I have a question. Where do general expense bills get added? These are not true Expense Claims but bills like phone, electric, taxes, etc that come as a BILL. They are not SUPPLIERS of a product, but service providers for the most part. And SALES or PURCHASE invoices are not the correct tools either.
There is no option for General Expenses/Bills to select from the LEFT side categories which allows you to create the BILL, select the proper expense category, and then give you the option to pay it from a BANK/CASH account or pay from the EXPENSE CLAIMS account, should the need arise.
At first adding them as an EXPENSE CLAIM was the only option but it is now really screwing up my records. I have all the individual EXPENSE categories set up on the right of the screen to select from to categorize it properly but I can’t ADD it properly.
Would it be possible to add this options? Even Quickbooks has a BILL feature as do most other accounting software.
I’ve read everything. I thought about doing that but its only recording a payment and not the bill. You know? And it only gives you the option to pay from a Bank or Cash account. And there may be times I’d want to pay it as an Expense Claim, depending on the amount.
In Manager, an Expense Claim is a claim for payment by an employee, director or a third person who has paid an expense on behalf of the business and puts in a claim to be re-imbursed
Or, do you mean a invoice received from a third party eg Utility company, another business for goods or services rendered to the business. This can be entered as an invoice by setting up a supplier account and recording the expense/invoice which will debit the P & L expense account and credit the supplier account. The payment to the supplier can be recorded when it is made from a bank or cash account
If you do not want to set up a Supplier account, then you can just record the payment when it is made
Well here I am again. With the same question. I’ve read through every bit of information in the guides and I cannot find the answer.
Every year I get a $300 from the state of Maryland for the ‘privilege’ of doing business here. It comes a bill.
I am not purchasing this tax payment so I cannot enter it as a PURCHASE ORDER.
I am not selling this tax payment so I cannot enter it as a SALES INVOICE.
I am not paying it with my own funds so I cannot enter it as an EXPENSE CLAIM.
I am not paying it when it arrives in January (I wait until the very last day which is April 15) so I cannot enter it as a PAYMENT. (Since this messes up my bank balancing.)
It is not a BILLABLE EXPENSE either.
JOURNAL ENTRY is not the correct entry field either.
My question is how do I enter this BILL so it shows up in my ACCOUNTS PAYABLE until paid? The state of Maryland is neither a SUPPLIER nor a CUSTOMER since I don’t buy anything from them and I’m not selling them anything. This is not addressed in any guide that I could find.
So here I am back to my original question: Where and how do expenses like this get added? There is no ADD BILL function for expenses like this. I searched every option I could find for general bill adding and it appears many others have the same issue with similar bills. And most of the final answers are ‘not at this time it’s not available’. So how do we add bills for these types of situations? Even Quickbooks has an ADD BILL function. You can add it, link it to appropriate expense account and boom! It shows up as an accounts payable and linked to the correct expense account all in one simple step. Please advise with an answer other than ‘it’s in the guides’ because it’s not. I went so far as to create the Special Account and Supplier and so on but there’s NO place to ADD the BILL! I love this software but this is a major flaw. And I’m not the only one who has come across this problem. The guides are good general tools but are lacking in some details. I would like a step by step answer on how to add this type of BILL please.
This is an invoice from the State of Maryland whether you like to call at a BILL or not. Setup State of Maryland as a supplier, enter the purchase invoice/bill and enter the payment when you pay it. The State of Maryland has furnished you a service in allowing you to register your business in the state.
From the Collins English dictionary or if you prefer, the Oxford English Dictionary
It is the term bill that has little meaning in accounting. It is used frequently as a verb to refer to the process of sending an invoice. It is used casually to refer to an invoice. But the more accepted terminology is invoice. If other accounting programs use the term, they are only catering to that casual use.
What the state has actually sent you is a notification that an amount will be payable in the future if you want to maintain your license. You don’t owe the money until April 15th (assuming your license term begins that date). If you go out of business before then, you would not owe any money.
So you have two choices:
Follow the process described by @Joe91 and enter a purchase invoice, then later a payment against the purchase invoice. Technically, this would be bending the rules of accrual accounting a little bit, unless your license term begins before April 15th. On the other hand, a true purchase invoice creates an immediate financial obligation.
Hold the document from the state until you are ready to pay and just create a payment.
Either is workable financially, and they will have identical bottom-line results. If your license term actually begins on some earlier date, but payment is not due until April 15th, the first option is preferable, because you really owe the money. If your license term begins April 15th, the second option is preferable, because you don’t really owe the money until that date, when a new license term begins.
