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Your one-stop guide to taking your books into the cloud QuickBooks Online For Dummies is the go-to for cloud-based small business accounting. Online accounting could be saving you time and money. Newcomers to QuickBooks Online will love this updated edition of the classic guide to making the most of mobile accounting, while accountants will appreciate the practice management features in QuickBooks Online Accountant. Dummies makes it easy to learn the program's key features, including getting started, creating invoices and credit memos, recording sales receipts, recording and paying bills, setting up inventory items, tracking business accounts and credit cards, printing checks, processing payroll and preparing payroll tax returns, building a budget, reconciling bank accounts, generating financial reports, job estimating, billing, and tracking, backing up your data, simplifying tax preparation, and beyond. Phew! * Subscribe to QuickBooks online and enjoy the enhanced security and features of cloud-based accounting * Learn all the ins and outs of the popular accounting software and transfer your data from QuickBooks Desktop or from spreadsheets like Microsoft Excel or Google Docs * Keep solid records, prepare accurate reports, and budget to identify cost savings * Access your accounting information from anywhere, on any device * Analyze your accounting reports in Microsoft Excel with PivotTables and Power Query * Manage your accounting or bookkeeping practice with ease with the free QuickBooks Online Accountant version This book is perfect for small business owners, managers, and employees who utilize QuickBooks Online and would like more fluid access to their business accounting. Bookkeepers and accountants would appreciate this quintessential resource as well.

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QuickBooks® Online For Dummies®, 2023 Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022946641

ISBN 978-1-119-91000-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-91002-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-91001-5 (ebk)

QuickBooks® Online For Dummies®

To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “QuickBooks Online For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part 1: Getting Started with QuickBooks Online

Chapter 1: Welcome to QuickBooks Online

What Is QuickBooks Online?

Checking on QuickBooks Pricing

Comparing QuickBooks Features

Chapter 2: Creating a QuickBooks Online Company

Signing Up for QuickBooks Online

Exploring Your New Company

Reviewing the QuickBooks interface

Updating the Chart of Accounts

Reviewing Company Settings

QuickBooks Online Apps

QuickBooks Labs

Chapter 3: Importing from QuickBooks Desktop and Sage 50

Knowing the Ins and Outs of Converting Data

Double-Checking Your Data After Conversion

Part 2: Managing Your Books

Chapter 4: Customer, Vendor, and Employee Lists

Adding New Records to a List

Working with Records

Changing Settings for Lists

Accessing Other Lists

Importing Customers and Vendors

Introducing Spreadsheet Sync

Chapter 5: Managing Sales Tax, Services, and Inventory

Setting Up Sales Tax

Working with Products and Services

Importing and Exporting Products and Services

Managing Products and Services with Spreadsheet Sync

Chapter 6: Invoicing Customers and Receiving Payments

Getting Oriented with Sales Transactions

Creating Invoices

Configuring Automatic Subtotals

Creating Billable Time Entries

Printing a Batch of Invoices or Packing Slips

Recording Customer Payments

Recording Bank Deposits

Keeping Tabs on Invoice Status and Receiving Payment

Giving Money Back to a Customer

Writing Off Bad Debt

Reviewing and Creating Transactions with Spreadsheet Sync

Chapter 7: Paying Bills and Writing Checks

Looking at Expense and Bill Payment Methods

Understanding the Transaction Types

Entering an Expense

Writing a Check

Entering a Bill

Paying Bills

Recording Vendor Credits and Refunds

Managing Recurring Transactions

Reviewing and Creating Transactions with Spreadsheet Sync

Chapter 8: Paying Employees and Contractors

Getting Started with QuickBooks Payroll

Preparing Payroll

Managing Payroll Taxes

Paying Contractors

Chapter 9: Working in Registers

Understanding Registers

Customizing the Register View

Entering and Editing Transactions

Performing Other Register Activities

Chapter 10: Administering Bank and Credit Card Accounts

Setting Up a Bank or Credit Card Account

Making a Bank Deposit

Making a Credit Card Payment

Recording a Credit Card Credit

Reconciling a Bank or Credit Card Account

Chapter 11: Synchronizing with Financial Institutions

Connecting QuickBooks Accounts to Financial Institutions

Being Direct: Connecting a Bank or Credit Card Account

Using Indirect Connections to Financial Institutions

Connecting to Online Providers through App Transactions

Converting Paper Receipts to Electronic Transactions

Chapter 12: Working with Purchase Orders, Estimates, Projects, and Tags

Working with Purchase Orders

Working with Estimates

Managing Projects

Tagging Transactions

Part 3: Budgeting, Reporting, and Analysis

Chapter 13: Creating Budgets in QuickBooks

Creating a Budget

Importing Budgets

Basing Spreadsheet Budgets on Actuals

Deleting Budgets

Chapter 14: Utilizing QuickBooks Reports

Looking at the Reports Page

Finding the Report You Want

Printing a Report

Customizing Reports

Exporting Reports from QuickBooks

Custom Reporting with Spreadsheet Sync

Chapter 15: Analyzing QuickBooks Data in Excel

Automatically Opening Excel Reports Exported from QuickBooks

Sifting through Excel Reports

Creating Custom Reporting with Pivot Tables

Spreadsheet Sync

Part 4: Features for Accountants

Chapter 16: Introducing QB Accountant

Getting Started with QuickBooks Online Accountant

Examining the QB Accountant Interface

Adding Companies to the Client List

Working with the Client List

ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing versus ProAdvisor Revenue Share

Using Your Free QuickBooks Online Advanced Subscription

Chapter 17: Managing Your Clients’ Books

Opening a Client’s Company

Discovering QuickBooks Online Accountant Tools

Chapter 18: Practice Management

Introducing the Work Page

Communicating with Team Members about Work

Chapter 19: Automating QuickBooks Analysis with Power Query

Introducing Power Query

Connecting to QuickBooks Reports

Creating Self-Updating Reports

Part 5: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Cool Chrome Shortcuts Plus Ten Bonus Excel Shortcuts

Chrome Keyboard Shortcuts

Microsoft Excel Keyboard Shortcuts

Index

About the Author

Connect with Dummies

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 1

TABLE 1-1 QuickBooks Online Subscription Pricing per Company

TABLE 1-2 QuickBooks Payroll Subscription Pricing for Five Employees

TABLE 1-3 QuickBooks Time Subscription Pricing for Five Employees

TABLE 1-4 QuickBooks Payments per Transaction Fees

TABLE 1-5 Usage Limits for Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus Subscriptions

Chapter 11

TABLE 11-1 Road Map to Banking-Related Pages

TABLE 11-2 An Acceptable Three-Column Format

TABLE 11-3 An Acceptable Four-Column Format

List of Illustrations

Chapter 2

FIGURE 2-1: Use the slider button to toggle between a short-term discount and a...

