- Add your billable service items to the Products & Service List before recording employee hours, rather than adding new service items directly to the Weekly Timesheet form -- when you might not be fully focused on operations!
- When you add new service items, you have the option to include tax. As noted by the QuickBooks Resource Center, knowing whether or not to tax for services depends on a number of factors, such as state laws. If you’re unsure what qualifies, reach out to your accountant.
- If you’re billing for an independent contractor (and not an employee), make sure they’re entered as a Vendor and tracked for 1099s (follow the link for instructions).
- If you decide to add a new customer directly from the Weekly Timesheet, click the (+ Details) link to add their physical and email addresses. If you click “save” and skip this step, only the customer’s name is recorded. Make sure you go to the Customer Tab in the Sales Module to complete their profile before you start invoicing.
If you’re looking for even more feature-rich tools, check out the Projects Center feature for project-specific time tracking and the T-Sheets app for mobile time tracking solutions. Now to actually pay your employees for their amazing work, learn more about QuickBooks Payroll options.
Now it’s your turn
What methods do you use to ensure your employees’ hours are always recorded accurately?
