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RobinLB
June 14, 2022
Question

Using tags on invoices seems useless for cash accounting when invoice date differs greatly from payment date

  • June 14, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

When I create an invoice, I set the Invoice date and the Due date. Once it is paid the payment date is recorded. All quite standard, but to keep track of this activity, I have started to use tags, including on Invoices, so I can see what activity is associated with a certain tag within a selected date range.

 

The problem is that when the tag activity is displayed for Invoices, what is used is the Invoice date. Given that I am using cash accounting, what I really want to see is the amounts received on the payment date. For my business, which is holiday letting, this is particularly bad as the invoices are typically raised 6-12 months in advance of payment. So viewing the income associated with the tag on the Invoice is more or less useless in terms of tracking actual income within any given period.

 

It is very important that the invoice retains the original date it was issued--for example, I have invoices that pre-date our VAT registration and so have no VAT, and ones that are post-registration and therefore have VAT. But what I would like to monitor is income as a function of the date it comes in, not the date that the invoice was raised.

 

Is there a way of doing this? It seems quite a limitation for cash accounting if this cannot be done.

1 reply

C
Carneil_C
June 15, 2022

Thanks for taking the time laying out the details of your concern, @RobinLB. I’ll make sure you’ll be able to get the help you need in managing your invoices in QuickBooks Online. 

 

Beforehand, please know that the Tags feature works as designed. However, you’ll be pleased to know that we can pull up an Invoices and Payments report to see those amounts received during the payment date of that invoice. We can customise it to modify the data and run the report to get the details you need.

 

Here’s how to do it: 

 

  1. Select Reports from the sidebar menu. 
  2. Look for and type Invoice and Receive payments in the search box.
  3. Click the Customize button.
  4. Customize the Report period.
  5. Hover down to the Rows/Columns, Filter, and Header/Footer sections to modify the data.
  6. Hit Run report to complete the process.

 

Alternatively, we can view those amounts received and the payment date of that specific invoice from the Invoices tab. To locate them, please see this sample screenshot below for reference:

 

 

Feel free to check out this guide here to further guide you about the process: Customise reports in QuickBooks Online.

 

Once everything's settled, we can save its current customization settings by checking out this guide here: Memorise reports in QuickBooks Online. 

 

Feel free to comment back if you have more questions in mind about invoices or managing your sales transactions in QuickBooks Online. I'll be standing by for your response. Have a great day and stay safe.

R
RobinLBAuthor
June 15, 2022

Dear @Carneil_C 
Thank you for taking time to reply. Yes, reports can be run, but my question was about using tags which are far more user friendly and also allow reporting information that isn't necessarily recorded in the data used to compile the report.


Tags are really valuable as a means of quickly categorising money going out, and would be equally useful for money in if there was some way of specifying that it should be payment date not invoice date that was used. In the main settings for Quickbooks, the accounting method is specified as either cash or accrual. When "cash" is selected, showing income via the tags option should surely show this by payment date as that is how such accounting works; if using "accrual" it should be by invoice date. 

I can see no reason why, when using cash accounting, the tags version of reporting should default to showing information recorded in invoices by the invoice date. No returns (HMRC, VAT) are based on invoice date for this accounting method. As it seems this cannot be configured, I strongly recommend that this is raised as something that should be considered as an option, as the current default display is not useful for following cash in data.

M
Mark_R
June 15, 2022

We're taking notes of your feedback and suggestion, @RobinLB.

 

Allow me to provide additional information about the Tags feature in QuickBooks Online.

 

I understand that the Tags feature isn't working as you want it to when changing the accounting method. However, this is how QuickBooks designed the feature. But don't worry, you can still submit feedback directly to our product engineers. This way, they can review your suggestion and consider changing the function of the Tags feature. To submit feedback, you can go to the Gear icon and select Feedback. Then, enter your suggestion and click Submit.

 

As always, you can visit our QuickBooks Community help website if you need tips and related articles in the future.

 

We're always here to listen if you have concerns regarding other features. You're welcome to post again or leave a reply below.

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