FIGURE 2-2: Fill in the information needed to start your subscription or the fr...

FIGURE 2-3: A loquacious wizard walks you through the setup process.

FIGURE 2-4: Get Things Done page.

FIGURE 2-5: The Business Overview page.

FIGURE 2-6: Click the +New button to create a new transaction

.

FIGURE 2-7: The Search tab of the Help pane.

FIGURE 2-8: Click the Search button to search for previously entered transactio...

FIGURE 2-9: Use the Settings menu to work with settings, lists, tools, and your...

FIGURE 2-10: The Chart of Accounts page

.

FIGURE 2-11: The task pane you use to create an account in Business View for Si...

FIGURE 2-12: The task pane you use to create an account in Accountant View.

FIGURE 2-13: The task pane that Advanced subscribers in Business View use to cr...

FIGURE 2-14: A typical action menu for the Chart of Accounts page.

FIGURE 2-15: Batch Edit mode enables you to assign or change multiple account n...

FIGURE 2-16: The Import Accounts page.

FIGURE 2-17: Map the fields in your file to the fields in QuickBooks.

FIGURE 2-18: Company preferences.

FIGURE 2-19: Billing & Subscription preferences.

FIGURE 2-20: Sales preferences.

FIGURE 2-21: Use this page to edit an existing form style or set up a new form ...

FIGURE 2-22: The page you use to customize existing sales forms or create new f...

FIGURE 2-23: Edit Invoices page.

FIGURE 2-24: Expenses preferences.

FIGURE 2-25: Advanced preferences.

FIGURE 2-26: QuickBooks Online Desktop app for Advanced subscribers.

FIGURE 2-27: Enable beta features and community reports in QuickBooks Labs.

Chapter 4

FIGURE 4-1: Customer task pane.

FIGURE 4-2: The Add Custom Field task pane in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

FIGURE 4-3: Customer page.

FIGURE 4-4: Customer list.

FIGURE 4-5: An empty transaction list for a new customer.

FIGURE 4-6: Enabling the Attachments column on the customer list.

FIGURE 4-7: Displaying a list’s Split View.

FIGURE 4-8: Performing an action for multiple customers.

FIGURE 4-9: Adjusting the width allotted to the customer's name on the customer...

FIGURE 4-10: The Lists page links to all available lists.

FIGURE 4-11: The Upload page of the Import Customers wizard.

FIGURE 4-12: A file showing the format you need to import list information succ...

FIGURE 4-13: You can import from an Excel workbook, CSV file, or a Google Sheet...

FIGURE 4-14: Match the fields in your data file with QuickBooks fields.

FIGURE 4-15: Records uploaded from your import file.

FIGURE 4-16: Excel exports typically appear in your browser’s downloads bar.

FIGURE 4-17: Spreadsheet Sync instructions.

FIGURE 4-18: Installing the Spreadsheet Sync add-in.

FIGURE 4-19: Spreadsheet Sync task pane.

FIGURE 4-20: Blank Spreadsheet Sync template.

FIGURE 4-21: Customer and vendor records can be exported to Excel from QuickBoo...

Chapter 5

FIGURE 5-1: Marking a customer as tax exempt.

FIGURE 5-2: The Economic Nexus tool for sales and use tax compliance.

FIGURE 5-3: The Taxable Customers Report is a modified version of the Customer ...

FIGURE 5-4: Reviewing a sales tax return.

FIGURE 5-5: Use this page to record a sales tax payment.

FIGURE 5-6: Select a type of item to create.

FIGURE 5-7: Use this task pane to create an inventory item.

FIGURE 5-8: Add purchasing information for the item.

FIGURE 5-9: You can filter the Products and Services list to show only low-stoc...

FIGURE 5-10: You can adjust one or more inventory items at a time.

FIGURE 5-11: Recent inventory adjustments.

FIGURE 5-12: Use this window to adjust an inventory item’s starting values, but...

FIGURE 5-13: The Product Categories page.

FIGURE 5-14: The Create a Price Rule page.

FIGURE 5-15: The Bundle task pane.

FIGURE 5-16: Blank Spreadsheet Sync template.

FIGURE 5-17: Inventory records retrieved from QuickBooks.

Chapter 6

FIGURE 6-1: The Sales Transactions page.

FIGURE 6-2: Sales transactions appear in the Customers column of the New menu.

FIGURE 6-3: A blank invoice window awaits your input.

FIGURE 6-4: Add as many line items as needed to your invoice.

FIGURE 6-5: Use the bottom of the Invoice window to handle sales tax, discount ...

FIGURE 6-6: The Content page after choosing the Table section to edit.

FIGURE 6-7: Turning on the setting to enable grouping in the selected sales for...

FIGURE 6-8: Enabling the built-in Time Tracking options.

FIGURE 6-9: The Add Time For panel enables you to enter time for one or more bi...

FIGURE 6-10: The Add Work Details pane.

FIGURE 6-11: Viewing a customer’s page.

FIGURE 6-12: Creating an invoice for a customer with billable time and expense ...

FIGURE 6-13: Printing or downloading a batch of sales documents.

FIGURE 6-14: The Receive Payment window after selecting a customer with unpaid ...

FIGURE 6-15: A bank deposit transaction.

FIGURE 6-16: Recording an electronic payment processing fee.

FIGURE 6-17: Determining the amounts of paid and unpaid invoices.

FIGURE 6-18: Click anywhere in the Status column to see the details for the spe...

FIGURE 6-19: Entering a credit memo.

