A Guide to Recurring Bills & Payments in QuickBooks Desktop
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While every business wants to receive payments on time, sometimes billing customers for recurring bills can be overwhelming. Sending manual invoices whenever you need your customers to pay their bills consumes a lot of time. But then, failing to send invoices to your customers means no cash flow for your business.
Recurring bills in QuickBooks ensure your business can invoice its recurring bills on time and reduce late payments. QuickBooks auto payments save time and enhance customer retention.
So, if you’re yet to get started with QuickBooks recurring payments, this guide is for you.
What Are Recurring Bills in Quickbooks?
Recurring bills or recurring payments on QuickBooks simply means automated payments. Recurring bills are certain amounts your customers pay for the services you offer. With QuickBooks automatic payments, these amounts are deducted from your customer accounts on a set schedule.
Payments can be made with a credit card, debit card, or directly from a bank account through an ACH transfer.
QuickBooks recurring payments are divided into two categories:
- Fixed recurring payments: Fixed recurring payments involve the same amounts of money taken from a client account on each billing period. The amount remains constant for a long time. This can be a subscription to a movie, magazine, or newspaper.
- Variable recurring payments: These payments vary depending on the customer's usage and might increase or decrease. Examples include water and electricity bills.
Does QuickBooks Automatically Send Recurring Invoices?
Yes, QuickBooks makes it easy for businesses to receive payments by sending recurring invoices. Your account team doesn’t need to create fresh invoices for recurring orders because they can simply set up QuickBooks recurring payments. You can easily set up QuickBooks auto invoices and collect payments from your customers seamlessly.
QuickBooks create recurring invoices using a very simple process. Here is how to set up recurring payments in QuickBooks.
- Go to the “Vendor Center” and choose from a list of vendors and their transactions
- Choose a transaction from the “Transactions” and then select “Checks”
- Click the check you want to memorize and select memorize
- Enter recurring bill in QuickBooks, which also include how often, the next date, the number remaining, and the days in advance.
- Select ok to memorize the transaction
- Uncheck “print later” if it’s auto-pay
- Save and close the window to complete the process of setting up your QuickBooks recurring charges.
Does QuickBooks Desktop have Recurring Transactions?
Yes, you can easily set up recurring bills in QuickBooks Desktop. QuickBooks comes with many features that allow you to carry out many accounting activities, such as setting up recurring payments, tracking expenses, payroll processing, and voiding checks in QuickBooks among other features.
You can use QuickBooks Desktop to create recurring payments or update existing ones. Whether you want to edit a bill or make major changes, do it with QuickBooks Desktop.
Once you create your recurring payments on QuickBooks, it will automatically send an email to your customer. The automatic billing quickbooks will then start on a set schedule.
The advantages that businesses get when setting up recurring bills in QuickBooks desktop include:
Convenience
Some customers miss payments because they don’t have the time to go through lengthy checkout processes. With automatic bill pay, customers don’t have to do anything. You already have all their payment details, and as long as they have the money in the account, automatic billing occurs once the billing cycle reaches.
Flexibility
Quickbooks automatic bill pay ensures flexibility, as businesses can customize their payments based on their models and consumer needs. You can easily customize the amounts and frequency to meet your model.
The automatic invoicing quickbooks also supports multiple payment methods. Whether your customers use credit card, debit cards, or direct bank transfers, QuickBooks accepts it all. You can adopt various customer preferences and receive your payments.
Improved Cash Flow
The consistency of recurring invoices in QuickBooks gives businesses the advantage of stable cash flow. If you’re billing customers automatically every month, your business is guaranteed that specific amount.
QuickBooks recurring payment ensures customers pay their dues on time so businesses don't have to look for other means to get money. The payments are predictable, it allows for streamlined business financial reporting and better planning.
Reduced Late Payments
With recurring bills in QuickBooks, businesses don’t have to deal with late payments. There are no excuses, such as forgetfullness for businesses that auto apply payments in QuickBooks.
Once customers top up their accounts, they don’t get involved in the payment process anywhere else. QuickBooks automatically apply payments to invoices. Automatic billing significantly reduces late or missed payments.
Scalability and Growth
Businesses find it hard to manage their recurring payments as they grow. QuickBooks automated billing grows with your business. They can easily adapt to the growing transaction volumes of any business.
If your business handles large volumes of transactions and expects more in the future, QuickBooks recurring invoice is all you need. It can handle an increased number of transactions without sacrificing efficiency.
Best Practices for QuickBooks Recurring Payment
Do you want to get the best out of recurring bills in QuickBooks? You must know how to set it up and get it to work in your favor. Read these tips to help you get a better experience with recurring payments on QuickBooks desktop.
Accept Multiple Forms of Payment
If you work with clients from different parts of the world, you should understand that you will deal with multiple forms of payment. Accepting different payments ensures you don’t lock anyone out and limit your business. Multiple payments give you speed, convenience, and flexibility with your QuickBooks auto payments.
Have Secure Payment Environment
If you take your customer’s credit card and account details for QBO recurring payments, you have to assure them of security. Adopt a PCI-DSS-compliant vault, the highest security standard for bank transactions. With the right security measures in place, you won’t expose your customer’s sensitive bank information to any security issues.
Update the Accounts
Your payment solution should set up alerts to notify your customers when their dues are up for payment. If the customer’s credit card gets lost or expired, QuickBooks automated billing will fail. Always remind customers when payment is due so that they can update their cards.
Give them the Freedom to Cancel
Don’t frustrate your customers when they want to pause or cancel payments. As far as you wish for retention, your customers should no longer pay for what they don’t need. They should cancel automatic invoicing QuickBooks when they need to.
To make this possible, give the customers full information during the onboarding stage. The information should include how the can update their information and cancel billing.
Which QuickBooks Plan has Recurring Invoices?
If you’re using QuickBooks desktop recurring invoices, choose a plan that best suits your business. QuickBooks Desktop comes in different versions designed to serve various business needs. The versions include:
- QuickBooks Pro Plus: The Pro Plus version is the most basic and suitable for invoicing, accounts payables, and tax reports.
- QuickBooks Premier Plus: Businesses that require additional features can use the QB Premier Plus version. Using this version, they can track bills, manage inventory, create charts and reports, and use built-in templates.
- QuickBooks Enterprise: The QB Enterprise version works for businesses that need to create advanced reports and set permission for up to 40 users. It has all the features found on the other versions and advanced ones, such as an integrated payroll solution.
All these versions of QuickBooks Desktop have recurring invoices. They also come with additional features that enable businesses to perform specific tasks, including preparing financial statements, payroll processing, and tax reporting, among others.
Set Up QuickBooks Recurring Payment With the Help of Qbox
Recurring bills in QuickBooks benefit businesses and customers alike. Businesses have an easy time automatically pricing its customers on a set schedule. Customers, on the other hand, benefit from the convenience and flexibility that come with QuickBooks auto invoices.
Setting up your recurring payments in QuickBooks Desktop is easy if you use a tool called Qbox from CoralTree. Qbox is a cloud bookkeeping software that allows you to work seamlessly with everyone through QuickBooks Desktop. With Qbox, you can collaborate with others and carry out simple tasks such as creating recurring invoices.
If you want to learn more about how Qbox can help you improve your QuickBooks experience, you’re in the right place. Sign up for Qbox and benefit from the 30-day free trial for all new users.