How can I split an existing bill to multiple projects? When I try, the entire bill shows as cost against each project i.e. 10k bill w/2k cost on 5 projects.

Welcome to the Community forum, amy-yachtsalesin.

You can assign a customer/project per line item on your bill transaction. Here's how:

1. In the left menu, click the + New button. 
2. Choose Bill.
3. Select the vendors name in the Vendor field.
4. Under Category details or Item details, enter the details like cost and account, then choose a specific Customer/Project.
5. Tap Save and close. 

Once done, the amount designated to each project will show on the Overview tab on your Project page. 

For more information about projects, see below articles:

• Projects FAQs
• Set up and create projects in QuickBooks Online

If you have any additional questions or concerns about QuickBooks, please reach out to me. Have a great day.

Yes, that is what I did however; the full vendor bill amount is being allocated to each project.  For example, I have a vendor bill valued at 2,783 of which 117 belongs on Project A and the rest belongs on Project B.  When I assign the line items appropriately, the full 2,783 shows as costs on both projects.  That being said, the bill in question is from early 2019 before we started using QB Projects.  

Hi there, @amy-yachtsalesin.

I'd be glad to share with you some insights about this feature you've mentioned.

Currently, there isn't a way to get the right cost per project made from one bill. To assign the correct cost, you can create a separate bill for each project. Then, by the time you're going to record your bill payments, you can split it to different projects in one go. To make sure that I've addressed your concern, I've replicated it by creating multiple projects and entering a bill. Here's what I've seen after that:

Also, you've mentioned that the bill was made last year, you can continue tracking it individually. Or if you still want to include and track it per project, you can re-enter the outstanding cost through a bill and assign it. But first, make sure that the previous bill cost has been cleared and edited like this:

Subtract the Paid amount of the Bill to the Total bill cost (TOTAL AMOUNT OF BILL - PAID AMOUNT)

Now, you can create a bill transaction in your Project and enter the outstanding cost of the previous bill. Then, add the exact date in the Memo field in every bill transaction that was dated last year. This is done so that it will be easier to locate it.

I've also added a screenshot to see how it looks like when paying multiple bills in one go.

For more information, you can check out this article: Enter and pay bills.

I've added this reference for your future task about assessing our business financials: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online. This contains tips on how to successfully finish reconciliation and how to troubleshoot it whenever there's something wrong during the process.

You can always tag my name in the comment section below if you need further assistance or if you have other questions. I'd be happy to guide you through. Take care always.

@MarsStephanieL Why in the world would this feature be designed this way?  Why would you want to have vendor bill overstate costs on each of the projects?  To make sure I understand how to handle situations such as this, I will need to create an individual bill for each project covered within the single bill I received from the Vendor.  Then I will need to group them together through "Pay Bills".  This leads me to my next challenge.  I utilize ACH payments for most of my vendors.  For some reason, when I try to group bills together (for the same vendor), I am no longer afforded this option.  Am I missing a step?

Thanks!

Amy

Thanks for your prompt response, @amy-yachtsalesin.

Since we're unable to split an existing bill to multiple projects and miss the option to pay it via ACH payments, it's best to recreate each line item as an individual bill. This way, you can utilize the ACH payment option and able to assign it to multiple projects.

Also, make sure to take note of the bill transactions' information before recreating each line item as separate bills to avoid inaccurate records. Once done, delete the bills that cannot be split to multiple transactions.

If you have followed the steps provided by Mars in using the  Pay bills feature, ensure to delete the bill payment-check so that this won't create any unapplied cash payables.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Expenses menu and then select Expenses.
2. Open the bill transaction in question.
3. Click the payment made link, then select the date link.
4. Choose More and then pick Delete.

Additionally, if you wanted to check payment status for your ACH payments, you can check this article: Using the Payment Tracker.

Feel free to add a comment if you need clarifications. I'm always here to help. Stay safe and well!

