How Do You Bill Your Clients for Time and Expenses in QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online keeps this info about this client in your data file. 

Tracking Expenses

Record the client’s “billable expense” in QuickBooks Online the same way that you add all your other expenses. To do this, either click the “+New” button and then “Expense” or click the “Expenses” link in the toolbar and then click “New transaction” and “Expense.” Complete the fields and place a check mark in the “billable” column and add the customer (and project if applicable) name from the drop-down list. Save the billable expense.  

Go to the Expense Transactions page to see a table with all the saved billable expenses. To revisit this transaction, click “View” and “Edit” at the end of the corresponding row. The transaction will open, and you’ll notice that there’s a small “View link” in the Billable column. Click it, and you’ll see a small portion of the Billable Expense screen.

If you wish to add markup or overhead costs, click the “gear icon” in the upper right and go to “Account and settings,” and then choose “Expenses.”  Click the pencil icon to the far right of the Bills and expenses block of options. Click the box in front of “Markup with a default rate of” to create a checkmark and enter a percentage. All of your billable expenses will now include a markup of the indicated percentage.

Invoicing Time and Expenses

Open an invoice form and select a customer who you know has “billable expenses.”  QuickBooks Online will remind you that you have unbilled charges and/or unbilled time in the right vertical pane.

To see the original expense transaction, click “open.” Click “Add” to include the billable expense on the invoice.

Another way to see all your pending billable expenses in QBO is via the “Unbilled Charges” or “Unbilled Time” reports. To find these reports, go to “Reports,” then choose the “Who owes you” section. 

The invoicing time and expense feature in QBO can be very useful to non-profits for grant reporting in QBO. Each individual Grant is a “project,” set up under the “customer” or “contributor” who is the grant maker. For grant reporting, keep track of “billable expenses” specific to that grant. Then create an invoice that includes all the billable expenses or run the unbilled charges or unbilled time reports to report on them. 

Contact Mahoney with Questions

At Mahoney, we are happy to answer any questions you may have about QuickBooks Online or billing your time and expenses to individual clients. Reach out to Associate Director and QuickBooks ProAdvisor Peggy Prall, and she can assist you in this matter. Don’t miss our other QuickBooks blogs for more tips. 

Additional reading: Reconciling Bank States in QBO