Connecting your QuickBooks Online account lets Dubsado automatically send your invoices and payments to QuickBooks so your books stay up to date without double entry. This article walks you through the supported account types, the connection steps, and how to configure syncing.
Before you begin
Before you connect QuickBooks, make sure your workspace and QuickBooks account meet a few requirements.
Connecting an accounting integration requires the Premier plan and an Admin or Owner account role.
You'll need a QuickBooks Online account for small businesses. The following account types are supported:
Simple Start
Essentials
Plus
Advanced
QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Self-Employed are not supported. These editions don't allow third-party integrations, so Dubsado can't connect to them.
Your workspace can only have one accounting integration connected at a time. If you already have Xero connected, the QuickBooks option won't be available until you disconnect Xero, and the same is true in reverse.
Connect your QuickBooks account
Once you've confirmed you meet the requirements above, here's how to connect your account.
Log out of any QuickBooks account in your browser, so you connect the correct company.
Go to Settings ➔ Third party connections.
Under Accounting, find the QuickBooks card and click Connect. This opens the QuickBooks page.
On the QuickBooks page, click Connect account. You'll be taken to QuickBooks to sign in.
Sign in to QuickBooks and authorize the connection. If you have multiple companies, choose the one you want to connect. You'll be redirected back to Dubsado once you're done.
Once connected, the QuickBooks page shows your connected account (Account, Organization, and Location) along with a Visit QuickBooks button that opens QuickBooks in a new tab.
Sync invoices and payments
Once connected, you can control how invoices and payments sync between Dubsado and QuickBooks from the Invoice and payment syncing card on the QuickBooks page. Here are a few things to know before you turn syncing on:
Invoices sync to QuickBooks after your client makes a payment, not when you create the invoice.
QuickBooks doesn't sync data back into Dubsado.
Invoices and payments created before you connected QuickBooks won't sync automatically, though you can sync them manually.
QuickBooks doesn't become your payment processor. Your clients still pay invoices in Dubsado using your connected processor: Dubsado Payments, Square, or PayPal.
The card has two independent toggles:
Sync invoices after payments received: after you receive a payment, that invoice automatically syncs to your QuickBooks account.
Sync payments after payments received: after you receive a payment, that payment automatically syncs to your QuickBooks account.
If your bank or payment processor already syncs payments to QuickBooks, leave Sync payments after payments received off to avoid duplicate payments.
Which combination you turn on depends on how your payment processor already interacts with QuickBooks:
Turn both on if your payment processor isn't already synced to QuickBooks directly, so Dubsado sends both invoices and payments.
Turn invoices on and payments off if your payment processor already syncs payments to QuickBooks, so you don't end up with duplicate transactions.
Turn both off if you'd rather stay in full manual control and sync each invoice and payment yourself.
Import your QuickBooks tax codes
To correctly sync your Dubsado invoices to your QuickBooks Online account, import your tax codes from the QuickBooks Online tax codes card on the QuickBooks page. Importing tax codes creates matching taxes in Dubsado, and you'll need to apply those taxes to your invoices for them to sync correctly.
You must import tax codes if:
You have a US-based QuickBooks account and charge sales tax, or
You have a non-US QuickBooks account, whether or not you collect tax.
To import your tax codes, use the Search tax codes field to find the codes that apply to your business and select them. Click Refresh at any time to pull the latest tax codes from QuickBooks.
You must apply the imported QuickBooks taxes to your invoices for those invoices to sync correctly.
After you import tax codes, the new tax items appear on the Chart of Accounts page (Home ➔ Finance Reports ➔ Chart of Accounts). For help applying these taxes to your packages and invoices, see QuickBooks and tax in Dubsado.
Disconnect your QuickBooks account
If you need to disconnect QuickBooks, click Disconnect account at the top of the QuickBooks page. Disconnecting is disruptive, so Dubsado walks you through a two-step confirmation before it takes effect.
The first step, Reach out to us, recommends contacting Customer Care before disconnecting, since disconnecting and reconnecting can introduce hard-to-fix errors. From here, you can click Contact us, Cancel, or continue anyway with Disconnect anyway.
If you continue, a Disconnect QuickBooks? step explains what happens:
All QuickBooks data in Dubsado is removed.
Invoices and transactions no longer sync to QuickBooks.
Data already synced to QuickBooks isn't affected.
Previously-synced invoices in Dubsado get a duplicate invoice number error, which requires manually deleting every invoice in QuickBooks, along with other potential issues.
To confirm, type disconnect into the field and click Disconnect.
Disconnecting is disruptive. Previously-synced invoices will hit duplicate invoice number errors that require manually deleting every affected invoice in QuickBooks. Contact Customer Care before disconnecting, since they can often resolve issues without disconnecting at all.
FAQ
If I delete an invoice or payment in Dubsado, will it delete the record in QuickBooks?
No. Once an invoice or payment syncs to QuickBooks, deleting it in Dubsado doesn't remove it from QuickBooks.
Are expenses recorded in Dubsado sent to QuickBooks?
No. Only invoices and payments sync to QuickBooks. You'll need to recreate any expenses directly in QuickBooks.
What happens if my Dubsado client already exists in QuickBooks as a customer?
Dubsado tries to match clients to QuickBooks customers by email address. If no match is found, or if multiple matches are found, a new customer is created.
Will the income category for each line item match the categories in QuickBooks?
No. Your Dubsado income category is written into the line item's description on the synced invoice, rather than mapped to a matching QuickBooks category.
Can I edit the income category in QuickBooks after an invoice syncs?
We recommend against it. Editing a synced invoice in QuickBooks deletes the other synced data for that invoice. This is a QuickBooks behavior that Dubsado can't change.
I have multiple workspaces in Dubsado and multiple companies in QuickBooks. Can I connect a different QuickBooks company to each workspace?
Yes. The integration is set up per workspace, so you'll choose which QuickBooks company to connect while setting it up in each one.
Can I connect the same QuickBooks account to multiple Dubsado workspaces?
No. Once a QuickBooks account is connected to one workspace, you can't connect that same account to another workspace. The exception is if you have multiple companies within your QuickBooks account, similar to having multiple workspaces in Dubsado.