FIGURE 6-20: Invoice 1004 has a credit memo for $250 applied against it.

FIGURE 6-21: Credit memos are applied against outstanding invoices unless you d...

FIGURE 6-22: Issuing a refund check by way of a Refund Receipt.

FIGURE 6-23: Blank Spreadsheet Sync template.

FIGURE 6-24: Transactions retrieved from QuickBooks.

Chapter 7

FIGURE 7-1: The top half of the Expense Transactions page.

FIGURE 7-2: The bottom half of the Expense Transactions page.

FIGURE 7-3: The Batch Transactions page in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

FIGURE 7-4: The Check window.

FIGURE 7-5: The Bill window.

FIGURE 7-6: The Pay Bills window.

FIGURE 7-7: Filtering options for paying bills.

FIGURE 7-8: Add to Check task pane.

FIGURE 7-9: A Bill Payment window shape shifts from the Check window you were j...

FIGURE 7-10: The Vendor Credit window.

FIGURE 7-11: The Pay Bills window automatically applies applicable vendor credi...

FIGURE 7-12: The Bank Deposit window.

FIGURE 7-13: The Recurring Bill transaction window.

FIGURE 7-14: The Recurring Transactions list.

FIGURE 7-15: Transactions retrieved from QuickBooks.

Chapter 8

FIGURE 8-1: Choosing an option for payroll.

FIGURE 8-2: The Your Team page.

FIGURE 8-3: Fill in the basic information about the employee, and decide whethe...

FIGURE 8-4: Tax withholding information provided by federal Form W-4.

FIGURE 8-5: The Pay Types window.

FIGURE 8-6: The Payroll Settings page.

FIGURE 8-7: The to-do list on the Payroll Overview page.

FIGURE 8-8: The Give Us Your Federal Tax Info page.

FIGURE 8-9: Use this screen to enter payroll information for your employees.

FIGURE 8-10: Reviewing paychecks before generating them.

FIGURE 8-11: When you don’t direct-deposit paychecks, you see a page like this ...

FIGURE 8-12: Click the Edit icon in the Tax Withholding section to edit withhol...

FIGURE 8-13: Click Tax Exemptions only when you are certain they are applicable...

FIGURE 8-14: QuickBooks Payroll includes four tabs for managing employee inform...

FIGURE 8-15: Scroll down the Reports page to locate payroll reports.

FIGURE 8-16: How to opt out of automatic payroll tax payments and form filings.

FIGURE 8-17: Provide the Contractor Type information needed for Form 1099 prepa...

Chapter 9

FIGURE 9-1: Use the Chart of Accounts page to open a particular account’s regis...

FIGURE 9-2: A typical bank account register.

FIGURE 9-3: Table Settings menu.

FIGURE 9-4: Paper Ledger Mode enabled and Show in One Line disabled.

FIGURE 9-5: Resizing a column.

FIGURE 9-6: A transfer transaction window.

FIGURE 9-7: The abbreviated journal entry transaction window that appears withi...

FIGURE 9-8: A traditional journal entry transaction window.

FIGURE 9-9: Entering a sales receipt in a bank account register.

FIGURE 9-10: You can filter transactions within a register.

FIGURE 9-11: A list of transactions based on criteria specified in the Filter w...

FIGURE 9-12: Printing a register.

Chapter 10

FIGURE 10-1: The task pane you use to create an account in Accountant View.

FIGURE 10-2: Use the Bank Deposit transaction window to select payment transact...

FIGURE 10-3: Record payment amounts that are unrelated to customer invoices in ...

FIGURE 10-4: The Reconcile window.

FIGURE 10-5: The Credit Card Credit window.

FIGURE 10-6: Enter information from your bank or credit card statement on this ...

FIGURE 10-7: Match transactions from your statement with those shown on the Rec...

FIGURE 10-8: QuickBooks confirms that you successfully reconciled your account.

FIGURE 10-9: A typical Reconciliation report.

FIGURE 10-10: Previous Reconciliation reports that you can view.

Chapter 11

FIGURE 11-1: The Banking page in Accountant View.

FIGURE 11-2: The Bank Transactions tab of the Transactions page in Business Vie...

FIGURE 11-3: The Banking page in Business View.

FIGURE 11-4: Identify your financial institution.

FIGURE 11-5: Select the accounts you want to connect, their type, and a transac...

FIGURE 11-6: The Banking Transactions page shows accounts that you have uploade...

FIGURE 11-7: You can control the amount of information that appears in this tab...

FIGURE 11-8: Uploaded or downloaded transactions awaiting review.

FIGURE 11-9: Choose View (Review) or click any transaction to see the underlyin...

FIGURE 11-10: The Update Selected dialog box.

FIGURE 11-11: The Rules page.

FIGURE 11-12: The Create Rule task pane.

FIGURE 11-13: Specify the changes to be made to transactions that meet the rule...

FIGURE 11-14: Use the Categorized tab to find transactions accepted into QuickB...

FIGURE 11-15: Click the arrow beside the Link Account button and select Upload ...

FIGURE 11-16: The Import Bank Transactions page for uploading Web Connect or

.c

...

FIGURE 11-17: Select the corresponding bank or credit card account.

FIGURE 11-18: The Let’s Set Up Your File in QuickBooks window for

.csv

files.

FIGURE 11-19: You can send receipts or bills to QuickBooks in several ways.

FIGURE 11-20: You can establish an

@qbodocs.com

email address that you forward ...

FIGURE 11-21: A receipt to be reviewed.

FIGURE 11-22: You can review uploaded receipts or bills before you commit the t...

Chapter 12

FIGURE 12-1: Turn on the purchase-orders feature and set up a customized messag...

FIGURE 12-2: A pristine purchase order window.

FIGURE 12-3: Add as many line items as needed to your purchase order.

FIGURE 12-4: A purchase order with multiple lines.

FIGURE 12-5: A check showing an available purchase order with multiple lines fo...

FIGURE 12-6: Receiving and paying for part of a purchase order.

FIGURE 12-7: Reviewing a purchase order after receiving some of the items on it...

FIGURE 12-8: The Open Purchase Orders Detail report.

FIGURE 12-9: The Estimate page.

