How to Utilize Sales Receipts, Invoices, and Statements in QuickBooks Desktop

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QuickBooks allows you to create multiple types of sales forms and includes templates for all of the sales forms that you will probably ever need: invoices, sales receipts, and statements. Here is an introduction to when and how to use them.


Sales Receipts

When a customer pays you on the spot, you can create a sales receipt.

When you receive a full payment for a product or service at the time of the sale, the correct form to use in QuickBooks is the Sales Receipt. 

Click the Create Sales Receipts icon on the home page or open the Customers menu and select Enter Sales Receipts. You will see a form like the partial one pictured above. Click the down arrow in the Customer:Job field and select the correct one or <Add New>. If you assign transactions to Classes, pick the right one in that list. The Template field should default to the appropriate form. If you have created more than one sales receipt template, select the one that you want. Click the icon above the correct payment type. Select the appropriate Item(s) from that drop-down list and enter a Qty (Quantity). Be sure to apply the sale’s Tax status by opening that list. When you have finished filling in the table with all the goods or services you sold, you can save the transaction and either print it or email it to your customer.

Invoices

After you’ve completed the top half of an invoice, you’ll see something like this at the bottom

You will create and send Invoices to customers when you have received either a partial payment or no payment at the time of the sale. Those completed transactions become a part of your total Accounts Receivable (money owed to you). 

Click Create Invoices on the home page or go to Customers | Create Invoices. Fill out the fields at the top of the screen like you did with your sales receipt; the forms are almost the same. Invoices, though, have Bill To and Ship To addresses, as well as fields for the invoice Terms and Due Date. You should not have to do anything with the bottom half of the screen (pictured above) unless you want to include a Customer Message, since the information here is carried over from the top of the screen. Check to make sure the Tax Code is correct, though. 

It is important to note, it is an either/or situation when it comes to creating an invoice and a sales receipt for the same transaction. It is best not to use sales receipts for invoice payments, as it can cause accounting issues. When using the invoicing form, payments need to be recorded via the Receive Payment feature.

Tip: QuickBooks offers the option for customers to pay with a credit card or ACH via their merchant services. It is a great service that is easy for both you and your customers to use.

Statements

When you create statements, you’ll first choose the customers who should receive them

Statements are very useful when you have multiple customers who are past due on their payments (you can find this out by running the A/R Aging Summary report, which you will find under Reports | Customers & Receivables). Click the Statements link on the home page or go to Customers | Create Statements. You will first have to select the customer(s) who should be on your list, as pictured above. There are several other options on this page that will help you refine this group. When you are done, QuickBooks will automatically generate them, and you can print or email them. 

You will save a lot of time when you use QuickBooks’ sales forms and it will be easier to track down specific transactions. If you use them regularly, you will be able to run reports that provide comprehensive overviews of various elements of your finances.

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