Thank you for your feedback.  Do you know if QB is developing a solution?  Allowing a bill to be allocated to multiple projects via the line items and not overstating costs on individual projects.  If not, how to I go about finding that out?

Hi amy-yachtsalesin. 

Thanks for posting here in the Community, I'm going to go ahead and forward this information to our product development team. They will be able to look through the information and are the ones who consider adding it to a future update. You can stay up-to-date with all the new information and new features coming to the QuickBooks product in the QuickBooks Blogspot. 

If you have any other questions, feel free to post here anytime. Thanks and I hope you have a nice Monday!

I am having a similar problem and it seems like Quickbooks needs to update the process.  I am doing bookkeeping  for a firm and have assigned projects to specific clients.  The firm is renting space, and when the firm receives a bill for rent each month, there is also a charge for copies that were made by the firm.  The copies are chargeable to projects.  When entering the check for payment of the rent and copies, I split the payment into a Rent/Lease Expense and a Client-Related expense.  I assign the appropriate project to the client-related expense, but when I run the project report, the entire amount of the check is charged to the client's project.  I would like for QB to make it so that only the amount for the copies gets charged to the project.  As it stands now, QBO  is creating inaccurate project cost tracking until this is fixed.

I was just searching this same topic hoping that there had been some updates made.

I too get bills from one subcontractor which has specific amounts that need to be applied to 8 separate customer projects. It would be nice to see an update that doesn't list the whole bill but here is what I've found.

If you go to a project and then to the transactions tab, it does list the full amount of the bill, which can be confusing however under the costs section of the project, it only lists the specific amounts to this project.  The project profit margin does not calculate based on the full amount of that bill, just the amount specifically tagged to that project.  

I hope this helps :) 

Has there not been an update on this yet? What a ridiculous situation. 

I know how it feels when something isn't working the way you wanted, accounts100. 

As of now, there's no specific time frame when this will be added in QuickBooks Online. In the meantime, you can follow the workaround shared my colleague above. 

Please know that our developers are constantly working and considering new functions to be added to the system. This way, we will be able to meet our customers' needs and demands.    

You can keep an eye on your email and the Firm of the Future site for information regarding updates and feature releases.    

Please know that our doors are open for any additional concerns about QuickBooks. Just leave us a message below, and I'll ensure to take care of them. Keep safe.

This is absurd that QB's cannot do this, or refuses to update the software so that it can.  I have been a bookkeeper for 33 years, and I have never worked with a program that doesn't job cost accurately.  I don't understand, we pay good money for this system only to have to use "work arounds" on a regular basis.  (i.e., if a vendor offers 2% Net 10, for example, we have to enter Vendor Credit Memos), this is a basic accounting function that QBO's doesn't offer.   What good is an accounting software that doesn't offer basic accounting functions? 

We have subs that work on multiple projects and they invoice us weekly on one invoice.  You are saying that I have to take that invoice and make multiple bills so that your software will allocate the funds appropriately?   Again, that's absurd. 

With that being said, I am going to seriously consider moving to a competitor that now has their accounting software available online.  Will it be a pain, maybe, but at least they offer basic functions. 

I too am frustrated that bills can not be split in Quickbooks. 

My daughter's co-parent and I both pay for my daughters daycare tuition through quickbooks. The school can't split the bill between us! He wants to use autopay, but this locks me out from making a payment. I do not want to reimburse him each month. 

The way quickbooks is set up, it feels like the year 2000. I mean, we all pay everything online, why can't the school split the bill too. QB feels pretty outdated this way. 

Frustrated parent in Idaho!

It is well over a year since this original question was asked yet QuickBooks has still not resolved this huge accounting problem. Businesses commonly order large quantities from a vendor to be separated into numerous orders, or projects. Sometimes they all ship at the same time, sometimes not. Why an item and it's total amount can't show up in it's project that is completely separate from the next line item and its project, doesn't even make sense since they aren't connected. The P.O. TO the vendor and the bill FROM the vendor should be accounted to the project each line item references, and that should be an easy fix for large accounting firm like QuickBooks. This is a problem that should take top priority with QuickBooks and I ask that you do that. Thank you.

