Ahh, the time has come for your business to collect money from your customer. There are many ways to do it, but one of the longest traditions aside from handing the product over as they hand you cash is sending an invoice. Invoices are simply a request for payment for goods or services provided. They should include a list of what it is they are paying for, the amount, date, and when it is due. You should also include invoice numbers to make it easier for you and your customer to keep track of the request and help distinguish it from other invoices. Payment terms, ways to pay, and other information can also be included. You should also ensure the invoice states who you are so your customers can also keep track of their expenses properly.

But how do you make an invoice? More specifically, how do you do it in QuickBooks Online? Well, let’s take a look! Follow the steps below to create a basic invoice from QuickBooks Online. Further down, I will be sure to include a few extra tips to really help your A/R process pop!

Creating an Invoice

To navigate to invoices, you can either go to your list of customers, click on one of them and in the top right corner select New Transaction > Invoice.

To access customers, go to My apps > Customer Hub > Customers

You can also access your invoices by going to My apps > Sales & Get Paid > Invoices, then select “Create Invoice”. This method will open a blank default invoice, while going through your list of customers will simply auto populate the invoice with their information if it exists.

With the invoice window now open there will be a few things you need to input to create the most basic of invoices. Let’s take a look!

Customer information: Here you will need to either select a customer from your existing list, or add a new one. Once a customer is selected it will add more information including address and email for the customer. If you plan on emailing the customer this invoice, be sure to include it. Otherwise you can just print it out.
Payment terms: Payment terms will dictate how long the customer has to pay. Be clear on this so there is no confusion of when money is due.
Product/Service: Here you will select products and services. You can create products and services straight from the drop down. It’s suggested you keep them somewhat generic so you can reuse it for various things. These products and services, when created, should then be tied to the proper income account you have in your chart of accounts. You should also be able to better clarify what the details of the product or service is in the Description in the invoice.
Qty/Rate/Amount/Tax: This section determines how much of the item is being sold, the rate or value of each item and the total amount for that line. You can also check the tax box so that the invoice will include that item for tax further down on the invoice.
Subtotals and Invoice Total: Here you can see the total amount before and after tax and discounts. If the tax rate isn’t populating properly, you can click on “See the math” to select the tax rate for your area. You may need to further adjust this in your business settings within QuickBooks.
Payment Options and Other Information: Here you can dictate payment options, add additional terms or notes to the customer that will appear in the invoice, or add your own internal notes. You can also attach additional documents that will accompany the invoice being emailed to your customer.

Note: if you have a QuickBooks merchant account, you can turn on this feature which will allow your customer to be able to pay from the invoice that is emailed to them. Some rates may apply for this merchant service.

Once you are satisfied, you can either Print or download the invoice, save it for later editing, or review and send the invoice if emailing it. You can also click on the arrow next to the green button to get a share link that you can use to add to your own email if you prefer.

If you decide to send the invoice, it will take you to the next screen where you can preview the email being sent, then you can send it off to your customer.

Creating Products and Services

Creating products and services is essential to your invoice being set up properly. While we won’t spend much time in this lesson on how to make them, here are a few points to get you started:

To access products and services when not in an invoice, go to My apps > Sales & Get Paid > Products & Services. At the top right you can then see a green button that says “New”.

From there select if it’s inventory, non-inventory, service, or a bundle.

Once you make a selection, fill out the proper details. Most notably, you need to name it, you can create a description or the start of one that will appear in the invoice, and you need to map the income account to what is in your chart of accounts (for example, Sales:Retail Sales). You can also set a default price, edit sales tax, and categorize it so it’s neat and tidy in your Products and Services list. You can also assign additional info for products you are purchasing and may be applied to your cost of goods. Once you Save and close, this product or service will be available to select in your invoice.

Extra Pointers

If you want your invoices to pop or better yet custom design an invoice to be your new default invoice, first jump into a new invoice. From there, access the manage settings at the top right.

Next you will see a few options, including customization options, payment options, scheduling options, and Design. Select Design to better design your invoice and select “Add/Edit” next to Other templates to create new templates and set your default templates.

You can also fine tune your sales invoices by going to the settings gear icon in the top right corner of your main screen and go to Account and settings.

Then from the settings go to Sales > Sales form content.

From here you can make some adjustments to default settings. Additionally there are other sections here that allow you to adjust late fees, auto invoice reminders to clients, and more!

While this is just a basic run down of how to create an invoice, this is a great start. At this point you should have a general understanding on how to find the invoice feature, how to create a basic invoice, and how to produce a basic product or service item that can be added to the invoice. You also now can find additional settings to help you create a more customized invoice experience to better fit your brand and needs. Continue to play around with this and remember, you can always delete an invoice if you don’t like it. Just don’t do that after you finalize and send it to the customer! Good luck!

Call or email to book a free consultation: 775-345-4136 or info@silverquillbk.com