In this tutorial, you will learn when and how to generate a QuickBooks Online sales receipt while recording a customer payment. QuickBooks sales receipts should only be used when receiving a payment for which an invoice has not been issued. The prior tutorial discussed receiving payments for outstanding invoices.
Thank you for completing this free tutorial for QuickBooks Online, our best overall pick for small business accounting software. You will get the most benefit from this tutorial if you follow along in your own QuickBooks account. If you don’t already subscribe to QuickBooks Online, you can choose from a 30-day free trial or 50% off for three months.
This tutorial is one in our series of Free QuickBooks Tutorials. The video below and the step-by-step instructions that follow present the same information. The video is from a slightly older version of QuickBooks Online. While the process of recording customer payments and issuing sales receipts is essentially unchanged, the layout of the screens are slightly different.
What a QuickBooks Sales Receipt Is
Similar to an invoice, a sales receipt provides customers with a detailed description of the products or services that they have purchased. Invoices are issued to request payment from the customer. Sales receipts are used when the customer pays for services or products without being issued an invoice. QuickBooks sales receipts record both the revenue from the sale and the cash received.
Difference between a QuickBooks sales receipt and invoice: Customers should never receive both an invoice and sales receipt for the same sale. If they need to be sent a bill before paying, then issue them an invoice. After they pay, you can provide them an invoice marked “paid.” If they pay without being sent a bill, then issue them a sales receipt at the time of payment.
Importance of Creating a QuickBooks Online Sales Receipt
Creating a QuickBooks Online sales receipt serves several purposes. It provides your customer with the details of exactly what they purchased along with proof of payment. Creating the sales receipt also records the revenue for your income statement. Finally, the sales receipt records the customer payment and places it in undeposited funds until the next bank deposit is made.
How to Create a Sales Receipt in QuickBooks Online
1. Navigate to the Create Sales Receipt Menu
Click New at the top of the left menu bar and then select Sales receipt in the first column under Customers:
Navigate to create sales receipt in QuickBooks Online.
2. Create the Sales Receipt
QuickBooks Online will display the sales receipt screen. The fields that display on the screen will depend upon the settings you specified in How to Set Up Sales Form Content and How to Set Up Advanced Settings.
Create sales receipt form in QuickBooks Online.
A. Customer: Select the customer’s name from the drop-down list or select Add New to create a new customer. Once you select a customer, the email and address fields should populate automatically, provided the customer information is complete.
B. Sales receipt date: Typically, QuickBooks will default to the current date, but you can change this date if the sale is on a different date.
C. Payment method: Select either check, cash, or credit card for the payment method. If the payment is by credit card, you may need to skip ahead to How to Manage Credit Card Sales.
D. Reference no.: If the customer paid by check, enter the check number in this field.
E. Deposit to: Select Undeposited Funds from the drop-down box. This will place the check or cash in the Undeposited Funds account until the next bank deposit is recorded.
The Undeposited Funds account allows multiple checks to be grouped into a single deposit that will appear in the check register as a single amount. This amount can easily be traced to the bank statement at month-end when the bank statement is reconciled. Without Undeposited Funds, each check will appear as a separate deposit, making it difficult to trace to the combined deposit amounts shown on the bank statement.
F. Service date: The service date will default to the sales receipt date, but it can be adjusted if you provided the service or product on an earlier date.
G. Product/Service: Select each Product/Service from the drop-down list or add a new product/service by selecting Add New. Once a Product/Service is selected, the Description and Rates fields should automatically be populated, but you can adjust them if needed.
H. Qty: Enter the quantity for each product or service provided. Once you enter the quantity, the Amount column should populate automatically.
There are additional fields to complete based on the prior options you have assigned. For instance, if you selected to track information by class and location in the advanced options, then you should complete the Class field for each Product/Service and the Location field for each receipt.
3. Preview and Print the Sales Receipt
Once you have completed all of the necessary fields, you can preview the invoice. Click the Print or Preview button at the bottom of the screen. If needed, you can print or download the invoice after previewing. If you need to make changes, close the preview to return to the prior screen.
Here is a preview of the sales receipt created above:
Sample sales receipt from QuickBooks Online.
4. Send the QuickBooks Sales Receipt to Your Customer
You can email the completed sales receipt directly from QuickBooks. Your customer will receive an email with a PDF copy of the sales receipt attached.
To email the sales receipt directly from QuickBooks, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of the Save and close button and select Save and send.
Save sales receipt and send it via email in QuickBooks Online.
The next screen provides a preview of the text that will appear in the body of the email:
Email message for sales receipt in QuickBooks Online.
All of the information will automatically populate based on the information you provided in How to Set Up Sales Form Content. You can make changes, but they will not be reflected in future sales receipt emails. When you are satisfied with your email, click the green Send and Close button.
Wrap Up
Congratulations on another successful tutorial in our QuickBooks Online Training Course. You can now create and send sales receipts and understand how they are different from invoices. The next tutorial in our QuickBooks Online Training Course is How to Write and Print Checks.