FIGURE 12-10: The bottom of the Estimate page.

FIGURE 12-11: Getting ready to copy an estimate to a purchase order.

FIGURE 12-12: A purchase order created from an estimate.

FIGURE 12-13: Copying an estimate to an invoice from the Invoice window.

FIGURE 12-14: Click the Create Invoice link in the Action column to use estimat...

FIGURE 12-15: Choose Copy from the More menu to duplicate an estimate, even if ...

FIGURE 12-16: Edit and then save the duplicated estimate.

FIGURE 12-17: Turn on the option to create partial invoices.

FIGURE 12-18: Use this window to establish the amount of a progress invoice.

FIGURE 12-19: Enabling projects in QuickBooks.

FIGURE 12-20: Starting a new project.

FIGURE 12-21: Creating a project.

FIGURE 12-22: Projects page for a new project.

FIGURE 12-23: Converting a sub-customer to a project.

FIGURE 12-24: Enable the Include Projects checkbox to see projects in your cust...

FIGURE 12-25: Creating a new transaction for a project.

FIGURE 12-26: A sample Project Profitability report.

FIGURE 12-27: Restoring deleted projects.

FIGURE 12-28: The Create New Group task pane enables you to establish new tag g...

FIGURE 12-29: You can apply tags to multiple transactions at once.

FIGURE 12-30: Tags (sub-tags) have been added to two tag groups (parent tags).

Chapter 13

FIGURE 13-1: The New Budget page.

FIGURE 13-2: The Budget input page.

FIGURE 13-3: The Budget Import page.

Chapter 14

FIGURE 14-1: The Reports page.

FIGURE 14-2: Business Overview reports.

FIGURE 14-3: The Management Reports tab.

FIGURE 14-4: Print Preview of a management report.

FIGURE 14-5: Searching for a report.

FIGURE 14-6: Transaction report in Classic View.

FIGURE 14-7: Transaction report in Modern View in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

FIGURE 14-8: The General section of the panel you use to customize a report in ...

FIGURE 14-9: Use these settings to control the rows and columns that appear in ...

FIGURE 14-10: Some reports allow you to change the order of the fields by dragg...

FIGURE 14-11: The filtering options you can control in the Profit & Loss report...

FIGURE 14-12: The header and footer settings you can customize in the Profit & ...

FIGURE 14-13: The report after customization, which includes % of Income and % ...

FIGURE 14-14: Use this panel to save a customized report.

FIGURE 14-15: The My Custom Reports page after you create a custom report.

FIGURE 14-16: Set an email schedule for a report group.

FIGURE 14-17: Protected View in Excel requires you to click Enable Editing befo...

FIGURE 14-18: Spreadsheet Sync reporting options.

FIGURE 14-19: Spreadsheet Sync Reports and Tables lists.

FIGURE 14-20: Spreadsheet Sync Filter options.

FIGURE 14-21: The Spreadsheet Sync tab.

Chapter 15

FIGURE 15-1: QuickBooks reports that you export to Excel generally open in Prot...

FIGURE 15-2: Choose Always Open Files of This Type to seamlessly open Excel rep...

FIGURE 15-3: The Transaction List by Date report is best suited for analyzing y...

FIGURE 15-4: Most transaction list reports have headings or subtotals that make...

FIGURE 15-5: The Filter feature adds a Filter button to the top of each column ...

FIGURE 15-6: Text-based dates exported from QuickBooks sometimes masquerade as ...

FIGURE 15-7: Slicers allow you to filter data in a table with a single click.

FIGURE 15-8: Pivot tables allow you to create instant summaries of your data by...

Chapter 16

FIGURE 16-1: A typical QB Accountant home page after creating an account.

FIGURE 16-2: View, edit, and add QB Accountant team members.

FIGURE 16-3: Specify the new user’s access level to your firm’s administration ...

FIGURE 16-4: You can give a team member access to your firm’s clients on a sele...

FIGURE 16-5: The home page of an invited team member who has limited privileges...

FIGURE 16-6: The tools available to accountants while working in a client compa...

FIGURE 16-7: QB Accountant Settings menu.

FIGURE 16-8: The Manage Users page.

FIGURE 16-9: A Client List page after you accept an invitation from a client to...

FIGURE 16-10: The Client Contact Information page of the Add Client wizard.

FIGURE 16-11: Transferring primary admin rights.

FIGURE 16-12: Click a QuickBooks logo or use the Go to QuickBooks drop-down lis...

FIGURE 16-13: Control the appearance of the Client List page with the Settings ...

FIGURE 16-14: Choose Make Inactive command to hide a client on your list.

FIGURE 16-15: Billing options available for new companies that you create withi...

Chapter 17

FIGURE 17-1: Click the QB logo to the left of the client’s name or use Go to Qu...

FIGURE 17-2: A client’s company displayed within QuickBooks Online Accountant.

FIGURE 17-3: Exit QB Accountant by signing out.

FIGURE 17-4: The Company and Banking sections of the Client Overview page.

FIGURE 17-5: The Common Issues section of the Client Overview page.

FIGURE 17-6: The Transaction section of the Client Overview page.

FIGURE 17-7: The Settings menu.

FIGURE 17-8: The Account and Settings task pane for a QuickBooks company.

FIGURE 17-9: Usage limits.

FIGURE 17-10: Review and, if necessary, change settings on the Advanced tab of ...

FIGURE 17-11: You can add and edit accounts on the Chart of Accounts page.

FIGURE 17-12: The Customers page.

FIGURE 17-13: The All Lists page doesn’t offer access to customers, vendors, em...

FIGURE 17-14: The Accountant Tools menu contains commands specifically designed...

FIGURE 17-15: Accountant-oriented reports available in QuickBooks Online.

FIGURE 17-16: The Reports Options page.

FIGURE 17-17: Use the Audit Log page to view all kinds of activity in the Quick...

FIGURE 17-18: The browser tab Chrome creates to print the report offers a gatew...

FIGURE 17-19: The Books Review setup.

FIGURE 17-20: The Transaction Review tab in Books Review.

FIGURE 17-21: The Account Reconciliation tab in Books Review.

