Advanced payments by customers

Anonymous · ‎February 25, 2019

Hi everyone,

I bill my clients by the hour, I require payment up front, and I do not offer refunds for unused hours. I'm having a little difficulty tracking this in Quickbooks desktop like I want. Here is what I would like to do:

1. Bill customers for a block of time up front

2. Have this payment show as income for the month it is received, not the month the hours are worked

2. Track hours worked for that customer, and send them some sort of receipt or update when the purchased hours have been used.

I've been recording payments as retainers, but they won't show up in reports as income in the month I receive them. Any advice?

Rose-A · ‎February 25, 2019

Hey there, ScottyT.

I'd be delighted to help you show the payments as income in the reports via QuickBooks Desktop.

The Accrual basis report counts income and expenses as if they happened when you sent the invoice or got the bill. You may want to change the accounting method on the report into Cash basis.

To set your preferences:

Log in to your file as the Administrator. Make sure you are in Single-User Mode.
Go to the Edit menu, then select Preferences.
Select Reports & Graphs, then go to the Company Preferences tab.
In the Summary Report Basis section, select Accrual or Cash.
Select OK.

You can get more insights in this article: Differentiate Cash and Accrual basis.

Also, you find these articles helpful:

If you help with QuickBooks in the future, you can reach out to our QuickBooks Desktop Support.

To reach us, please follow these steps:

Click Help at the top menu bar.
Enter your concern.
Click Contact us.

Let me know how it goes or if you need more help with recording customer's payments just hit Reply button below. I'll be around to help.

View solution in original post

Rose-A · ‎February 25, 2019

Hey there, ScottyT.

I'd be delighted to help you show the payments as income in the reports via QuickBooks Desktop.

The Accrual basis report counts income and expenses as if they happened when you sent the invoice or got the bill. You may want to change the accounting method on the report into Cash basis.

To set your preferences:

Log in to your file as the Administrator. Make sure you are in Single-User Mode.
Go to the Edit menu, then select Preferences.
Select Reports & Graphs, then go to the Company Preferences tab.
In the Summary Report Basis section, select Accrual or Cash.
Select OK.

You can get more insights in this article: Differentiate Cash and Accrual basis.

Also, you find these articles helpful:

If you help with QuickBooks in the future, you can reach out to our QuickBooks Desktop Support.

To reach us, please follow these steps:

Click Help at the top menu bar.
Enter your concern.
Click Contact us.

Let me know how it goes or if you need more help with recording customer's payments just hit Reply button below. I'll be around to help.

Malcolm Ziman · ‎February 25, 2019

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi everyone,

I bill my clients by the hour, I require payment up front, and I do not offer refunds for unused hours. I'm having a little difficulty tracking this in Quickbooks desktop like I want. Here is what I would like to do:

1. Bill customers for a block of time up front

2. Have this payment show as income for the month it is received, not the month the hours are worked

2. Track hours worked for that customer, and send them some sort of receipt or update when the purchased hours have been used.

I've been recording payments as retainers, but they won't show up in reports as income in the month I receive them. Any advice?

"I do not offer refunds for unused hours"

If you are unable to provide the service for whatever reason it is still of course refundable

When you receive prepayments it is not income on the accrual basis; in this case income is created when service is provided. For meaningful reports, businesses should keep the books on the accrual basis. If you apply for a loan banks want to see accrual basis reports. Prepayments are income on the cash basis. You can run a report in either basis but only if you keep the books on the accrual basis.

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Advanced payments by customers