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don052
June 25, 2024
Question

How to enter a Bill from Client company into a project - for services he performed

  • June 25, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

My client is asking me if he can enter a Bill (representing services he performed for the client) to get the expense into a Project, then Invoice the client for his these services. The Bill represents an amount for services he would normally pay another company to perform, but this time he did the work himself. So, the Bill represents an amount he would normally pay someone else (but didn't pay anybody).

 

My client did that - entered a Bill into QBO, and it is in the project as an expense. But it is also in A/P as a liability, and needs to be paid. But he is not going to pay himself to relieve the bill.

 

Is there a way to do this in QBO? add a bill to a project but not really ever pay the bill

 

or should he just add a line item to an invoice and not record an expense to the Project?

because QB can't handle that transaction

Has anybody ever tried to do this before?

thanks

Don

1 reply

A
AdonL
June 25, 2024

Glad to see you here in the Community, don052. Let me provide details on how to tag a bill to a job name in QuickBooks Online(QBO).

 

Are you trying to assign a bill to a project/customer? If so, we can achieve this by using the Billable expense feature in QBO. Beforehand, please note this functionality is only available to Plus and Advanced versions. If you aren't subscribed, I recommend upgrading your QuickBooks account first to start using this feature.

 

Once ready, let's turn on the billable expense. Here's how:

 

  1. Go to the Gear icon and then select Account and settings.
  2. Click the Expenses tab.
  3. From the Bills and expenses section, hit Edit.
  4. Turn on the following:
    • Show Items table on expense and purchase forms
    • Track expenses and items by customer.
    • Make expenses and items billable.
  5. Bill payment terms.
  6. Hit Save.

 

Then, follow the instructions below to link a specific customer/job to a transaction:

 

  1. Go to the + New button.
  2. Open a Bill and select the payee.
  3. In the Category column, select the expense account for the transaction.
  4. Fill up the necessary information, then select the Billable checkbox.
  5. On the Customer column, select the customer and the specific job/project you want to bill for this expense.
  6. Click Save and close.

 

Moreover, when you add the billable bill to the invoice transaction and associate it with a project, please be aware that even if you mark the invoice as paid, the bill itself will still show as unpaid. Therefore, you must manually mark the bill as paid to properly reflect it as an expense, rather than just income, in your project records. I'll outline the steps below.

 

  1. Go to the Projects menu and click Transactions.
  2. Navigate to your open bill, then press View/Edit.
  3. Hit Mark as paid, then Save or Save and close.

 

To learn more about billable expenses in QBO, you can utilize these articles:

 

 

Additionally, you can run various vendor reports to help you review your expenses, bills, and checks to ensure they're tracked accurately. Then, personalize the data to focus on specific accounts or filters.

 

Please let us know in the comments if you need further assistance managing or creating bills in QBO. It's my goal to ensure your record is accurate.

D
don052Author
June 25, 2024

Great, thanks for replying.

I have all the settings ready to make a bill - billable.

What is happening is that the Owner of the company a construction company provided a service, that he normally pays someone else. So, He has an amount in mind for this service. He did not pay anybody this time for this service and he provided the services to his customer himself.

So no money went out the door and no money is going out the door for this Bill.

He created the Bill and applied to the Project. Good, and it shows up as an expense on the Project.

 

So, now he invoices his customer, which includes this service.

But the PROBLEM is that the bill is still unpaid. It really isn't a bill from a third party.

and

He wants to show it as an expense on the Project.

 

If it was entered as a Billable expense would it be relieved when his customer pays the invoice with this billable expense? so I guess the customer is really paying the bill...

If he does that will it still be an expense on the Project?

 

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