Most days, I find myself working in both the Canadian and US versions of QuickBooks (both Desktop and Online). So I have a front-row seat to which features are in the US version, but aren’t in the Canadian one—yet.
This article will focus on QuickBooks Online, and features that in my mind should have been introduced to the Canadian market, but never were. I don’t know why this is the case; I cannot imagine that any of these have to do with the differences in sales tax treatment. I guess Intuit Canada just forgot to bring these features here to the Great White North:
Late fees
In the US version of QuickBooks Online, in Account and settings > Sales, there is a Late fees section. There is even an option to apply sales tax.
Once Late Fees are enabled, we see a tab for Late Fees for each customer or sub-customer (but not projects, strangely enough), where the late fees can be disabled or customized:
And you can see whether or not late fees will be applicable on a given invoice:
Accept tips
While I feel that the Tips function in the US version of QuickBooks Online needs some more love and development (such as reporting on which employees should receive how much in tips), at least it’s there. It can be enabled via Account and settings > Sales > Sales form content.
And, while we as accounting professionals are not used to being offered tips, we have plenty of clients, especially those in the hospitality industry, who are. Yes, tips are a thing in Canada too, so why cannot we allow for and account for them in QuickBooks Online?
Location labels
Both Canada and the US have Location tracking available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced, accessed via Account and settings > Advanced > Categories.
In the US version, the Location label can be changed to any of these:
- Business
- Department
- Division
- Property
- Store
- Territory
No such option exists in Canada, even though we use all those terms as well. What gives?
Customer labels
And finally, US subscribers have the option to change the Customer label in QuickBooks Online, accessed via Account and settings > Advanced > Other preferences. They can change the Customer label to any of these:
- Clients
- Donors
- Guests
- Members
- Patients
- Tenants
I have plenty of clients in Canada who would love to be able to change their Customer label to something more appropriate for their industry, but they can’t because this feature is not available in Canada’s QBO.
Summing up
The Location Labels and Customer Labels have been around for years in QuickBooks Online, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why these features were disabled for Canada. And while Late Fees and Tips are more recent additions to QuickBooks Online, they’ve now been in the product for some time as well and we truly need them here in Canada.
Intuit Canada, are you listening? Is it really that hard to enable these four longtime US features here?
Esther Friedberg Karp is an internationally-renowned trainer, writer and speaker from Toronto, where she runs her QuickBooks consulting practice, EFK CompuBooks Inc. Consistently in Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisors, she has been named to the Top 10 twice.
With the unique distinction of holding ProAdvisor certifications in the US, Canadian, UK, and International versions of QuickBooks, she has traveled the world with Intuit. She has spoken at conferences such as "QuickBooks Connect," "Scaling New Heights," and "Future Forward," and has written countless articles for Intuit Global. In addition, she is author of "Multicurrency in QuickBooks Desktop: The Most In-Depth QuickBooks Multicurrency Training Available." The book, which is available on Amazon, is the only one of its kind that teaches how QuickBooks treats foreign currency transactions—all the tricks and the tips, and how to deal with foreign business as an expert.
Esther has been named one of the “Top 50 Women in Accounting,” a “Top 10 Influencer” in the Canadian Bookkeeping World, and is a repeat nominee for the “RBC Canadian Women’s Entrepreneur Awards.” She counts among her clients many international companies, as well as accounting professionals seeking her out on behalf of their own clients for her expertise in multi-currency and various countries’ editions of QuickBooks Desktop and Online.
She can be reached at esther@e-compubooks.com or 416-410-0750.
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