Progressive invoices can show detailed charges for each work item in the estimate:
The percentage of each work item completed and billed in previous pay periods.
The percentage of each work item completed in this pay period.
The percentage of each work item yet to be completed.
The amount due for work completed in this pay period.
Invoices can show as much or as little detail as you want.
Under Main Menu < File Menu, click:
In the Amount of Detail dialog box, select the level of detail you want to show in the invoice.
For material, labor, equipment and subcontract costs, click a selection under each of the three column headings:
Show All
Subtotals Only
Omit Entirely
Show All -- All the work descriptions and all costs in your estimate will be in the invoice. Most customers don’t need this much detail.
Subtotals Only -- All the work descriptions in your estimate will be in the invoice. But the only costs in the invoice will be for subtotals you inserted in the estimate. If the estimate includes no inserted subtotals, only the job subtotal will appear. Subtotals Only will usually be a better choice if the estimate includes inserted subtotals and is longer than a page or two.
Omit Entirely -- All the work descriptions in your estimate will be in the invoice. But you can delete costs in any category. Use this option, for example, to delete all material costs when an owner is furnishing materials for the job.
Show Only Item Totals -- Hides the breakdown of labor, material, equipment and subcontract costs, leaving only total costs.
Omit Work Descriptions -- Removes all work descriptions in your estimate, leaving only subtotal descriptions and costs.
For Markup and Tax, click a selection under the heading:
In Every Cost Item
Tax.
In Every Cost Item -- Distributes markup or tax proportionately among all costs in the invoice. Use this selection to remove any mention of overhead, contingency, profit or tax from the bid. The total may be slightly different from your estimate total due to rounding of unit costs.
At End of Estimate – Markup and tax will appear at the end of the invoice as in your estimate.
Omit Entirely – Removes markup or tax from the invoice. Use this option if you prefer to add markup or tax manually.
Select the program you use to send invoices. Choices are either:
QuickBooks Online or
Excel or
QuickBooks Desktop.
If your choice is QuickBooks Online and if integration has not been configured, you’ll be invited to connect with QBO on the Tools Menu under Accounting Settings
Select Progressive to open the Progress Billing dialog box. You’ll see:
At the left, descriptions and costs for each work item in the estimate.
A column headed “% Billed Earlier”.
A column headed “% Earned to Date”.
Four columns with suggested percentages of completion – 100%, 75%, 50% and 25%.
For each work item showing less than 100% in the “Billed Earlier” column:
Click on one of the suggested percentages, or
Enter your own percentage of completion.
When done, click to export.
The Excel, QBO or QBD invoice:
Each work item with an increased percentage of completion will appear in the invoice.
Identifies the percent done and the percent on this bill.
The invoice won’t show work items with no change in percent of completion.
Anything not on the invoice can be billed later.
Invoices in Excel include an explanation of what appears in each column.
Tips:
Progress Billing keeps tract of what’s billed so far and what hasn’t been billed yet.
If there are extra charges on the job, add those to the original estimate. Those extras will show up as new work items in the next progress invoice.
If you have elected to show only subtotals in a progress invoice, the invoice will show charges for subtotals only. But you’ll still need to identify the percent of completion for each work item in the estimate.
If you make a mistake, click Reset Percentages to return the % Billed Earlier to zero. Note that this is not reversible. But you can rebuild the % Billed Earlier from a printed copy of prior invoice.
Due to rounding, the sum of progress invoices on a job may differ slightly from the estimate total, especially when the cost per unit is small, such less than one dollar.
See Create Invoice in QuickBooks Online for tips on opening exported invoices in QBO.
See Create Invoice in QuickBook Desktop for tips on opening exported invoices in QBD.
See Create Invoice in Excel for tips on opening exported invoices in Excel.
Caution:
Invoices exported to Excel do not include formulas. If you change any costs in an Excel invoice, be sure to add formulas to cells totals.