FIGURE 17-22: The Final Review tab in Books Review.

FIGURE 17-23: The Wrap-Up tab in Books Review.

FIGURE 17-24: The Reclassify Transactions page.

FIGURE 17-25: The Reclassify Transactions dialog box.

FIGURE 17-26: The Write Off Invoices page.

FIGURE 17-27: Confirm that you want to write off the selected invoices.

FIGURE 17-28: Setting a closing date.

FIGURE 17-29: Warning prompt for new transactions or edits to existing transact...

FIGURE 17-30: Password-protected warning prompt for transactions dated prior to...

FIGURE 17-31: The Year-End Task tab of the Prep for Taxes page.

FIGURE 17-32: The Documents tab of the Prep for Taxes page.

FIGURE 17-33: The Review & Adjust tab of the Prep for Taxes page.

FIGURE 17-34: You must accept changes to a QuickBooks company that would affect...

FIGURE 17-35: The Grouping & Statements tab of the Prep for Taxes page.

FIGURE 17-36: The Tax Mapping tab of the Prep for Taxes page.

Chapter 18

FIGURE 18-1: A mostly unpopulated Work page within QB Accountant.

FIGURE 18-2: The Templates page within QB Accountant.

FIGURE 18-3: The Create a Request task pane.

FIGURE 18-4: The Create Project task pane.

FIGURE 18-5: Establishing a recurring project.

FIGURE 18-6: Adding a task.

FIGURE 18-7: The My Accountant page within a client’s QuickBooks company.

FIGURE 18-8: The To Do task pane within a client’s QuickBooks company.

FIGURE 18-9: Use the arrow on a task or project card to display the list of ava...

FIGURE 18-10: The Grid View.

FIGURE 18-11: The List View.

FIGURE 18-12: The Calendar View.

FIGURE 18-13: Set up email notifications for team members regarding work.

Chapter 19

FIGURE 19-1: The Power Query Editor shows the QuickBooks report that you just i...

FIGURE 19-2: The Remove Top Rows dialog box allows you to remove rows from the ...

FIGURE 19-3: The Applied Steps pane shows the transformation steps being carrie...

FIGURE 19-4: The Choose Columns dialog box provides an easy way to remove unwan...

FIGURE 19-5: The report is in a much easier-to-analyze format than it was in Fi...

FIGURE 19-6: You can’t delete specific rows from the middle of the Power Query ...

FIGURE 19-7: The Import Data dialog box allows you to choose how and where your...

FIGURE 19-8: The Queries & Connections task pane appears automatically every ti...

FIGURE 19-9: Adjusting query properties enables you to have a self-updating rep...

FIGURE 19-10: Setting a workbook to be a trusted document eliminates the need t...

FIGURE 19-11: You must also click Refresh Data When Opening the File for a pivo...

FIGURE 19-12: You can sum, average, count, or perform other mathematical calcul...

FIGURE 19-13: The My Table Has Headers setting allows you to confirm that your ...

FIGURE 19-14: The customer data that was presented in columns has been transpos...

Guide

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Index

About the Author

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Introduction

Welcome to QuickBooks Online! In this book, my goal is to help you get up and running quickly if you’re new to QuickBooks, and then carry out tasks in QuickBooks in the most efficient way possible. Accounting programs such as QuickBooks Online are designed to take the pain out of accounting, and in some cases, they even make it easy. In other cases, they may infuriate you. I point out the good, the bad, and the ugly of QuickBooks Online, which is aimed at business users, and QuickBooks Online Accountant (QB Accountant), which is aimed at — you guessed it — accountants and bookkeepers. Both programs are web-based products that offer mobile versions, so your accounting records can be at your fingertips no matter which device you have at hand. Business owners can share access with their accountants, and accountants can gracefully support multiple clients who use QuickBooks Online.

Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks Online and QB Accountant, also offers QuickBooks Desktop, which is a version of the software that you must also subscribe to but then install locally on individual computers. I discuss migrating QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online in Chapter 3 and Appendix B. If you’re in need of a QuickBooks Desktop reference, please get a copy of Stephen L. Nelson’s QuickBooks All-in-One For Dummies 2023 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

About This Book

Everything that can be done in QuickBooks Online can be accomplished in QB Accountant as well. QB Accountant offers additional tools that are useful to accountants who manage multiple clients and/or multiple companies. As you’ll see, QuickBooks Online requires a subscription fee for every set of books you want to maintain, whereas accountants get free access to QB Accountant for overseeing their clients’ books.

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online Accountant aren’t for everyone. Before you commit to Intuit’s web-based solution, you need to explore the available editions and examine the requirements for the products. In that regard, I’ve divided the book into five parts:

Part 1

, “Getting Started with QuickBooks,” helps you choose a subscription level, set up your company, and if needed, migrate your accounting records from QuickBooks Desktop.

Part 2

, “Managing Your Books,” covers the nuts and bolts of using QuickBooks, such as adding customers, vendors, employees, and inventory items, plus all of the transactions related to each.

Part 3

, “Reporting and Analysis,” shows you how to run reports within QuickBooks Online, and then how to crunch your numbers in Excel.

Part 4

, “Working in QuickBooks Online Accountant,” helps accountants set up shop in QB Accountant and explore the software’s accountant-specific features.

Part 5

, “The Part of Tens,” covers ten features of the Chrome browser that help you optimize your use of QuickBooks.

As I discuss in Chapter 1, QuickBooks Online offers different subscription levels. I used QuickBooks Online Advanced to write this book because it is the most feature-laden offering.

Before diving in, I have to get a few technical conventions out of the way:

Text that you’re meant to type as it appears in the book is

bold

. The exception is when you’re working through a list of steps: Because each step is bold, the text to type is not bold.

Web addresses and programming code appear in

monofont

. If you’re reading a digital version of this book on a device connected to the Internet, note that you can tap or click a web address to visit that website, like this:

www.dummies.com

.

You can use QuickBooks Online and QB Accountant in a web browser or a mobile app. Example web browsers include Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple’s Safari. QuickBooks and QB Accountant mobile apps are available for Android and iOS. QuickBooks Advanced subscribers and QB Accountant users also have a desktop app available.

