Description of QuickBooks forms

If you are new to using accounting applications, here are some terms that can help you identify the forms in QuickBooks.

Note: This article is for customers using QuickBooks Online (Advanced, Essentials, Plus, and Simple Start) and QuickBooks Sole Trader.

For more information in creating these forms, signed in your QuickBooks, select Help.

Invoice

An invoice is a bill for an account between a customer (buyer) and a supplier (seller) indicating what was sold and how much is owed. These are sent when your customers are not paying immediately for goods/services sold and you are expecting a payment at a later date.

Receive Payment

Receive Payment is used in conjunction with Invoice. When a customer is paying an invoice, you can record receiving the payment.

Note: If you are using the Sole Trader version, you might see the term Record payment instead.

Estimate

An estimate is created when you want to give your customer an estimation of how much a job will cost. The estimate form looks very much like an invoice, but its purpose is to help you begin negotiations with your customer. Later, once the estimate is accepted and you're ready to bill your customer, you can add data from the estimate onto an invoice.

Note: Sales receipt and Statement aren't available in the Sole Trader version.

Sales receipt

Sales receipts are generally used for goods/services rendered at the time of a purchase (sometimes referred to as a "point of sale" purchase), or when customers give you immediate payment.

Statement

The status of the customer's account at a particular point in time. It represents sales transactions, credits, and payments in each line item for a given period. It doesn't offer as much detail as the individual sales transactions. It notifies your customers where they stand and if they still owe you any money. You send it to your customers on a regular basis.