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Add QuickBooks Bill Pay to your clients in QuickBooks Online Accountant

by Intuit•98• Updated 6 days ago

Learn how to add QuickBooks Bill Pay in QuickBooks Online Accountant and what discounts you can offer as an accountant.

When you invite a customer to sign up for QuickBooks Bill Pay as a client-billed subscription (your client pays for their QuickBooks Online subscription), they’ll benefit from your ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing for the first 12 months:

  • 30% discount off the monthly subscription fee.
  • 15% off transaction fees for additional ACH over the monthly allotment, checks or Faster ACH.

Note: Split billing is a feature now available to existing clients with QuickBooks Bill Pay. For more info about what split billing is and how it works, check out Using split billing to manage client subscriptions in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

Subscription options and fees 

To see which Bill Pay offer is best for your client, see QuickBooks Bill Pay pricing details in QBOA.

How Processing fees work

While QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Bill Pay subscription fees are charged at the beginning of your billing cycle, Bill Pay processing fees are charged at the end of your billing cycle based on the number of payments processed in the preceding month.

When you schedule an ACH payment, you might see a notice that states “$0.50 processing fees may apply”. This processing fee is determined as of the withdrawal date (not the date you scheduled the bill for payment) based on how many payments were successfully processed in that billing cycle. You will only pay a processing fee for transactions that exceed the number of ACH payments that are included in your Bill Pay subscription in any given month.

You can add QuickBooks Bill Pay to an existing QuickBooks Online Accountant subscription from the Subscriptions and billing page.

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon..
  2. Select Subscriptions and Billing.
  3. Under “All Clients” – select the client, go to Client Actions and then Add QuickBooks Bill Pay.
  4. You’ll be prompted to choose a billing option. Choose Bill My Firm (for a firm-billed subscription - accountant paid).
  5. Send an email to your client so they can enter their business info in their QuickBooks Online account to apply for Bill Pay. We’ll send it to the email address on file for the Primary Admin user. Check  which email address we sent the email to in the manage users page of the client’s company. 
    Note: This sends an email to fill out a form with their business info.

A package of notes on a laptop computer.

We'll ask your client to give us some info about their business to continue the application process. This includes business name, business type, EIN, owner's personal info, and a bank account (where to pull funds from to pay bills).

Bill Pay application is approved:

As the accountant, you’ll get an email to select a plan for your client once your client is approved. Use that link to go back to the subscription page and verify your payment info to complete the subscription then select Subscribe.

You can also do the following:

  1. Sign into QuickBooks Online Accountant.
  2. Go to Subscriptions and Billing.
  3. Select your client, and go to the Client Actions drop down menu and then Add Bill Pay. 
  4. Select a plan, confirm it, and review your billing info. Then select Subscribe to complete the subscription.

Bill Pay application is denied:

Your client will know if the application is denied immediately after they enter their business info. You'll both get an email telling you QuickBooks Bill pay isn’t available for their business. 

Note: We run multiple verifications to determine eligibility. This decision is final. There isn’t any way to appeal it.

Bill Pay application is pending:

In some cases, you’ll both get an email telling you your client is in pending status. In 3-5 days, you’ll both get an email with the account decision. If your client is approved, continue with the setup process in QuickBooks Online Accountant.

If your client can’t find the email we sent to complete the application:

  1. Have them check their spam or junk folders in their email.
  2. Have them search their email for the subject, Help your accountant set up QuickBooks Bill Pay.
  3. Have them search their email for the following email addresses from:

If they still can’t find an email from us, have them add the email addresses as a trusted sender. Once that’s done, you can resend the business info request email by going through the add bill pay flow again.  You can only resend the email once per day. 

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon..
  2. Select Subscriptions and Billing and then Accountant-Billed Subscriptions.
  3. Select the Client Actions drop down menu and then Add Bill Pay.
  4. Send an email to your client so they can enter their business info in their QuickBooks Online account to apply for Bill Pay. We’ll send it to the email address on file for the Primary Admin user. Check  which email address we sent the email to in the manage users page of the client’s company. 
    Note: This sends an email to fill out a form with their business info.

If they still can’t find the email, they can sign into their QuickBooks Online company and schedule a bill payment. They can create a new bill or select an existing bill. Once they create the bill they can select Save and schedule payment. This takes them to the business info request page.

Your client can also go to: https://app.qbo.intuit.com/app/billpay-onboarding

If you transfer your client’s Bill Pay subscription from accountant-billed or client-billed, the following will occur:

  1. The existing Bill Pay subscription will be canceled.
  2. All payments that were scheduled but not processed (i.e. debit from the client account) will be canceled.
  3. All payments that were processed will be completed.

Learn how to use split billing.

You can add QuickBooks Bill Pay to an existing client’s QuickBooks Online account from the Subscriptions and Billing page.

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon..
  2. Select  Subscriptions and Billing.
  3. Under All Clients select the client then Client Actions and then Add QuickBooks Bill Pay.
  4. You’ll be prompted to choose a billing option. Choose between Bill My Firm (for a firm-billed subscription - accountant paid) and Bill My Client (for a client-billed subscription - client paid). Under Bill My Client select Direct Discount. 
  5. Select a QuickBooks Bill Pay plan for your client and Send invite. We’ll send an email to your client with the plan you recommend and a link to subscribe in QuickBooks Online. 
    Note: We’ll send it to the email address on file for the Primary Admin user. Check  which email address we sent the email to in the manage users page of the client’s company. 
  6. Your client will click on the “Get Started” link in the email, which will lead them to the signup page with the accountant discount. The plan you recommended will also be highlighted. They then continue with the signup process. Once subscribed, you will receive an email notifying you that “Your client is ready to start paying bills in QuickBooks.”.

For more info on how to manage billing options for QuickBooks clients, check out Using split billing to manage client subscriptions.

To be eligible for the offer, your client must enter through the client discount link. The discount is only valid for the named individual or company. Note, this offer is only applicable to first-time subscribers. If your client previously had a QuickBooks Bill Pay subscription, they won’t qualify for the Pro Advisor Preferred Pricing.

If your client is going from direct client-billed to accountant-billed, they qualify for the Bill Pay ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing. Clients who move from accountant-billed to client-billed, won’t qualify for any discounts. 

For Client-Billed accounts, discounts are only available when you add a new QuickBooks Bill Pay subscription to a client’s subscription or if they upgrade to Bill Pay Elite.

We currently don’t offer any permission controls.

QuickBooks Bill Pay BasicQuickBooks Bill Pay EliteQuickBooks Bill Pay PremiumQuickBooks LedgerQuickBooks Online AccountantQuickBooks Online AdvancedQuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online Plus

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