When I discuss a command to choose, I separate the elements of the sequence with a command arrow that looks like this: ⇒. For example, when you see Sales ⇒   Invoices, that command means that you should click Sales in the left bar and then click Invoices in the drop-down menu that appears.

You may be surprised to learn that QuickBooks Online has more than one version of its Navigation bar that appears along the left-hand side. Your navigation is mostly likely set to the Business View, which consolidates commands into fewer top-level choices. In this book, I used the Accountant View, which provides more top-level choices. To change your view, click the gear-shaped Settings button at the top right-hand corner of the screen, and then toggle the view setting at the bottom right-hand corner of the menu that displays.

Note that you don’t have to change to Accountant View to follow along in this book. When necessary, I list the Accountant View commands first, and then parenthetically list the Business View commands. For instance, a reference to the Invoices screen looks like this: Sales ⇒   Invoices (Sales & Expenses ⇒   Invoices).

If you have identified yourself as an owner or partner, your Business View may differ even more. If you have any problems finding a command that I reference, you can briefly switch to Accountant View to carry out your task and then toggle back to Business View if that’s more your speed.

Foolish Assumptions

I had to assume some things about you to write this book, so here are the educated guesses I made:

You know that you need to manage a set of accounting records for one or more businesses, and you might even have some sort of setup in place already. I

did not

assume that you know how to do all those things on a computer.

You may want to analyze some of your accounting data outside QuickBooks, which is why I include a couple of chapters on using Microsoft Excel, some of which translate to Google Sheets as well.

You have a personal computer running Windows 10 or 11 (I wrote this book in Windows 10) or a Mac running macOS 10.11 or later.

You have a copy of Microsoft Excel on your computer, or you plan to use Google Sheets at

https://sheets.google.com

.

Icons Used in This Book

Throughout the book, I use icons to draw your attention to various concepts that I want to make sure that you don’t skip over in the main part of the text. Sometimes, I share information to help you save time; in other cases, the goal is to keep your accounting records safe.

This icon points out time-saving tricks or quirks that you may encounter in QuickBooks.

This icon points out tricky aspects of QuickBooks that you’ll want to keep in mind.

This product can burn your eyes. Oh, sorry, wrong type of warning. Don’t worry, you’re safe! Pay careful attention to warnings that you encounter so that you can avoid problems that could wreak havoc in your accounting records or more often simply cause you frustration.

At some points, I may include some geeky stuff about QuickBooks, your web browser, or your computer. You can safely skip over the technical stuff if that’s not your cup of tea.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the book content, this product comes with a free, access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that lists keyboard shortcuts for QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Accountant and handy toolbar buttons in QBO as well as info on using the multicurrency feature, Desktop conversion tips, and entering payroll history. To get this Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and search for “QuickBooks Online For Dummies Cheat Sheet.”

You can keep the learning going with the most up-to-date information and tutorials from School of Bookkeeping (https://schoolofbookkeeping.com/). The folks there (one of whom is the technical editor of this book) have broken down every version of QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks services (Payments and Payroll), and other tasks into bite-sized lessons that you can watch and get back to business. Use promo code QBO4DUMMIES to save 20 percent on any membership. If you’re looking for video-based Excel training, please visit my site at http://www.professionalsexcel.com.

Where to Go from Here

Simply turn the page. Seriously. You can dive in anywhere you want and come back as often as you like. You don’t have to read through this book cover to cover, as you would a John Sandford thriller, because each chapter stands alone and provides step-by-step instructions for common tasks. You should consider this book to be a reference that you can use when you need it.

That said, if you’re getting started with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Online Accountant, you may want to read the chapters in Part 1 in order. Then feel free to explore any chapter you want, using the table of contents or the index to find topics that interest you.

Part 1

Getting Started with QuickBooks Online

IN THIS PART …

Choose a subscription level.

Create a QuickBooks company.

Migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

Chapter 1

Welcome to QuickBooks Online

IN THIS CHAPTER

Unveiling what QuickBooks Online is

Pricing for subscriptions, payroll, and other add-ons

Finding QuickBooks features and looking at usage limits

Meeting QuickBooks Online Accountant

Welcome to QuickBooks Online! Why devote a whole book to this software? First of all, I’m going to assume that you’re most likely not an accountant but are either the owner or the employee of a business that has chosen to keep their accounting records in QuickBooks Online. Or maybe you’re an accountant and you want to understand the ins-and-outs of QuickBooks Online better. No matter where you fall on this continuum, my goal is to empower you to use QuickBooks Online more effectively. To do so you’ll find that I sometimes broaden the discussion to include Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, because no accounting software can meet every single need that you may have. Another complicating factor with QuickBooks Online that accountants in particular may notice is that the functionality available varies widely between the different subscription levels. Throughout the book I help you keep tabs on what you can, and cannot, accomplish within each level of QuickBooks.

In this chapter I explain some differences between QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop, and then I give you a sense of what your annual costs might look like if you choose to use QuickBooks. Pricing and features are directly related, and most businesses may find the Plus and Advanced subscriptions are best suited to their needs, but less expensive options are available for those who don’t need quite as much functionality. I briefly touch on QuickBooks Online Accountant here, but rest assured, that version gets full-bore treatment in Chapters 16 to 18.

What Is QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online is a cloud-based accounting software, as opposed to QuickBooks Desktop, which is a traditional accounting software installed locally, alongside your data, on your office computers. Conversely, with QuickBooks Online, both the software and data are housed securely in remote data centers and accessed securely over the Internet. Working in the cloud can increase your efficiency by offering you the opportunity to work anywhere, communicate easily with others, and collaborate in real time. Further, your data is backed up automatically, which can help you avoid disasters such as fire or flood, which can take out both your workspace and your accounting records. Traditionally, QuickBooks Desktop allowed you to choose when to pay for a software upgrade, but starting with QuickBooks 2022, the desktop version became subscription-based, just the same as QuickBooks Online.

Some folks see the “anywhere, anytime” aspect of the cloud as a potential disadvantage because it makes information too readily available — and therefore a target for hackers. Rest assured that Intuit stores your data on servers that use bank-level security that creates encrypted backups of your data automatically.

