This article was produced independently by our editorial team. Intuit QuickBooks provided a partnership fee to support our coverage; however, all opinions, research, and recommendations are our own.
Thanks to its many automation features, QuickBooks Online can be a great fit for quite literally almost any business owner, whether you’re a freelancer with the occasional side gigs (QuickBooks has a special option called Solopreneur for just such an individual) or a growing LLC with multiple employees.
In our assessment, one of the best perks you’ll get when using QuickBooks Online is Bill Pay. It can dramatically speed up the process of paying vendors by leaning on its automation-heavy nature. Here’s what you need to know about QuickBooks Bill Pay and how to get started.
QuickBooks Bill Pay
Plan prices
ACH transactions
Set team roles
- Year founded: 1983
- Company headquarters: Mountain View, California
- CEO: Sasan Goodarzi
What exactly is QuickBooks Bill Pay?
Within QuickBooks Online is a tool called QuickBooks Bill Pay. It’s designed to automate paying bills without having to transition between different apps.
Instead of manually inputting invoice details and writing checks, simply upload an invoice to QuickBooks with Bill Pay and it’ll immediately create a bill for you. After you double-check it, the vendor will be paid directly from the bank account connected to QuickBooks Online. You can pay via ACH transfer or by check.
QuickBooks Bill Pay keeps everything in sync. All payments are logged in your books immediately, so you won’t have to enter the numbers by hand later. That’s wildly helpful when tax season arrives.
Pros and cons of QuickBooks Bill Pay
Pros
- Manage bills and payments within QuickBook
- Easily and automatically create bills from uploaded invoices
- Free standard ACH payment
Cons
- You must pay for QuickBooks Online to use Bill Pay
- Faster payment costs extra
- Sending checks costs extra
QuickBooks Bill Pay plans and pricing
QuickBooks Bill Pay comes in three tiers: Basic, Premium, and Elite. Here’s what you need to know about each.
Bill Pay Basic
Bill Pay’s Basic tier comes free with any QuickBooks Online membership. With it, you can pay bills for free with standard ACH, schedule payments, track vendor info, and more. You’ll benefit from AI-powered bill creation, which scans your uploaded invoices and uses that information to generate bills. It also auto-matches your payment transactions to reconcile your books.
Bill Pay Premium
Premium comes with everything in the Basic tier, but it includes slightly more automation. You’ll get unlimited 1099 e-filing, as well as free printing and mailing. Bill Pay Premium costs $15 per month with a 50% discount during your first three months as of this writing.
Bill Pay Elite
At $45 per month (with 50% off your first three months) as of this writing, Bill Pay Elite adds even more automation on top of the Premium tier. Bills can be automatically routed to the relevant parties; you can designate approvers to ensure a payment isn’t released unless the right eyes have signed-off on it; you can stipulate who can create, approve, and pay a bill.
How to set up QuickBooks Bill Pay
Using Bill Pay is easy enough (we’ll get into that below), and so is the initial setup process.
Before you can use Bill Pay, you’ll need to either link a bank account via micro-deposit verification or use a QuickBooks Checking account.
Once your bank account is linked, you can begin adding vendors and start paying bills. You’ll find on your QuickBooks Online dashboard a tab labeled “Expenses & Bills.” Click that, and you’re brought to a page with widgets such as:
- A bills funnel to help you keep tabs on which stage your bill is in (review, set bill for approval, unpaid, set payment for approval, paid)
- A “Spend over time” feature that gives you monthly and yearly data as to how your spending has changed
- Spending insights to show you which categories and vendors you’re spending with
Set up your vendor information, and you’re ready to go.
How to pay a bill in QuickBooks
Again, the beauty of QuickBooks Bill Pay is that it’s straightforward. Your dashboard almost spoon feeds you the steps to take to pay each bill, so even new business owners don’t need to feel lost.
From the Expenses & Bills tab, select “Pay Bills.” You can then choose the account you want to pay from the “Payment account” drop-down menu. Choose the payment date and the specific bills you want to pay, and click save. At this point, QuickBooks will automatically record the payments and reconcile them against your books.
You can choose between two forms of payment:
- Instant Payment – You can send payments instantly for a fee of 1% of the transaction (capped at a $100 fee). You must transfer at least $10.
- ACH transfer – Electronically transfer money from your bank for free (usually takes three to five business days to complete). Expedited transactions of one business day cost $10 each.
- Paper checks – Instruct QuickBooks to mail a check to a vendor (expect between eight and 10 business days to complete). Each payment by check costs $1.50.
The takeaway
QuickBooks Bill Pay helps you to recoup precious time by creating bills through uploaded invoices and keeping your books reconciled. As soon as you initiate a payment, it’ll automatically record the bill as paid and update your account to keep everything in sync.
Even the Basic (free with QuickBooks Online) version of Bill Pay gives you most of the key features you need, but if you’re willing to pay a little extra, you can get advanced Bill Pay features best suited for growing businesses that are looking for more approval in the bill funnel.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between QuickBooks Bill Pay Basic, Premium, and Elite?
The difference between each QuickBooks Bill Pay tier comes primarily down to automation and control over each bill. The higher the tier, the less manual slog you’ll have to deal with when it comes to paying bills—and the more you can delegate who has the authority to create and approve payments.
What payment methods does QuickBooks Bill Pay support?
QuickBooks Bill Pay supports three payment methods: A mailed paper check, ACH transfer, and “Instant Payment,” though it’s not clear which payment rail that last option takes.
How long does a QuickBooks Bill Pay ACH transfer take?
A QuickBooks Bill Pay ACH transfer takes between three and five business days to complete. You can also pay an extra $10 per transaction to push the transaction through in a single business day.
Can vendors receive payment without setting up an account with QuickBooks?
Yes, vendors can receive a payment without setting up their own account with QuickBooks. ACH transfers and mailed paper checks can be sent to any vendor regardless of their participation in the QuickBooks software.
Is QuickBooks Bill Pay included in my QuickBooks Online subscription?
QuickBooks Basic Bill Pay is included in every QuickBooks Online subscription. But to get its best features, you’ll have to pay extra.
