Billable Mileage entry through mobile app, etc.

There's no need for a third-party app to track mileage in QuickBooks mobile app, @DColombo.

Let me share some steps to make sure you're able to track billable mileage for your customers through the mobile app.

First, please make sure to log in as the Master Admin of your QuickBooks company. Then, add your mileage or trips in QuickBooks. Here's how:

1. Go to the Mileage menu, and then select Add Trip.
2. Add the trip date, starting and ending locations, distance, etc. On the Description field, you can indicate it's purpose like "billable charge for the customer."
3. Select Save.
4. Click Submit when you're ready.
   

Once done, please turn on the auto-tracking feature in your mobile app to monitor your trips easily. If you haven't download the app already, you can visit this link: Download QBO mobile app.

For an Android phone or tablet device:

1. Open the QuickBooks mobile app, and then select the menu ☰ icon.
2. Go to the Mileage menu.
3. Choose Auto-tracking to turn it on.
   
4. Select Allow and then Allow all the time. 

For the iPhone and iPad:

1. Open the QuickBooks mobile app, and then go to the Mileage menu.
2. Select Auto-tracking to turn it on. 
3. Choose Allow and then Allow all the time. This lets the app run on your device in the background.

After that, you can just drive and QuickBooks will automatically detect a trip using your phone’s GPS location.

When you're ready, you can review your trips. To do that, please refer to Step 4 of this article for the detailed steps: Automatically track mileage in QuickBooks.

In case you encounter some errors while using the said feature, you can use this handy article for the fixes: Fix mileage tracking issues.

If you're using QuickBooks Self-Employed, here are the needed steps and the fixes when you encounter some issues: Mileage tracking in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

I'm just a comment away if you have additional questions about this. I'm here to help.

Ok, I get what you said.  Where do I take the Trip I added and link it to a Customer for billing purposes??

Hey there, @DColombo.

The mileage feature is mainly used for tracking your business miles and vehicle expenses in QuickBooks Online (QBO). However, the option to link it to a bill is unavailable in QuickBooks. 

Although, you can create an expense transaction and make it billable to your customer. This way, you can easily record and track billable expenses so your customer can reimburse them when they receive their invoice.

Let me show you how: 

Step 1: Turn on billable expense tracking to record billable expenses.

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Account and Settings.
2. Click the Expenses tab.
3. From the Bills and expenses section, select Edit ✎.
4. Turn on the Show Items table on expense and purchase forms, Track expenses and items by customer, and Make expenses and items billable options.
5. Select Save, then Done. 

Once done, follow step number 2 and 3 in this article to enter the bill and link it to your customer's invoice: How to record billable expenses in QBO.

Let me know how else I can help you with QuickBooks by adding a comment below. I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand. Keep safe!

Hello.

I'm trying to follow your instructions, but I'm doing it online and the settings tab doesn't resemble what you've suggested, I'm afraid.  I'm using the Simple Start package, but the feature I want should be part of expense management.

I think it's really clever that you track my work mileage.  But every day I when I drive to a client I invoice them at 45p per mile.  I dearly need to be able to attach the mileage for a journey to an invoice, rather than create a new item each time. 

This must be a very commonly needed feature.  What am I missing?

Thank you

Alan 

Thanks for joining this conversation, alandenton123. I'm here to ensure you'll get the help you need.

QuickBooks Online currently tracks mileage mainly for reimbursement purposes. This is only available in Essentials, Plus, and Advanced versions. 

You'll want to upgrade to any of the subscriptions I mentioned above for you to have this feature.

I would also recommend checking out these resources for additional guidance and future reference:

• Enter billable expenses.
• Reimburse employees' mileage and vehicle expenses in QuickBooks Online

That should do it! If you have anything else to add, please comment below. I'll be sure to get back to you.

Hi...  This thread is about a year old.  Has the issue with QBO been fixed?  Billing mileage is very common in business.  As such, billing mileage was very simple in Desktop.  I just switched to online and now I am struggling to invoice mileage.  Is this multistep workaround still necessary?  Or has OQB been fixed?  

I appreciate your time posting here in the Community, @GLS Operations.

We can invoice mileage by creating a Billable Expense. This way, we can track mileage reimbursements and pay for the expenses.

Here are the steps we can perform:

Step 1: Set up a vendor profile for your employee.
This profile is only use to track reimbursements.

1. Go to Expenses and select Vendor.
2. Select New vendor.
3. Fill in the information for your employee and assign a unique display name.
4. Tap Save.

Step 2: Set up a mileage reimbursement expense account.
Your mileage expense account keeps track of these bills, including the list of all of your expenses.

1. Go to Settings and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Select New.
3. Select Expenses from the Account Type drop-down box.
4. Select Auto or Travel from the Detail Type drop-down option.
5. Give the account a recognizable name.
6. Tap Save and Close.

Step 3: Create a product item for Mileage.
This mileage product can be used to make bills whenever you need to track mileage.

1. Go to Settings and select Products and Services.

2. Select New, then Non-inventory as the type.
3. You can name the item as "Manual mileage".
4. Check I sell this product/service to my customers in the Description area and write a description for it.
5. Enter the cost of travel per mile in the Sales price/rate field.
6. Check the box next to I purchase this product/service from a vendor in the Purchasing information section. Then, write a description for it.
7. Select the mileage expense account you just created from the Expense account.
8. Select Save and close.

Step 4: Create a bill for the mileage reimbursement

1. Select New then Bill.

2. Select the employee's vendor profile you created.

3. Select Item Details.

4. Select the mileage item you created from the Product/Service.

5. Enter the needed quantity, rate, and amount.

6. Select the Billable checkbox if you need to make this a billable expense for a customer. Then select the customer from the drop-down menu.

7. Select Save and close.

Step 5: Create billable expense.

1. Select New and tap Pay bills.
2. Choose the Payment account and the employee to reimburse.
3. Tap Save.

You can run a Profit and Loss report from the Reports menu to display these reimbursements. 

For more information on how to automatically track mileage in QBO, please refer to this link.

You can always get back to us if you have other concerns about recording mileage by leaving a comment below. We are always here to assist you.

It is more work than Desktop.  I think I can make that work.  How do I avoid double counting?  It seems like the deduction will be on the books in the form of the miles AND in the form of the fake billable mileage expense.