I have an estimate that was approved and a deposit is required, how do I bill for the deposit without sending the full invoice amount?

Hello @scelaya77,

Thanks for joining the Community. I'm here to lend a hand with billing without sending the full invoice amount. 

One option that you may wish to consider is progress invoicing, which allows a user to bill their customer incrementally. You can locate additional information about this, including a video of how it works, at the following link: New Progress Invoicing for QuickBooks Online.

I'm also including an article that discusses deposits and retainers: How to Record a Retainer or Deposit. This is another option that you may want to keep in mind. 

I believe these resources are a good starting point for you.

As always, I'm just a few clicks away if you need anything. Have a good day. 

One option is to send an invoice created in a word processor, so it doesn't post to the books at all. It is a request for a pre-payment and should not be in the books. It is not a receivable asset.

I’m just converting over from Invoice2go as I need a complete accounting software versus a invoicing module and I was looking for a way to collect a deposit from an estimate also. I must say I am disappointed. I used to be able to send an estimate and request a deposit amount within the estimate which would then automatically convert to an invoice approving the job and show the  remaining to pay on the newly created invoice. Now with quickbooks we have to send an estimate and wait for the client to get back to us via email, then send a payment form, then process the payment, then create an invoice and finally apply the payment deposit to the invoice. It would be nice to have this option available in quickbooks estimates.

Thanks for reaching out here and providing detailed information about your concern, Decomurale.

The option to require a deposit for an estimate in QuickBooks Online is unavailable since Estimate in QBO is a non-posting entry. You'll have to convert an estimate into an invoice so you can process a payment.

You may consider the workaround provided by my colleague above to Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Online.

You may also consider adding a link to your estimate before sending them to your customer wherein they can deposit the payment.

Please see attached screenshot:

I'm just a post away if you have any other concerns. 

"You may also consider adding a link to your estimate before sending them to your customer wherein they can deposit the payment."

What is the best way to do that? I have customers that may take a year to pay on an estimate and their payments are refundable. So I do not "have" the money nor do I want to pay sales taxes on the partial payments. But I want to send out the estimates and offer a convenient way for my customers to pay.

Hi there, @S-Ponder.

We can create an estimate to record the non-posting transactions for your customers. Although, you can add a link (this automatically converted into text) to the Message displayed box so that your customers can use it to send their payments. They can simply copy the text and paste it to the website's URL.

Also, you'll have the option to record these payments manually outside QuickBooks. You can either use an Excel file or a third-party app to record their payments and refunds so that they won't be posted in QuickBooks.

To search for an app, just go to the Apps center and look for it in the Search bar.

In case you need help in performing other tasks in QBO, you can check our articles here. Make sure that the topic is set as "QuickBooks Online."

I'm always here to help if you have any other concerns or questions. Just tag my name in the comment section and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

We can create an estimate to record the non-posting transactions for your customers. Although, you can add a link (this automatically converted into text) to the Message displayed box so that your customers can use it to send their payments. They can simply copy the text and paste it to the website's URL.

Maybe this is something easy and I just don't get it it, but how do I create a link to enter into the message box of an estimate? That would work best for me since I do not want to tax changes in sending an invoice.

Let me clarify things for you, @S-Ponder.

You're able to add a URL to an estimate's message body box if you have your payment application. This means that you'll need to have an active merchant account to be able to do this. If you have one, just add a link as URL to the estimate's message body box. This way, your customers can copy and paste it to a browser when sending their payments. Please refer to this article to learn more about QuickBooks Online Payments: QBO Payments.

In case you'd like to personalize the info in your estimates, you can always customize it in QuickBooks Online. To do the trick, check out this handy article: How to customize estimates in QBO?.

Get back here in the Community if you have more questions about managing your estimates in QBO. I'll be here to help you. Take care, @S-Ponder.

this is ridiculous that deposits are not an option.  might as well do this stuff on my own bc your company is making it harder to do everything unless we pay you a percentage on top of the monthly fees.  SUCK IT QB and you suckers who work for them.

I have the SAME exact issue! I used to be able to request deposits via Quickbooks. Something changed now the estimates that Quickbooks sends look horrible, they are embarrassing and I'm unable to request a deposit. I switched to Invoice2Go, I LOVE their estimate layout and how easy they make it for client to pay deposit and balance. However I HATE paying for Invoice2Go AND Quickbooks.