How do I set up a recurring weekly payment to a CONTRACTOR? I don't have any W2 employees but I have many 1099 contractors who I pay weekly. I would like to automate it.

Let me guide you on how to create an automatic recurring payment to a vendor, @lev.

You can go to the Gear icon and then Recurring Transactions to create a recurring payment to a contractor. You can automate a check or a bill. 

Here's how:

1. Tap the Gear icon (⚙) and choose Recurring Transactions below Lists. 
2. Click on New and choose either Bill or Check and then select OK. 
3. Create a Template name.
4. Set Scheduled as the Type. This will create a series of transactions according to the schedule you set. When you choose to send it via email, it'll be sent automatically.
5. Add all the necessary information.
6. Select Save template once you're done. 

You can check the following article for further guidance on how to create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, here's an article on how to edit the scheduled transaction and check if it ran successfully: Check your scheduled transactions.

I'm always here if you have questions in creating this recurring transaction and or anything else, by leaving a reply below. Keep safe and have a wonderful day!

I don't see that option under the gear button, @MJoy_D 

Could it be that my plan does not include recurring payments as a feature? 

Hello, Lev.

I'll take it from here and give clarifications regarding the options you can see under the Gear icon. 

It looks like you're subscribed to the standalone payroll module, which is why you're unable to see the Recurring transactions option. In this case, you'll want to subscribe to the QuickBooks Online main module to use the feature. 

To subscribe to the QBO main module: 

1. Click the Gear icon, then choose Account and settings.
2. Go to the Billing & Subscription tab. 
3. Hit Buy now in the QuickBooks Online box.
4. Choose a plan. 

Note: The Recurring Transactions feature is only available in Essentials and Plus versions. 

After getting the QuickBooks Online main module, follow the steps provided by MaryJoyD. I'm adding this article again in case you want to learn the ropes in using the feature: Create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Need to familiarize yourself with QuickBooks Online's features, or do you simply want to learn how to do a certain process? Check out our articles in the general help page. 

Ping me with my username (@jamespaul) if you have other questions regarding your QuickBooks Payroll service or QuickBooks Online in general. More than happy to help you out again. 

Hi MaryJoy –

Is there a way to automate Direct Deposit to contractors weekly?

Thanks,

Luke

Thank you for reaching out to us, @Luke35.

I'll be glad to help you with your Direct Deposit concern.

You can follow the steps provided by my colleague MaryJoyD automatic recurring payment to a vendor.

You can also check on this article: Create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online for more information about Direct Deposit.

We're always here in the Community to help if you have other questions related to QuickBooks. Stay safe!

Hi @KennethA_ ,

Just to clarify, @MJoy_D 's instructions show "Recurring check". When I see the word "check" in regards to payments, I think of the 1990s and the mailman dropping off a physical piece of paper check. Does QuickBooks refer to "Checks" as "Direct Deposits", or am I missing something?

I have two contractors set up the exact same way with the exception of "Print later" being checked for one of them. Neither one of them received their payments and I had to go back in and do it manually the following Monday after apologizing on Friday.

We're specifically trying to automate this process here: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/process-payroll/contractor-direct-deposit/00/36951..., specifically under the QuickBooks Online Payroll section:

Here's a screenshot of my setup that looks just like @MJoy_D 's but didn't work (ignore the Start Date -- this didn't work 2 weeks ago so most likely won't work tomorrow either):

Can you provide any additional information?

Thanks for following the thread, @altjx1. 

I appreciate all the details that you've provided. I'm happy to provide some insight into the differences in direct deposit and check with QuickBooks Online. 

With QuickBooks Online, when you enter a check, it would require you to print and mail/hand the contractor a physical check, whereas with direct deposit the funds can go directly into the contractors bank account. 

You can learn more about direct deposit in What is direct deposit? How to set up direct deposit in your small business. 

In addition to the direct deposit article, you can learn more about paper checks in Pay a contractor with a paper check for further details about this process. 

Leave a comment below if you have further questions or concerns. I'm always around to lend a hand. Take care and enjoy the rest of your day!

Hi @Tori B

Thanks for answering the question related to direct deposits and checks. I'm still very confused on how to automate direct deposits. Sadly I'm now even more confused because your response makes me feel like I'm totally missing something and I believe my question and problem is very clear.

As you can see above, Luke asked if there's a way to automate direct deposits. @KennethA_ replied and suggested that Mary's solution should work for him. However, her solution mentions nothing, absolutely nothing about direct deposits. Your response validated that @KennethA_ 's reply makes no sense because QuickBooks treats checks and direct deposits as two different things (which they obviously are).

