QuickBooks Online invoices: set up so receivables stay true.
Get help with invoicing when you are setting up products, services and terms for the first time, when customer payments reach the bank without being applied to invoices, or when Undeposited Funds keeps growing. Set up wrong, invoicing overstates what you’re owed: a payment recorded as a fresh deposit leaves its invoice open and counts the income twice, and payments parked in Undeposited Funds never match the bank. QuickBooks Online lets you create and send branded invoices, set terms, send recurring invoices and accept online payments through QuickBooks Payments, while the books record the receivable automatically. Below: what Intuit’s own documentation says today, how to set up and use invoicing well, and what the receivables must show at month-end.
QuickBooks Online invoicing is how you bill customers and track what they owe: you create a branded invoice from your products and services, set payment terms, and send it — and QuickBooks Online records the revenue and the accounts-receivable balance automatically.
Intuit’s own article notes the feature “is limited for QuickBooks Online Free and QuickBooks Online Lite”, and the same article applies to Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced. From there you can send recurring invoices for retainers, enable online payment through QuickBooks Payments (Intuit’s processing service, with Intuit-set fees), send reminders on overdue invoices, and track each one as sent, viewed, or paid. The invoice stays open until you record the customer’s payment and apply it to that invoice — and applying payments correctly is what keeps the AR aging report accurate.
What Intuit’s help articles say about invoices today.
These points come from Intuit’s own US help articles for QuickBooks Online, quoted where the wording matters. Intuit changes its screens and plan features; where your file differs from this page, Intuit’s current article governs.
- Plans. “This feature is limited for QuickBooks Online Free and QuickBooks Online Lite.” The invoicing article also applies to QuickBooks Online Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced, QuickBooks Ledger and QuickBooks Solopreneur.
- Creating one. Select + Create, then Invoice; choose the customer, “Review the Invoice date, Due date, and Terms,” and for each line “select a product or service.” Then Review and send to email it, or Save to send it later.
- Online payment. “To let customers pay online, select Payment options and turn on the methods you want,” signing up for QuickBooks Payments if prompted; Intuit notes you need a connected bank account to see the online payment options.
- Recurring. “In Scheduling, you can set an invoice to recur.”
- Recording the payment. + Create, then Receive payment: choose the customer, select the destination account from the Deposit to dropdown, enter the amount received, then Record and close. For a partial payment, “Adjust the amounts in the PAYMENT column if they exceed your Amount received.”
- Undeposited Funds. Intuit calls it “a temporary account that holds payments you plan to deposit later at the bank”, and if you used it, “you’ll need to record the deposit after you put it in the bank.” When a bank-feed deposit is matched to an invoice, “QuickBooks automatically marks it as paid.”
Sources: Intuit, “Create invoices”; Intuit, “Record invoice payments”; Intuit, “Match your bank and credit card transactions”. Read on 16 October 2026.
What QuickBooks Online invoicing does.
Six things the feature does — from the branded document your customer sees to the receivable it books behind the scenes.
Does 01 · Create & send branded invoices
You build an invoice from your products and services, add the customer, and send it by email or shareable link. You can customize the template — logo, colors, fields, and the message — so the invoice carries your branding. Each invoice is numbered and tied to the customer record.
Does 02 · Set terms & due dates
Each invoice carries payment terms — due on receipt, Net 15, Net 30, and so on — which set the due date QuickBooks Online uses to age the receivable and flag it when it’s overdue. Terms can default per customer so you’re not setting them by hand every time.
Does 03 · Accept online payments (via QuickBooks Payments)
If you enable QuickBooks Payments — Intuit’s processing service — invoices can include a Pay Now button so customers pay by card or bank transfer. Approval, availability, and processing fees are Intuit’s, not ours. We configure how those payments record so they match to the right invoice and deposit.
Does 04 · Send recurring invoices
Set an invoice to repeat on a schedule for retainers, subscriptions, or fixed monthly work, and QuickBooks Online creates — and optionally emails — it automatically each period. This removes repetitive manual entry and keeps recurring billing consistent.
Does 05 · Track status: sent, viewed, paid
QuickBooks Online shows where each invoice stands — sent, viewed by the customer, partially paid, paid, or overdue — so you can see at a glance what’s outstanding and chase the right ones. Reminders can be sent for invoices that pass their due date.