Perhaps you’re currently using QuickBooks Desktop and wondering, “Should I switch to QuickBooks Online?” The answer, as you might expect, is that it depends. Because QuickBooks Desktop is no longer offered on a perpetual license basis, the cost distinction between the two has been somewhat removed. Chapter 3 describes the conversion process, and Appendix B offers a nuts-and-bolts analysis of what data you can move to QuickBooks Online from QuickBooks Desktop, and what you can’t.

QuickBooks Desktop enables you to create unlimited companies at no additional charge, while QuickBooks Online subscription fees are on a per-company basis.

SHOULD YOU MOVE TO THE CLOUD?

Before you decide to move your accounting records to the cloud, you should consider the needs of your business in the following areas:

Invoicing, point of sale, electronic payment, and customer relations managementFinancial and tax reportingBudgetingTime tracking and payrollInventory, job costing, and job schedulingManagement of company expenses and vendor bills

Beyond the advantages described in this section, the needs of your business may dictate whether you can use QuickBooks Online. The platform won’t work for you if your business has industry-specific needs or is midsize, for example. In addition, QuickBooks Online won’t work for you if you need to do any of the following things:

Track your balance sheet by class.Manage a robust inventory that supports making and selling finished goods.

In any of these cases, you’d probably be better off with Intuit’s desktop-based QuickBooks Enterprise or perhaps QuickBooks Premier. Another consideration is the speed and quality of your Internet connection. You will be mightily frustrated if you can’t get to your books simply because the Internet is out again.

On the other hand, using web-based software can be attractive simply because you always have immediate access to your accounting records from any device as long as you have an Internet connection. The QuickBooks Online mobile app allows you to track your mileage, and keeps your accounting records in the palm of your hand. Further, your accountant and/or bookkeeper has access from anywhere as well. As you’ll see, QuickBooks Online Accountant (QB Accountant) empowers accountants and bookkeepers to quickly toggle between their clients’ accounting records and to keep up with deadlines and tasks, and provides a centralized communication hub. Conversely, QuickBooks Desktop requires you to send an electronic Accountant’s Copy to your accountant, and specify a dividing date before which you cannot make any changes until your accountant returns the Accountant’s Copy to you. QuickBooks Desktop also requires you to install periodic software updates, which are a thing of the past with QuickBooks Online. Most modern computers should easily exceed the minimum requirements for QuickBooks Online, but you can get the nitty gritty computer specification details here: https://intuit.me/3yEaSJL.

Because updates occur so frequently in QuickBooks, by the time this book is published, some features (and screens) may have changed. Make that will have changed.

My technical editor extraordinaire Dan DeLong has created a free QuickBooks Chooser chatbot that will help you choose the right version of QuickBooks Online based upon your specific business needs. Check it out at https://sob.drift.click/QBChooser.

Checking on QuickBooks Pricing

QuickBooks subscriptions can be canceled at any time, but the service is billed in monthly periods with no refunds or prorations. You can no longer create new transactions once your subscription expires, but you can view your accounting records and run reports for up to one year. As you see in the next three sections, you may find that using QuickBooks costs much more than the base subscription price that you pay. Further, pricing is per company, so if you maintain the books for two or more entities, you’ll have to pay for two or more subscriptions. Add-ons such as payroll and specialized apps are generally priced on a per-company basis as well.

QuickBooks subscription pricing

As shown in Table 1-1, QuickBooks Online is available in six different versions and price points, but most likely you’ll need to choose one of the three shaded options. QuickBooks Online Self-Employed and Simple Start are best suited to fledging businesses, while QuickBooks Online Accountant is a free portal that accountants and bookkeepers can use to support their clients. You can get more details and start a QuickBooks Online subscription at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/ or start using QuickBooks Online Accountant at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accountants/products-solutions/accounting/online.

TABLE 1-1 QuickBooks Online Subscription Pricing per Company

Version

Monthly

Annually

Users

Self-Employed

$15

$180

1 billable user + 2 accountant users

Simple Start

$30

$360

1 billable user + 2 accountant users

Essentials

$55

$660

3 billable users + 2 accountant users

Plus

$85

$1,020

5 billable users + 2 accountant users

Advanced

$200

$2,400

Up to 25 billable users + 3 accountant users

Accountant

$0

$0

No limit

QuickBooks allows you to choose either a 50 percent discount for the first three months of your subscription, or a free 30-day trial. You may also be offered a discount during the 30-day trial. If so, take the deal immediately if you plan to move forward with QuickBooks, as it’s unlikely that it will be offered again during your trial period. The 50 percent discount will save you more money, but the 30-day trial lets you test drive the software without making a financial commitment. You will have to cancel your subscription if you opt for the discount and decide QuickBooks isn’t right for you, whereas the 30-day trial simply expires at the end.

PROADVISOR PREFERRED PRICING

Accounting professionals can arrange a 30 percent discount on QuickBooks Online (all versions except QuickBooks Self-Employed), QuickBooks Payroll, and QuickBooks Time. The 30 percent discount is ongoing for accountants who agree to be billed directly by Intuit. Accountants can pass all or part of the savings on to their clients if they wish. As discussed in Chapter 16, Intuit sends you a single consolidated bill for all the QuickBooks subscriptions you manage. Conversely, accountants also use the ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing program to arrange a 30 percent discount for 12 months for charges billed directly to their clients.

If your client initially sets up their own QuickBooks subscription, you can move it to your consolidated bill at the discounted wholesale rate. If your arrangement with your client doesn’t work out, you can remove the client from your consolidated bill, which means that the client resumes paying for their own subscription.

Payroll and time track pricing

It’s best to think of the amounts in Table 1-1 as the base cost for QuickBooks, as it’s likely that you’ll need to add additional functionality, such as payroll processing. As shown in Table 1-2, QuickBooks offers three different payroll options. I’ve calculated the associated costs for a hypothetical team of five employees to give you a frame of reference.

