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Understand the difference between invoices, sales receipts, bills, and statements

by Intuit • Image Alt Text 202
Image Alt Text Updated 5/26/2026 13:03

This article defines an invoice, sales receipt, bill, and statement so you can properly enter these transactions in QuickBooks Online.

An icon showing cash and a payment card If you'd like to make it easy for your customers to pay an invoice online, check out QuickBooks Payments rates and apply.

  • An invoice informs your customers of what they owe you for work items, goods, or services.

  • A sales receipt records goods or services paid for immediately at the time of purchase (sometimes referred to as a “point of sale” purchase).

  • A bill is an invoice sent to you by a vendor for work items, goods, or services.

  • A statement shows what a customer still owes you at a certain time. It includes a summary of all sales, credits, and payments in each line item.

You will:

  • Send invoices to bill customers for work items, goods, or services.

  • Send statements at regular intervals to remind customers of what they owe you.

  • Create sales receipts to record payments customers made when they purchased the good or service.

Customers will:

  • Send you bills to charge you what you owe for work items, goods, or services. You can then pay the bill using QuickBooks Bill Pay, or record the bill payment in QuickBooks Online.

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