This is our QuickBooks Online side of exploring the features we would use for a service-based business using QuickBooks. Last post was the desktop version.

Practically speaking, there’s little difference in the information entered, or the process of getting it into place. When people new to QBO are surprised, it’s usually because the screens appear so different.

Above is a screenshot of the new customer screen in QBO. You can see our customer, 7th Branch Outdoor Sports entered on the Company line. This screen is mostly contact information and is easily understood.

The red circle drawn around the word Address shows that we are on the Address tab. In desktop we had tabs. They ran vertically up the left side of the screen. In QBO we also have tabs. They run horizontally starting with Address as shown.

There is a tab for Notes we would like to keep for this customer. There is also a tab for Tax info. Let’s see that in more detail.

Above you can see the New Customer window with the Tax info tab selected. Like desktop, this is where we would enter the sales tax information for this customer. In desktop we specify a sales tax item and a sales tax code. The sales tax code in desktop determines whether a customer is taxable or not and the item tells QuickBooks desktop the rate to use.

In QBO, a checkbox determines if the customer is taxable or not. The rate assigned is called the Tax Code.

Above is the Payment and billing tab. We specify the payment terms we are granting this customer. These will populate invoices by default. Preferred delivery method is helpful. It also will populate any new invoices for this customer by default. It specifies whether this invoice should be sent (emailed) or printed.

By the time this is published, the new QBO feature called Projects should be available. Projects will be a menu selection in the left-hand panel. See the graphic above.

Projects will replicate some of the features available for jobs or projects in QuickBooks desktop. These features help the business owner to track the profitability of large projects.

To create a new project, click the green button in the upper right part of the window as shown.

The setup process is simple. Give the project a name and assign it to a customer.

When creating invoices and expense transactions, use the project name where you would normally put the customer name. This will allow QBO to pull those transactions into a single report to show the profit and/or loss on that particular project.