QuickBooks HelpQuickBooksHelpIntuit

Enter billable time by job in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•8• Updated 3 days ago

In QuickBooks Online Plus and QuickBooks Online Essentials, you can track billable time by job by setting up jobs as sub-customers. Then you can track and invoice your billable time, and keep all your billable expenses organized.

In this article, you'll learn how to:



Step 1: Add a sub-customer

To track your billable time by job, you can enter the job as a sub-customer of the customer you’re doing the work for.

  1. Go to All apps A bunch of numbers and letters on a tile wall., select Customer Hub, then select Customers (Take me there).
  2. Select New customer.
  3. Enter all the appropriate info for the sub-customer.
  4. Select the Is a sub-customer checkbox.
  5. From the Parent customer ▼ dropdown, select the parent customer.
  6. Select the Bill parent customer checkbox.
  7. Select Save.


Step 2: Turn on billable time

If you want to bill your customer directly from tracked time, you’ll need to turn on the billable time setting. Here’s how:

  1. Go to Settings Settings gear icon. and select Account and settings.
  2. Select the Time tab.
  3. In the Timesheet section, select edit icon ✎.
  4. Turn on the Allow time to be billable setting. 
  5. If you want your users to see their billable rate when they enter their time, select the Show billing rate to users entering time checkbox. You may want to leave this unchecked if you bill customers at a different hourly rate than you pay your employees and subcontractors.
  6. Select Save.


Step 3: Record billable time

Note: The below steps are applicable only if you are subscribed to QuickBooks Time.

You can enter billable time through the Time tab:

  1. Go to All apps A bunch of numbers and letters on a tile wall., select Time, then select Time entries (Take me there).
  2. From the Add Time dropdown â–Ľ, select the Single time entry.
  3. From the Name dropdown â–Ľ, select the name of the employee.
  4. From the Customers dropdown â–Ľ, select the customer.
  5. Turn on the Set start and end time switch and enter the start date, End date, Start time, and End time.
  6. To make the timesheet billable, select the Billable (per hour) checkbox and enter the billable rate.
  7. Select Add break and enter the time taken for a break.
  8. Add Notes or any other applicable options.
  9. Select Save and close.

Note: The below steps are applicable only if you are not subscribed to QuickBooks Time.

You can enter billable time in either of the two ways:

Using Single time activity

  1. Select + New or + Create.
  2. Select Single time activity.
  3. From the Name â–Ľ dropdown, select the employee or the subcontractor whose time you are tracking.
  4. From the Customers â–Ľ dropdown, select a customer you are tracking the time for.
  5. If you want to bill your customer, select the Billable (per hour) checkbox and enter the billable rate.
  6. Turn on the Set start and end time switch. Enter the Start date, Start time, and End time.
  7. Select Add break and enter the time taken for a break.
  8. Add notes or any other applicable options.
  9. Select Save and new to record another time entry or Save and close to exit.

Using Weekly timesheet

  1. Select + New or + Create.
  2. Select Weekly timesheet.
  3. From the Name â–Ľ dropdown, select the employee or subcontractor whose time you are tracking.
  4. From the Select a week â–Ľ dropdown, select a date range.
  5. From the Customers â–Ľ dropdown, select a customer you are tracking the time for.
  6. If you want to bill your customer, select the Billable (per hour) checkbox and enter the billable rate.
  7. Enter the daily hours in the hh:mm fields under each day column.
  8. Add notes or any other applicable options.
  9. You may add multiple entries if the employee or the subcontractor has worked for multiple customers or provided multiple services to a customer.
  10. Select Save and new to record another time entry or Save and close to exit.


Step 4: Add billable time to an invoice

Once you’ve entered billable timesheets, you’ll see them available to add to new invoices. Find out more about how to invoice your customers for billable expenses and timesheets.