TABLE 1-2 QuickBooks Payroll Subscription Pricing for Five Employees

Version

Monthly

Annually

Core

$65 ($45/month + $5/employee x 5 employees)

$780

Premium

$115 ($75/month + $8/employee x 5 employees)

$1,380

Elite

$175 ($125/month + $10/employee x 5 employees)

$2,100

All QuickBooks Payroll plans include the following features:

Paying employees with printed checks or by direct deposit

Calculating tax payments automatically and paying them electronically

Processing federal and state quarterly and annual reports, and preparing W-2 and 1099 forms

Processing payroll for employees who work in your company’s state or another state

Keeping payroll tax tables up to date without having to install updates (as you do with the QuickBooks Desktop product)

Using the QuickBooks Payroll mobile app to pay employees, view past paychecks, file tax forms electronically, and pay taxes electronically

The Core tier offers next-day direct deposit, while the Premium tier enables same-day direct deposit and adds time tracking. The Elite tier also adds project tracking, tax penalty protection, and a personal human resources advisor. You can get more details and start a payroll subscription at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payroll/pricing/ or you can choose Payroll from the left-hand menu within your QuickBooks company.

A QuickBooks company is a set of accounting records for a single business entity. Each QuickBooks company entails separate subscription fees, and you will need to establish a QuickBooks company for each company that you own or maintain accounting records for.

You can test-drive the QuickBooks payroll service at no charge for up to 30 days.

When you establish QuickBooks Payroll, you must connect your bank account and provide your tax identification numbers. Make sure that you’re ready to start processing payroll immediately before you embark on a QuickBooks Payroll subscription. If you’d like to try before you buy, use the online test drives I mention later in this chapter in the sections, “QuickBooks Online Plus” and “QuickBooks Online Advanced.”

Table 1-3 shows the additional annual cost for the Premium plan for five employees, which provides time and attendance tracking. The Elite tier adds project tracking as well. It’s worth running the numbers for the various offerings, because QuickBooks Core Payroll for five employees at $65 per month plus QuickBooks Premium Time at $60 per month is $125 per month versus paying $115 per month for QuickBooks Premium Payroll, which also offers time tracking.

TABLE 1-3 QuickBooks Time Subscription Pricing for Five Employees

Version

Monthly

Annually

Premium

$60 ($20/month + $8/employee x 5 employees)

$720

Elite

$90 ($40/month + $10/employee x 5 employees)

$1,080

ProAdvisor

Free for accounting professionals

$0

You can add time tracking on an á la carte basis by adding QuickBooks Time (formerly known as TSheets). Think twice before doing so, as it typically makes more financial sense to use the time tracking bundled into the upgraded payroll service tiers. Further, you may encounter complications if you start out with QuickBooks Time and then try to switch to a QuickBooks Payroll tier that offers time tracking.

Other add-on pricing

QuickBooks Payments enables you to accept electronic payments from customers, and entails per-transaction fees instead of a monthly subscription. Table 1-4 shows the current rates as of this writing.

TABLE 1-4 QuickBooks Payments per Transaction Fees

Payment Type

Rate per Transaction

ACH Bank payments

1% up to a maximum of $10 per transaction (customer enters bank information online)

Swiped credit card

2.4% plus 25 cents (mobile reader available)

Invoiced credit card

2.9% plus 25 cents (customer enters credit card online)

Keyed credit card

3.4% plus 25 cents (you key the credit card information online)

QuickBooks Payments deposits money from qualifying credit or debit card transactions into your bank account the next business day. Your payments and deposit transactions are recorded into your books automatically, based upon the funding date.

Companies with e-commerce offerings might opt for QuickBooks Commerce, an add-on that allows you to position your inventory products on a variety of major shopping platforms for $100 per month or $1,200 per year. You can find out more or start a QuickBooks Commerce subscription at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/quickbooks-commerce. In Chapter 2, I discuss the QuickBooks App store, which offers dozens of free and paid apps that add even more functionality to QuickBooks.

Comparing QuickBooks Features

As you can see, the ongoing expenses for QuickBooks can add up fast. You can upgrade or downgrade your subscription at any time, although downgrading can entail disabling inventory and/or removing users. Use the search term downgrade at https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us for more details. Let’s take a look at the various tiers so that you can find the right fit for your needs.

I used a QuickBooks Online Advanced subscription as I wrote this book because it offers the whole enchilada with regard to QuickBooks functionality. Accordingly, there’s a good chance that you’ll see references throughout the book to features you don’t have.

QuickBooks Online Self-Employed

This version of QuickBooks is aimed at freelancers and self-employed people who file Schedule C of IRS Form 1040 (https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-c-form-1040). Unlike the higher-level offerings, QuickBooks Self-Employed allows you to mix business with pleasure, meaning that you can track personal and business expenses, as well as mileage. It’s best suited to someone with a side hustle who wants to keep track of their business and simplify income tax filing.

QuickBooks Simple Start

A QuickBooks Simple Start subscription is great for a new business with basic bookkeeping needs. With Simple Start, you can

Track your income and expenses

Download transactions from your bank and credit card accounts

Create an unlimited number of customers

Send estimates and invoices

Print checks and record transactions to track expenses

Track and pay sales taxes

Track mileage

Categorize expenses by taking pictures of receipts

Pay contractors and send 1099 forms

Import data from Microsoft Excel or QuickBooks Desktop

Integrate with available apps in the QuickBooks Online App Center

View and customize over 50 reports

Although the Simple Start version supports accounts-receivable functions, you can’t set up invoices to bill customers on a recurring basis or track unpaid bills. If you’re on the fence between Self-Employed and Simple Start, you’ll have more options in the future with Simple Start.

QuickBooks Online Essentials

Established businesses that do not have inventory may be able to use QuickBooks Essentials, which includes all of the Simple Start functionality and also allows you to

Set up invoices to bill automatically on a recurring schedule

Use accounts-payable functions, including scheduling payment of vendor bills and free online bill payment

Create and post recurring transactions

Track time for unlimited users

Control the areas of QuickBooks that your users can access

View and customize up to 85 reports

QB Accountant users can create Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, or Advanced subscriptions and then serve as the primary administrator (previously known as the master administrator), or transfer that role to their client at any time, as discussed in Chapter 17.

QuickBooks Online Plus

A Plus subscription goes beyond the Essentials level by adding the ability to

Create, send, and track purchase orders.