Does 06 · Record the receivable & apply payments
Creating an invoice automatically books the revenue and the receivable; recording the customer’s payment and applying it to that invoice clears it. Done correctly, this keeps the AR aging report accurate. Done loosely — payments unapplied or stranded in Undeposited Funds — is where the books drift.
How to set up and use invoicing well.
Seven steps, in order. The foundation comes first — products, services, and customers — because invoicing is only as accurate as what sits behind it.
- 1
Set up your products/services and customers first
Invoicing is only as accurate as what sits behind it. Build your products and services list (mapped to the right income accounts) and your customer records before you invoice — this is what makes each invoice post to the correct account and tie to the right customer.
- 2
Customize the invoice template & terms
Set your logo, colors, and the fields that show, and define default payment terms (due on receipt, Net 15, Net 30). Clean defaults mean every invoice goes out branded and with the right due date without rework each time. To create one, select + Create, then Invoice, choose the customer, check the invoice date, due date and terms, and pick a product or service on each line.
- 3
Turn on online payments if you want them
If you want customers to pay from the invoice, enable QuickBooks Payments — Intuit’s service, with Intuit-set approval and fees — and decide which payment methods to offer. Then make sure the books side is set so those payments record and deposit cleanly.
- 4
Use recurring invoices for retainers
For retainers, subscriptions, or any fixed repeating billing, set the invoice to recur in its Scheduling section so QuickBooks Online generates and (optionally) sends it automatically. Confirm the products/services and customer on the template are right before it starts repeating.
- 5
Send reminders for overdue invoices
Use the status view to find invoices past their due date and send reminders — manual or automatic — so overdue balances get chased consistently instead of slipping. Consistent follow-up is what keeps AR from aging out.
- 6
Record and match payments correctly
When payment arrives, record it with + Create, then Receive payment, against the specific invoice it pays — not as a stray deposit — and match the bank-feed deposit to it rather than adding it as new income. Watch Undeposited Funds: payments parked there and never grouped into a deposit are a classic pileup that makes the bank reconciliation and AR both wrong.
- 7
Keep the AR aging report clean
Review the AR aging regularly — current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90, 90+ — and make sure open invoices are genuinely unpaid, not already-paid ones whose payment was never applied. A clean aging report is the payoff of doing the steps above correctly.
What the receivables must show at month-end: a worked example.
A service business closing October. This is an illustration, not a client file: the figures are made up to show how one invoice should move through the books.
| Check | What the books must show |
|---|---|
| The invoice posts | A $2,400.00 invoice for a monthly service posts to the income account mapped on its service item, and Accounts Receivable rises by $2,400.00. |
| The payment is applied | The customer’s $2,400.00 payment is recorded with Receive payment against that invoice, which now shows as paid and drops off the aging. |
| The deposit matches | Three payments of $2,400.00, $1,150.00 and $650.00 are grouped into one $4,200.00 deposit, the same as the single $4,200.00 line in the bank feed. |
| No income twice | That bank-feed line is matched to the recorded deposit, not added as new income, so October revenue counts each invoice once. |
| Undeposited Funds | It holds only payments received since the last deposit; nothing older is waiting there. |
| The aging ties | The A/R Aging Summary total equals Accounts Receivable on the Balance Sheet, and no invoice the customer has paid is still listed as open. |
When these rows hold, the aging is a true list of who owes you and income is counted once. When they don’t, both the receivable and the revenue line are off by the same unapplied payments.
When a ProAdvisor should help.
Setting up products/services & AR workflow
Standing up invoicing from scratch — a products and services list mapped to the right income accounts, customer records, terms, and a payment-recording workflow — is where a ProAdvisor saves you months of drift. Get the foundation right and the AR aging report stays accurate from day one.
Duplicated or mis-applied payments
Payments recorded twice, applied to the wrong invoice, left unapplied, or stranded in Undeposited Funds make both the bank reconciliation and the AR aging lie. Untangling that — without deleting real transactions — is operational books work, not a setting you flip.
