Billable Expenses In Simple Start

Good day, @RyanC3PO.

Let me share with you some insights about the Chart of Accounts in QuickBooks Online. 

Before we proceed, can you verify with me if you're referring to the Billable Expense Income account in QuickBooks?  

If so, this account is one of the default accounts in the program. This is categorized as Income in Account Type and Sales of Product Income in Detail Type. 

If you're trying to create a new account for Billable Expenses, then you can freely select its account type and detail type. To ensure everything is properly set up, reach out to your accountant for further guidance. 

In case you're referring to categorizing Billable Expenses as income and expense, then this option isn't available. You can't use both of these categories as an account type.

You can use an Income account for transactions and payments you get from your normal day-to-day business, such as sales revenue or income for services rendered. On the other hand, use the Expenses account to track transactions of money you spend on expenses related to normal business operations. Examples are advertising and promotion, office supplies, and rent.

For more details, you can refer to this article: What the chart of accounts is and why it’s important to set up correctly in QuickBooks Online.

To find out how to use account types and detail types in your chart of accounts, you can check it out here: Learn about account types and detail types in QBO.

If you're referring to something else, feel free to add them on this thread. I'll be more than happy to help you out, @RyanC3PO. Have a good one. 

Thanks for the reply. Not sure I follow your response but those examples don’t seem to explain what I’m referring to. I’m asking about a company cost that will be billed to customer on a invoice. For example, I purchase a thingamabob to complete a task for a customer. When entering my expense for that item, I mark that expense as billable. Then when creating an invoice for that work, I see the billable expenses I have marked for that job and include that in the new invoice. So, I’m referring to action of marking the expense billable and then being able to see that expense when doing an invoice.  Hope that clarifies my question. Thanks. 

Thanks for the clarifications, @RyanC3PO.

Let me go over and discuss further details about the billable expense feature in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

The billable expense feature is only available in QBO Plus and Advanced versions. To make the expense billable to your customers, you'll want to consider upgrading your subscription.

If you don't want to, you can manually create the transactions (expense and invoice) and use the Memo (Expense form) and Message on invoice (Invoice form) fields to indicate that this is an expense you've incurred on your customers behalf. Please see the snips below for your reference: 

Also, when creating a QBO company, the lists of accounts in your Chart of Accounts (COA) depends on your company type. To learn more about this, feel free to visit this link: Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

QBO also offers a ton of great customer reports that you can access to track your income. Here's how you can open one:

1. In your QBO account, go to the Reports menu.
2. Next, scroll down to the Who owes you section.
3. From there, select whichever report you'd like to run.

Please know you can always find me here if you have any other QuickBooks concerns. Thanks for dropping by. I look forward to hearing from you again. Take care.

Thanks for the reply and I appreciate the information, however it does not address my question.  My question is why the Billable Expense feature is not included in Simple Start.  My original question is as follows:

If my limited accounting knowledge is correct, Billable Expenses can only be categorized as "Income and Expense" or "Invoicing or Payments" within QuickBooks.  Both of those categories are fully included in Quickbooks Online Simple Start.  So, how can that feature not be included in Simple Start?  Someone please help me understand.

Thanks.

Anybody?

Hello there, RyanC3PO. 

Allow me to join the thread and provide some insights when using QuickBooks Online (QBO).

QBO offers unique features based on the plan you're currently using. You're right that QBO Simple Start doesn't have the billable expense feature but has the categories "Income and Expense" or "Invoicing or Payments". These categories are available in all plans it's because you can use them when categorizing transactions on the Banking page or even when entering new transactions. Thus, even if you can use it in categorizing Billable expenses, you can use it for your other transactions.

To understand more about Intuit pricing and plans, see the below articles:

• Pricing and subscription levels for QuickBooks Online
• How to understand your subscription rates and charges
• QuickBooks Plan and pricing

For future reference, I'm adding a link to our online tutorials. These videos can help you run your business using QuickBooks: Video tutorials for QuickBooks Online.

If there's anything else you need help with concerning QuickBooks, let me know by commenting below. I'll be more than happy to help. Take care and have a great day.

Thanks for the response, but it doesn't really answer my question.  I'm not referring to categories and the use of them.  I'm asking specifically about the billable expense feature where an expense is marked as billable during entry, and then later shown as a billable expense during the invoicing process.

If the Billable Expense function is a function of "Income and Experience" or "Invoicing or Payments", and those two functions are part of Simple Start, then how can Billable Expenses not be included at the Simple Start level?

Really disappointing that no one from Quickbooks will give any constructive answer on this question.  It certainly seems to confirm my feeling that Quickbooks is purposely choosing to take this small feature away from Small Business and Sole Proprietors and trying to force us to buy a level of use clearly intended for larger companies (5 user and up).

My question is a bit different than Ryan's, I have several "bills" from one vendor.  I don't want to write 7 checks for 7 different bills to the same vendor - do I have that option in Simple or Essential?

Hi there, GFBMDI!

Thank you for joining the conversation. I'm happy to share information about entering bills in QBO.

The Bill Management feature is offered in the higher plan, QBO Essentials. I suggest upgrading your Simple Start since your business needs such a feature. Aside from that, you will also be able to enter time entries and add more users to help manage your business.

Here's how to upgrade:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online as a primary or company admin.
2. Select Settings ⚙ and then Account and settings.
3. Select the Billing & subscription tab.
4. Make sure your payment info is up to date.
5. In the QuickBooks Online section, select Upgrade your plan.
6. Review the available plans and then select Choose plan for Essentials.
7. Follow the on-screen steps to upgrade your plan.

When you're ready, you can add your bills to QuickBooks. Check out this article with a video clip for your reference: Enter bills and record bill payments in QuickBooks Online.

I'm only a comment away should you have more questions about bills. Enjoy the rest of the day!

It would be nice if someone could explain how to create the proper transactions on Simple Start to properly register the transaction RYAN is trying to do.  There has to be a way to do it manually.  Any suggestions?  I am a single member LLC and don't want to upgrade to have to make this (quite likely) one-time transaction.

Hello, PabloT.

I understand you are trying to create billable expenses in QuickBooks Simple Start. However, I regret to inform you that this feature is unavailable in the Simple Start product. You cannot associate expenses with specific customers or projects and mark them as billable in Simple Start, as this is a product limitation. However, other QuickBooks versions, such as Essentials, Plus, and Advanced, offer this functionality. If you need to manage billable expenses, consider upgrading to one of these editions or exploring other options. 
 

To upgrade your subscription, here's how:

1. Sign in to QuickBooks Online as a primary or company admin.
2. Select Gear icon.
3. Under Profile and choose the Subscriptions & billing tab.
4. Make sure your payment info is up to date.
5. In the QuickBooks Online section, select Upgrade your plan.
6. Review the available plans and then select Choose plan for Essentials.
7. Follow the on-screen steps to upgrade your plan.

You can also check for third-party apps that sync with QuickBooks Simple Start by visiting the QuickBooks App Store. This platform offers a wide range of apps that integrate with QuickBooks and help you manage various aspects of your business. You can browse the app store by category, such as billable expenses, invoicing, time tracking, inventory management, etc. Choose the app that best suits your business needs, follow the instructions to set it up, and start syncing data with QuickBooks Simple Start. 

You're always welcome to reply to this thread if you have other questions or concerns about billable expenses or your subscription. Take care and have a nice day ahead.