How to Seamlessly Sync HoneyBook Invoices + Payments with QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is a great system for tracking income, expenses – money in and money out type of thing. As far as a full suite accounting system goes, it’s one of the best; that’s one reason why we specialize in just one system.
But sometimes your client’s experience with invoices leaves a bit to be desired …
Not only that, but QBO doesn’t allow for things like a client portal, workflows, or contracts.
That’s where a tool like HoneyBook: Client Management Software for Small Businesses* comes in handy.
And it’s no wonder that so many of our creative clients love using the system!
HoneyBook states that it’s an “all-in-one project, invoicing and payments management tool.” We like to explain that this tool takes care of all the “money in” pieces of your business. But you will still need an accounting tool to take care of the other half, the “money out” piece.
Whether you have been using HoneyBook or QuickBooks Online for a few years, or you are setting up one of them for the first time, we want to make sure that you have all of the settings in order!
We want to ensure that when you invoice clients from HoneyBook, those invoices are being sent to QBO (including accurate sales taxes, if applicable!). And when your clients pay you, those payments are being sent to QBO as well!
Let’s follow these quick steps to get you all set up!
To start, you will need both a HoneyBook subscription* and a QuickBooks Online subscription. HoneyBook will only sync with QuickBooks Online (Small Business) Simple Start, Essentials or Plus versions. It will not sync with QuickBooks Self-Employed.
Once you have those two systems set up, in HoneyBook, you’ll want to go to the Tools option at the top, and click on Payments. Under the Bookkeeping header, click on QuickBooks. (Or you can click this link!)
You should see this screen if you haven’t set up the connection to your QBO yet
Click on the Connect button and a pop-up will appear for you to sign into your QBO account and select the business you want to connect with HoneyBook.
Once you follow the prompts in the pop-up, you’ll see the QuickBooks screen in HoneyBook updated to look like this
For the first option, you’ll likely want to leave this one as N/A, even if you charge Sales Tax to your clients. Why is that?
QBO should be calculating sales taxes on invoices based on the location set up in QBO. This should be the same sales tax rate in HoneyBook for the invoice. When you look at the options in the drop-down list, they don’t fully align with how sales tax should be calculated on invoices. So it’s best to just leave it as N/A.
The second option is one you don’t want to miss, though!
For the second option, you’ll want to choose the bank account where the payments are eventually deposited into (usually your Business Checking account).
When this second option is selected properly, you’ll have a seamless integration between HoneyBook and QuickBooks Online!
Once a client makes an electronic payment in HoneyBook, HoneyBook will send instructions to QBO to enter the payment processing fee for the transaction and will match that payment up to the correct Bank Deposit in QBO!
If you record a cash or check payment in HoneyBook, that will also transfer into QBO as well! Since there is no payment processing fee, it’s a lot easier to match those payments up in your Banking screen.
In HoneyBook, under the Payments section, you’ll start to see green QB icons next to the payments to let you know that they have synced with QBO. If you see any grey QB icons, that’s an indication that it didn’t automatically sync, and you’ll want to click on the icon to “send” it over to QBO.
If you have questions or run into any hiccups when connecting your HoneyBook to QuickBooks Online, please feel free to contact us and we’ll walk you through your specific situation!
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No assurance is given that the information is comprehensive in its coverage or that it’s suitable in dealing with each individual’s particular situation. Kayla Prusinski does not hold a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or similar license. This blog article is to provide general information only and does not constitute tax or legal advice, and cannot be used or substituted for tax or legal advice. Savvy Bird Consulting, LLC is not responsible for the implementation or outcomes this material may have.