Accounts-receivable cleanup
An AR aging full of stale invoices, customers who already paid, or balances that should have been written off means the receivable on your books overstates what you’re actually owed. A ProAdvisor reconciles AR back to reality so the number you’re managing is the real one.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor sets up invoicing and keeps AR accurate.
Sending an invoice is the easy part. The work that keeps the numbers trustworthy is everything around it: a products and services list mapped to the right income accounts, customer records and terms set up cleanly, payments recorded against the invoices they actually pay, deposits grouped to match the bank, and an accounts-receivable aging report that reflects what you’re genuinely owed. A QuickBooks ProAdvisor does that against a written scope — and untangles duplicated or mis-applied payments and Undeposited-Funds pileups when invoicing has already drifted. Independent firm; QuickBooks Payments fees and any Intuit account or billing matter stay with Intuit.
Keeping receivables true month after month is TechBrot’s accounts receivable management; those books are prepared by a senior bookkeeper who works in your software, or by a signed specialist practice when your books need one, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor before it reaches you.
What TechBrot does not do with your invoicing.
- We do not run QuickBooks Payments. Its approval, availability and processing fees are Intuit’s; we record how the payments land in your books.
- We are not Intuit support. An invoice email that won’t send, a Pay Now button that fails, a login, billing or subscription problem: Intuit handles those.
What people ask about QuickBooks Online invoicing.
What does QuickBooks Online invoicing actually do?
It lets you create and send branded invoices, set payment terms, send recurring invoices, and track each invoice as sent, viewed, paid, or overdue. Creating an invoice automatically records the revenue and the receivable; when the customer pays, you apply the payment to that invoice to clear it. With QuickBooks Payments enabled, customers can pay online from the invoice.
Can customers pay a QuickBooks Online invoice online, and what are the fees?
Yes, if you turn on QuickBooks Payments — invoices can include a Pay Now option for card or bank-transfer payment. QuickBooks Payments is Intuit’s processing service, and its approval, availability, and processing fees are set by Intuit, not by us — check Intuit’s current rates directly. We configure the books side so those payments record and match cleanly to the right invoice and deposit.
How do recurring invoices work?
You set an invoice to repeat on a schedule — useful for retainers, subscriptions, or fixed monthly billing — and QuickBooks Online creates and optionally emails it automatically each period. It still relies on accurate products/services and customer records behind it, so it’s worth confirming those are right before the recurring schedule starts.
How does an invoice affect accounts receivable?
Creating an invoice records revenue and increases accounts receivable — money a customer owes you for work delivered but not yet paid. The invoice stays open until you record the customer’s payment and apply it to that specific invoice, which clears the receivable. If payments aren’t applied correctly, the AR aging report overstates what you’re actually owed.
Why are my payments piling up in Undeposited Funds?
Undeposited Funds is a holding account for payments you’ve received but not yet grouped into a bank deposit. If payments are recorded there and never moved into a deposit that matches the bank, they pile up — making both the bank reconciliation and AR wrong. Recording each payment against the right invoice and grouping deposits to match the bank keeps it clean; untangling a pileup is common cleanup work.
Can a ProAdvisor set up invoicing for me?
Yes — TechBrot can set up your products and services, customer records, terms, invoice template, and the payment-recording workflow so invoicing posts correctly and AR stays accurate. We also fix duplicated or mis-applied payments and clean up an AR aging full of stale or already-paid invoices. We start with a free file review, then a focused setup or AR-workflow scope is one fixed fee, scoped in writing.
Can you change my QuickBooks Payments rates or fix my Intuit account?
No — QuickBooks Payments approval, availability, and processing fees are Intuit’s, and an independent firm can’t access or change them, nor can we reach your Intuit login, subscription, or billing. For those, contact Intuit directly. We work inside your own QuickBooks file: setting up invoicing, recording and matching payments, and keeping accounts receivable accurate.
Which QuickBooks Online plans include invoicing?
Intuit’s invoicing article, read on 16 October 2026, applies to QuickBooks Online Simple Start, Essentials, Plus and Advanced, QuickBooks Ledger and QuickBooks Solopreneur, and says the feature “is limited for QuickBooks Online Free and QuickBooks Online Lite.” Recording invoice payments carries the same note. Online payment from the invoice also needs QuickBooks Payments, which Intuit approves and prices separately.