Set up and manage breaks in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Time

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then Account and settings.
2. Select Time.
3. From Break, select ✎ Edit.
4. Add a Break name and set a duration.
5. Select Edit Access to assign team members for this break rule.
6. Select if you want the break to be Paid or Unpaid.
7. Select if you want the break to be automatic, manual, or both.
   •  Automatic break: This will be automatically added in your team member’s timesheet. Set the Frequency, Days of week, and Place break at.
   • Manual break: Your team member can start and stop a break. Select the appropriate settings.
8. Select Save.

1. Go to Feature Add-ons, then Breaks.
2. The system automatically includes a lunch break and a rest break as options to use, but they’re turned off. If you need these, turn them on.
3. If you need to create a new break, select Add Break Rule.
4. Add a name, short code, and set the length.
5. Select if you want the break to be Paid or Unpaid.
6. Select if you want the break to be an Automatic Break, Manual Break, or both, then select the appropriate settings.
7. Select Save, or continue to set up and assign your break.
   • Note: When you add a new break, it gets turned on when you save it. If you’re not ready to use it, please turn it off.

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then Account and settings.
2. Select Time.
3. From Break, select ✎ Edit.
4. The list of break rules added will show. Under Assigned to, select Edit Access to assign or unassign team members for this break rule.
5. Select Save.

1. Go to Feature Add-ons, then Breaks.
2. Select the existing break rule.
3. Select All team members or the link next to team members.
4. Select the check box to assign or unassign a team member for this break rule.
5. Select Save to save the team member assignments.

Timesheet editor notes:

• If you’re manually adding a timesheet in the Timesheet Editor and want to apply an automatic break, check Apply break rule on save. 
• When the system creates an automatic break, the Timesheet Log shows “Customer Support” edited the shift to add the break. Don’t worry, this is expected behavior. Your timesheets were edited by the system, not by a Support person. 

Using both manual and automatic breaks:

• If you’re using both manual and automatic breaks, QuickBooks Time only inserts an automatic break if the team member didn’t take a manual break during their shift. 

Shift length:

• The system applies an automatic break when the team member clocks out if they worked the full shift length set in the break rules.
  • If there’s more than 3 minutes between 2 timesheets, the system won’t add an automatic break even if the total time between the timesheets meets the shift length requirement.

Interaction with custom fields:

• If you use automatic breaks and custom fields, the custom field values will be on all split timesheets.
  • If you use numeric values for custom fields such as for mileage tracking, it’s important to note that the same value will be on each split timesheet. For example, if your team member tracked 30 miles of travel for the day, it would look like they had 60 miles of travel total from the split timesheets. 
  • If you don’t want custom field values to be duplicated, you’ll need to manually edit split timesheets and remove that data.

Breaks during an overnight shift:

• If your team member’s shift overlaps 2 calendar days, and you don’t want their timesheets split between 2 days, any breaks (manual or automatic) need to be completed before midnight.
  • If the break falls at or after midnight, the system splits the timesheet between the 2 days. 
  • If timesheets are splitting even with breaks falling before midnight, go to Company Settings, Time Options, then Time Entry to make sure Split timesheets at midnight is turned off. 

Breaks included in overtime calculations:

• Paid breaks are included in overtime calculations.
  • If you set a 40 hour overtime rule and a team member worked 40 regular hours with had 1 hour of breaks in a week, they’d have 1 hour of overtime. 

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then Account and settings.
2. Select Time.
3. From Break, select ✎ Edit.
4. The list of breaks rules added will show. Under Assigned to, select Edit Access to assign or unassign team members for this break rule.
5. Select Save.

1. Go to Feature Add-ons, then Breaks.
2. The list of breaks rules added will show. Under Available to, select All team members or Team members to assign or unassign team members for this break rule.

Select OK to save the team member assignments.

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then Account and settings.
2. Select Time.
3. From Break, select ✎ Edit.
4. The list of breaks rules added will show. In the Status column, you can enable or disable the break rule. 
5. Select Close, then Done.

1. Go to Feature Add-ons, then Breaks.
2. The list of breaks rules added will show. In the Active column, switch OFF or ON the break rule you want to disable or enable.

1. Go to Settings ⚙, then Account and settings.
2. Select Time.
3. From Break, select ✎ Edit.
4. The list of breaks rules added will show. Under Actions, select the trash bin icon.
5. Select Delete to confirm the action.

1. Go to Feature Add-ons, then Breaks.
2. The list of breaks rules added will show. Select the checkbox next to the break name, then select Delete.
3. Then select OK to confirm.