Murph takes you step-by-step through the process of helping your clients get set-up and running on the now included Bill Pay Basic in QBO.
Earlier this week, I wrote an article about Intuit’s decision to include Bill Pay Basic into every QuickBooks Online subscription. Even so, it still must be ‘Activated’ to become available for use. You will likely want to assist your client with this, especially if you or your firm will pay any of the ancillary costs (such as ACH transactions in excess of the number of free transactions per month).
Several things have improved in QuickBooks Bill Pay recently. This includes faster bill payments; you can now schedule payments for the same day as long as you have processed them before 5:00 PM Pacific time. You can also view or void check payments made through QuickBooks Bill Pay directly within QBO.
You can assist your clients with the activation process once you and they have discussed issues like ‘billings for transaction fees.’ Remember, the base price of Bill Pay Basic is currently $0.00 per month, and the first five (5) ACH bank transfers are also free; however, there are charges for each extra ACH payment of $0.50/transaction*. In addition, if your client chooses to make bill payments with ‘checks’ issued through Bill Pay, there is a charge of $1.50/check-transaction*.
Your clients must also complete a simple, one-time application form that verifies their business information and provides the information for connection to the bank account from which payments will be made. You can actually facilitate this application as well when you sign-up your client for Bill Pay.
Helping your client activate Bill Pay is a simple process:
As soon as your client’s application is approved, they can start paying their bills using QuickBooks Bill Pay directly within QBO.
For those clients who need additional ACH bill payments per month, you may wish to discuss the option of upgrading from the free Basic Bill Pay to either Premium or Elite. For example, Premium Bill Pay, at a monthly subscription rate of $15.00*, includes up to forty (40) free ACH bank transactions per month. Bill Pay Elite includes free ‘unlimited’ standard ACH bank transactions per month and costs $90.00/month*. Additional charges apply when the Bill Pay user select the option for "Faster ACH" transactions*.
There are also advantages to these upgraded levels of Bill Pay. Bill Pay Premium subscriptions (as well as Elite subscriptions) include unlimited 1099 e-filings. Bill Pay Elite also has advanced role-based permissions to control Bill Payments, and custom approval workflows to automate bill payment approvals before actual payments are made.
Footnotes & Disclosures:
Footnotes:
* - sign-up discounts may be available affecting both QuickBooks Bill Pay Premium or Elite, such discounts have not been reflected in costs reported in this feature. In addition, ProAdvisors may be eligible to receive discounts to firm-paid or client paid subscriptions and transaction fees under the ProAdvisor Preferred Pricing option. Intuit is currently reporting such Preferred Pricing discounts as 30% off the base subscription fee, and 15% off transactions fees.
Disclosures:
Content (including graphic images) based on Intuit source materials, including Intuit website media source and QuickBooks Online 'help' content, as well as 'live' QuickBooks Online-Accountant screen captures. Intuit content adapted by Insightful Accountant from Intuit sources is furnished for educational purposes only.
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