Skip to main content
W
WalkerT
March 24, 2025
Question

Tracking Need: Contractors Paid AFTER A Customer Pays Their Invoice

  • March 24, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

I currently use tags but they are apparently getting discontinued. We have contractors who get paid AFTER a customer pays their invoice. The way I'm doing it now is I create a new invoice for a customer and then tag it with that invoice's number (creating a new tag for each invoice). Once that's saved, I create a new bill for my contractor and then tag that bill with the invoice number.

 

From there, I can run a report for ungrouped tags and see in little sections each invoice and it's associated contractor bills along with a payment status for the invoices and the bills. Once I see a customer invoice is paid, I can then go and pay the contractor invoices. When I run the report again, if the invoice is showing as paid and all contractor invoices are showing as paid, I move that tag into a "completed" tag group and it disappears from my report. That is how I've been accurately tracking this process and making sure that my contractors don't go unpaid once the customer pays.

 

Now that tags are going away, I need another process to complete this task that doesn't involve me keeping a separate spreadsheet somewhere. Does anyone have thoughts on how I might do this once we no long have access to tags? And why in the world is Intuit getting rid of tags?!?!

 

Thanks!

1 reply

F
FaithA
March 24, 2025

I appreciate you for posting in the Community, Walker. I want to clarify that as of now, tags are still available in QBO. If you’re experiencing issues with tags, it can be a temporary problem or a browser-related issue. Let me guide you through troubleshooting and suggest an alternative way to track your transactions.

 

Sometimes, browser cache can interfere with the functionality of QuickBooks Online. To determine if this is a browser issue, log in to your QBO account using a private browser first. You can refer to the shortcut keys below:

 

  • Mozilla Firefox: CTRL + Shift + P
  • Microsoft Edge: CTRL + Shift + N
  • Google Chrome: CTRL + Shift + N
  • Safari: Command + Shift + N

 

If the issue is resolved, clear your regular browser's cache to refresh your connection and browsing history. Keep in mind to exclude the cookies. If the issue persists, try using a different supported browser, as your current browser may have a temporary compatibility issue with QuickBooks.

 

Alternatively, if you’re on a Plus or Advanced subscription, you can use Class Tracking as another way to manage the tracking of invoices and contractor payments. Here’s how you can set this up:

 

  1. Go to Settings and select Account and Settings.
  2. Select Advanced, then select the Categories section to edit.
  3. Turn on the Track classes switch.
  4. Select Warn me when a transaction isn't assigned a class. This is optional, but it means that when you look at reports, you know everything's been classified.
  5. Under Assign classes, select One to entire transaction or One to each row in transaction.
  6. Select Save, then Done.

 

Follow these steps to create classes:

 

  1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select All Lists.
  2. Select Classes.
  3. Select New. Give this class a name.
  4. To add a sub-class, select Is a sub-class and select the main class. You can nest up to five classes.
  5. Select Save.

 

By using Class Tracking, you'll have a systematic way to ensure that contractor payments are only made once customer invoices are paid, maintaining your current workflow efficiently.

 

Furthermore, after creating bills for your contractors, you can pay those bills with a credit card, cash, or checks. Feel free to refer to this helpful resource for future reference: Enter and manage bills and bill payments in QuickBooks Online.

 

Lastly, you can Elevate your financial strategy by teaming up with our QuickBooks Live Expert Assisted team. They’re seasoned in ensuring all aspects of your financial processes are streamlined and can offer bespoke advice to meet your business's unique needs.

 

Should you have further questions or need additional assistance with tags or tracking your transactions, please don't hesitate to reach out through the thread. The Community is available around the clock to provide you with assistance.

W
WalkerTAuthor
March 27, 2025

This does not solve my problem. I'm aware tags are still currently available but they will be gone in two months so your steps for "experiencing issues with tags" are completely useless and not at all related to the question that I asked. Tags are going away so I need to start figuring out options NOW on how I will move forward without them.

 

I chatted with another QB "expert" on the phone who was also unable to solve my issue and after 45 minutes of me explaining it to him and screen sharing with him so he could see what I was doing, I'm still not sure he understand what my need was.

 

Fortunately, I was able to solve this problem for myself after playing around with Custom Fields for a couple of hours and creating a Custom Report to see the information I asked about.

 

Thanks!

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement