Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for
I need to invoice a subcontractor (vendor) for repairs my company completed on their behalf. They are currently setup as a vendor in QB desktop (contractor edition) since we typically pay them for the service they provide, but in this situation they're paying us for repairing damage they caused. Can I invoice them as a vendor or do I have to set them up as a customer to send an invoice and receive payment? Thanks
Hi NDBLLC!
Thank you for getting help with collecting payments from your contractor. I'm happy to guide you with this.
Yes, you're right. You'll want to add the contractor as a customer and issue them an invoice. Just put a slight difference in the name, like putting a middle name or adding the word "customer" to it to indicate that it's their customer's profile because QuickBooks doesn't allow identical names. Then, just record payments like the usual way to record payments from your other customers.
Another way of recording payments is to offset the balances of the customer profile to the vendor profile vice versa. Then, just pay or receive a payment for the remaining amount, whichever has an outstanding balance afterward. It's like a barter system. This is a bit tedious but a common practice between businesses that exchange services or products.
For example, if they bill you $200, and you invoice them $100 for your service, here's what you can do:
First, create a barter/wash/clearing account. It's a Bank type of account and is used to pass the balance from Accounts Receivable ($100) to offset the money you owe. You only need to create it once, it can be used in your future barter transactions.
Second, move $100 from Accounts Receivable to the Barter account via journal entry. This in effect will also create credits to the customer's profile amounting to $100, which can be used to pay their invoice. Obviously, the goal is to zero out the customer's balance and to offset the money in the vendor's balance at the same time.
Third, open the invoice from the customer's profile and click Receive Payment. Then, use the credits created in the Second set of steps to be applied as a payment to the invoice.
Fourth, pay the bills of the vendor using the money in the barter account, or call this offset the vendor's balance, if you would.
You can check out this article for your additional reference: Set up a clearing account. The concept is you're able to move an amount from Accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable to the barter account to offset the customer or vendor's balance whichever is higher. It's done this way because you can't just directly offset balances between A/R and A/P for some accounting-principle reasons.
Let me know if you need more help with invoicing your vendor. Take care and enjoy the rest of the day!
Super helpful response. Thanks JessT!
You have clicked a link to a site outside of the QuickBooks or ProFile Communities. By clicking "Continue", you will leave the community and be taken to that site instead.
For more information visit our Security Center or to report suspicious websites you can contact us here