Chiming into this discussion as I've just realized this is an issue for my bookkeeping as well.

I specifically upgraded my subscription so I could manage transactions through Projects, and just realized that I've overcharged customers because the entirety of a transaction was uploaded to each project when I had divided expenses per project in the expenses entry.

Any update on where QB stands with this? I'm about to downgrade my subscription is there isn't a reasonable work-around.

Hi there, @ksm283. Let me share information about splitting bills into multiple projects in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Once you have a project, it displays the full amount of the bill on the Transactions tab. However, it only lists the specific amounts to this project under the costs section of the project. The project profit margin will only calculate the amount specifically tagged to that project.

At this time, you may have to recreate each line item that applies to your projects using an individual bill to show the exact amount. This way, you can apply it to each project. You can check out the steps provided by Jovychris_A above as your reference. 

I can see the importance of splitting the amount specific to that project only, not the entire bill transaction. Rest assured our engineers are working nonstop to enhance the product and deliver the best experiences for all QuickBooks users. For now, I'd suggest sending this idea to our product developer team. This way, they'll know how useful this feature is for your business and consider this in the future.

Here's how:

1. Sign in to your QBO account.
2. Go to the Gear icon at the top, then Feedback.
3. Enter your comments or product suggestions.
4. Hit Next.

Once done, your valuable suggestion goes to our designated team to help improve your experience in QBO. You can track feature requests through the QuickBooks Online Feature Requests website.

For additional resources, while managing your projects in QBO, you can open this article: Set up and create projects in QuickBooks Online.

If you have other questions about your projects, let me know by adding a comment below. I'm always here to help. Keep safe!

This appears to still be a problem, and I have sent feedback.

Any update please on if this is being looked at and, if so, when might there be a fix??

I download the transactions to excel to do analysis, and I have to go through each split bill to make sure just the amount for that project is showing in the excel file, QB Projects is supposed to be saving me time and this doed not.

I hear you, @janinchester.

I would also agree with your experience on the delivery of communication lacks quality given how you manage to simplify the goal you wish to accomplish in this interaction.

Thank you for letting your voice be heard by our higher management, throughout the entire platform, by sending your experience via feedback. Having said that the option is not yet available, I'm also unable to determine the exact turnaround time as to when such a feature like this, is added to the program.

For now, I'm including the Customer Feedback for QuickBooks Online page to track the status of your request. And also to get the latest updates from our developers. Updates such as how the recent enhancement made to program helps our business owners, like you.

It'll always be my pleasure to help if you've got other questions aside from working with projects and sales invoices in QuickBooks. Use the Reply button and leave your comment below so that I, @JonpriL, can lend a helping hand.

This needs a fix after 2 years. Pivoting to another platform for a number of our clients is looking like more of a possibility as this is a MUST for job costing. The "work around" suggested is not a feasible solution for a modern company. Please escalate the priority on this.

this should be improved right away as it is critical to our business as well.  I split our bills with multiple projects but didn't realize till today that they weren't actually being split....super frustrating.  

Please solve this problem! Its ridiculous that I have to recreate multiple bills for the same bill to be able to allocate them in each project. Some bills are very long. Its very time consuming to create an individual bill.

PLEASE fix this. This causes so much confusion, frustration and time wasted.

This solution creates twice the work. Is there a report that I can export all of the individual line items on an invoice with the Project that they have been assigned to, we can build the report in excel quicker than having to create multiple bills from our vendors. Having multiple bills with the same bill # is going to be a nightmare to research.

HI, I have since found out that if you go to Project Reports within the project , then Project profitability, then Total Cost of sales (click on actual value) it brings up listing which can be exported to excel with the split amount of  the bill showing to the actual project.

It shows full amount of bill in the Transaction section only so if you export from transactions the full amount shows.

Bizarre, I know, but easier to get the info via Project Report within Project than all the work arounds QB are suggesting.