Recurring payments automatically charge your customers on a scheduled basis (daily, weekly, monthly, or annually). You select which payment methods to accept, including cards and ACH bank transfers. You can even add one-time fees, like an initial setup fee, to the first charge.
An active Merchant Services Account is required to use recurring payments, and QuickBooks Payment rates apply to each payment made under a recurring payment plan. There are no other costs to create or set up a subscription.
When you create a recurring payment, the customer receives an email from QuickBooks to review the details. Customers can manage their payment info using the recurring payment confirmation email link. They accept the recurring payments and enter their preferred payment information; QuickBooks securely stores the customer's payment information. QuickBooks then automatically charges the customer on schedule for every period, and a receipt for the payment is sent by email.
Using Recurring Payments
All admin and standard user roles* can create, manage, and cancel recurring payments.
To create a recurring payment:
1) Login to your QuickBooks Online Account
2) From the Left-hand menu, select Sales
3) Choose Recurring Payment
4) Select Create Recurring Payment
5) Add and review the Customer information
6) Add Product or service information
7) Review and edit, as appropriate, Customer payment options
8) Include an Internal customer note (hidden from the customer), if needed
9) Review and edit, as appropriate, the Recurring payment settings (see instructions below)
10) Choose Send.
To configure recurring payment settings:
1) From the Recurring Payment screen, select the ‘Manage’ gear
2) Recurring payment settings right slider-window will open (highlighted in the 'green box' in the illustration below)
3) From the When to charge drop-down menu, select:
- Immediately: the first charge will happen on the day of payor consent, and the next charge will happen on the next occurrence of the interval. Your customer must consent to the recurring payment within 30 days, or the recurring payment will expire. If it expires before they consent, you will need to send your payor a new recurring payment.
- Future date: the recurring payment will begin on a specific date and repeat as per the defined interval. Your customer must consent to the recurring payment by the start date, or it will expire. You must send the customer a new recurring payment if the recurring payment expires.
4) Enter the Start date
5) Enter the End date - If you select Never, it will repeat without end. If you select By, enter the end date.
6) To set the interval frequency select an option from the Repeat drop-down menu (For example, if you need a recurring payment every first day of the month, the interval is Monthly every 1 month.)
7) Choose the On and Day (Date) options for the interval frequency. (For example, on ‘day’ and ‘Day’ 1st, the recurring payment will occur on the first day of each month. Note: This is the default setting.)
To edit a recurring payment by adding an initial one-time fee:
Edit your recurring payment when you need to charge an additional amount only for the first payment in a recurring series.
- In the recurring payment form, choose the Product or Service list
- Locate (or add) the item you want to add as a one-time fee.
- Check the column labeled One-time for that item.
- This will add a one-time fee for the specified item to the first payment in your recurring payment series.
To cancel a recurring payment:
- From the Recurring payments tab of the Sales window,
- Open any ‘active’ recurring payment.
- Choose View/Edit,
- Select Cancel.
Summary
By scheduling recurring payments in QuickBooks Online Payments, you, or your clients, can automatically charge customers, eliminating the need to keep up with recurring invoices for payment. This helps ensure cash flow and minimizes processing time and expense.
Footnotes:
* - Additionally, any preset role that provides full access to sales, including the ability to send invoices, record payments, record sales receipts, process payments on invoices and receipts, and send payment links, can create, manage and delete recurring payments to customers.
Disclosures:
Feature content was adapted from Intuit media source content including 'Help' within QuickBooks Online Accountant. Content created or otherwise adapted by Insightful Accountant from Intuit source content is furnished for educational purposes only.
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