The link that Kenneth also provided a URL and stated that we can learn more about direct deposits there. That page doesn't even have the word "deposit" in it, not even in the HTML source code.

Could you provide any information specifically and only how to automate recurring 1099 direct deposits? Not a check, not an invoice, not reminders, nothing else and nothing more, just 1099 direct deposits.

I appreciate your input and apologize for the frustration.

Good afternoon, @altjx1. 

Thanks for reaching back out to the Community and adding some clarification on the question you're asking about direct deposits. 

At this time, you're only able to do recurring checks, etc. However, I send feedback to our Product Developers so they can consider this in the upcoming release. They take the time to review every request and try to add them in the next update. 

To keep up with what's new in the system, check out our QuickBooks Blog. To learn more about simple features in your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account, look over our tutorials page that includes helpful videos. 

I hope these details help. If you have any other question, feel free to ask. The Community and I are always here to have your back. Wishing you and your business continued success!

I really appreciate the response. I had a feeling that might be the case but everyone else made this a lot more confusing, lol.

Thanks so much for clarifying this!

Hello- I would just like to chime in on this thread to say that it would be great to add a recurring direct deposit option for 1099 contractors. It's frustrating that I'll have to go into Quickbooks every time to manually send a direct deposit to contractors. Please add this to the next software update!!

@Tootaloo 

Another option, utilize Melio to pay the recurring bill payments to your 1099 contractors. You can pay it with ACH for free or using your credit card with a fee. Your contractors will get paid by a bank transfer (ACH) or a mail-delivered paper check, both with your business name clearly displayed.

https://melio.grsm.io/quickbooks

Melio is indeed an excellent tool for paying contractors via ACH. However, it does not currently provide the option to setup an automatic, recurring ACH payment to a vendor. The best I can figure out right now is a recurring bill in QB that I must click through and manually pay every time. Between Melio and QB payroll, there should be a way to automate the direct deposit/ACH payment of recurring, scheduled contractor payments. Please make this a thing, soon!

Thanks for joining this thread, @vicereine.

I appreciate the efforts you've performed to process and pay for your recurring bill transactions every time. For the Melio and QuickBooks Online Payroll integration, I would suggest contacting Melio Support and verify if they can set up an automatic ACH payment to vendors/contractors. This way, you can seamlessly pay and scheduled contractors' payments in QuickBooks.

You can search the Melio app from the App Center and get their contact details. Let me guide you on how.

1. Go to Apps.
2. Click Finds Apps.
3. Type a keyword in the Search for an app field.
4. Under Contact, choose either a phone number or email address.

From there you, you can check and learn more about different online applications that work best with QuickBooks. Just check the reviews from the customers on how it helped them. 

Also, I've included these articles that will guide you on how to pay your contractors using direct deposit in QuickBooks:

• Set up and manage direct deposit for your contractors
• Pay a contractor with direct deposit
• Create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, I'd also encourage you to visit this article about how to deal with some common DD issues: Fix direct deposit issues.

Please let me know in the comment section below if you have any other questions. I'm always around ready to help.

@vicereine 

You may need a paid AP management app to set up autopay for a recurring bill. Explore the trial version of these apps.

https://billcom.grsm.io/quickbooks

https://plooto.grsm.io/quickbooks

Another stopgap option is to sit down and create a scheduled series of direct deposits that you schedule for the dates you want them to go. It's still a pain and a mediocre band-aid, but at least you don't have to do it every week or two. I created 2 months worth of scheduled payments and then I'll do it again in a couple months or maybe create even more as it will let you schedule them out a ways. It would still be great if they would just fix it.

Hello -

Is this option available on QuickBooks Canada instance ? And I'm not sure if understand second part of step 4.

"When you choose to send it via email, it'll be sent automatically." 

Am I sending the payment to vendors via email ? and how do sent it via email ?

Thanks

Hi there HPSingh,

Thanks for reaching out about paying your suppliers. QuickBooks Online is a great tool able to help you keep track of bills, supplier credits and bill payments so you know the amount owed to suppliers.  can provide some information about paying suppliers.

In the Canadian version of QuickBooks Online, there isn't the option to pay your suppliers via direct deposit. What can be done in QuickBooks is creating a cheque for your supplier, but any other method of payment relating to direct deposit for vendors would need to be done outside of QuickBooks. I can see that this would be a feature that you'd like to see in order to pay your suppliers directly from the program. I recommend leaving Feedback by clicking on the Gear Icon, then Feedback. The comments made in that section are taken into consideration when designing new features for QuickBooks Online.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out here.