Enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks Online

Learn how to record, edit, and delete expenses in QuickBooks Online.

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.

If you've already paid for a business expense, enter it as an expense. On the other hand, if you plan to pay for the expense in the future, enter it as a bill. These are specific transaction types that tell QuickBooks how to record everything. Here's how to enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks.

Or, learn the difference between bills, checks and expenses.

For a better experience, open this article in QuickBooks Online. Launch side-by-side view

Check out this quick video to learn about recording expenses:

To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.

Record an expense

Follow these steps if you already paid for a business expense and need to record it in QuickBooks:

Tip: If you have lots of expenses to record, you can also enter them directly to the account register.

1. Select + New. Then select Expense.
2. In the Payee field, select the vendor. Tip: If the transaction covers multiple petty cash expenses, leave this field empty.
3. In the Payment account field, select the account you used to pay for the expense.
4. In the Payment date field, enter the date for the expense.
5. In the Payment method field, select how you paid for the expense.
6. If you want detailed tracking, enter a Ref no or Permit no. This is optional.
7. In the Tags field, enter the preferred label to categorize your money.
8. In the Category details section, enter the expense info. In 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 itemize the expense.
9. Enter the Amount and Tax.
10. If you plan to bill a customer for the expense, select the Billable checkbox and enter their name in the Customer field. Learn more about billable expenses.
11. When you're done, select Save and close.

You can also enter notes in the Memo field. These appear in the account register, on printed checks, and on reports.

Managing expenses

Edit an expense

Since you already paid for expenses you enter into QuickBooks, you can edit them anytime. However, if you decided to bill your customer for the expense, edits you make will impact the invoice you send them later on:

1. Go to Expenses, then Expenses (Take me there).
2. Find the expense you want to edit. Select View/Edit in the Action column.
3. Update the transaction as needed.
4. Select Save and close.

Review your expenses

Want to see the income and expenses for each customer?

1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
2. Run an Income by Customer Summary report.

Delete an expense

1. Go to Expenses and select Expenses (Take me there).
2. Find the expense you want to delete.
3. Select the View/Edit ▼ dropdown in the Action column, then select Delete.
4. Select Yes to confirm that you want to delete the transaction.

Once you delete an expense, it disappears from reports, but you can still see a record of it in the Audit log.