QuickBooks Online Invoices

QuickBooks Online Invoice Management

Overview

Invoices are the primary billing mechanism in QuickBooks Online. For MSPs, invoices typically represent monthly managed services fees, project work, hardware procurement, or ad-hoc support. QBO supports line items with service/product references, automatic tax calculation, email delivery, payment links, and integration with online payment processing. Invoices track due dates via payment terms and automatically contribute to the customer's outstanding balance.

Anti-triggers

• The books are in Xero, not QuickBooks — an MSP runs one accounting system. Use xero-invoices. "Invoice", "customer", "line item", and "payment terms" mean the same thing in both, so the vendor name is the only signal; confirm it before constructing a call.
• An invoice the MSP receives — a supplier bill is accounts payable, a different entity with different tools; use qbo-expenses. A distributor invoice from Pax8 or Sherweb is not in QBO at all until it is entered as a bill (pax8-invoices, sherweb-billing).
• Recording that an invoice was paid — use qbo-payments. Creating an invoice and applying cash to it are separate entities; the invoice is never edited to mark it paid.
• Assembling the invoice from time and contracts — the billable work originates in the PSA; use autotask-billing, connectwise-psa-time-entries, or halopsa-invoices.
• Collecting the money — payment capture and dunning live in the payments platform; use alternative-payments-invoicing.

Key Concepts

Invoice Lifecycle

Line Items

Each invoice contains one or more line items. Line items reference Items (products/services) from the QBO Items list:

MSP Invoice Types

Key Fields

CustomerRef.value and Line are the only required fields on create. TotalAmt and Balance are read-only. SyncToken is required on every update, void, and delete. EmailStatus ("NotSet", "NeedToSend", "EmailSent") drives email queuing, and SalesTermRef.value drives automatic DueDate calculation.

See references/fields.md for the complete field reference.

API Patterns

Query Invoices

GET /v3/company/{realmId}/query?query=SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE CustomerRef = '123' AND Balance > '0'&minorversion=73
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/json

Common Queries:

-- Unpaid invoices for a customer
SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE CustomerRef = '123' AND Balance > '0'

-- All invoices in a date range
SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE TxnDate >= '2026-01-01' AND TxnDate <= '2026-01-31' ORDERBY TxnDate DESC

-- Overdue invoices (past due date with balance)
SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE DueDate < '2026-02-23' AND Balance > '0' ORDERBY DueDate ASC

-- Recent invoices
SELECT * FROM Invoice ORDERBY TxnDate DESC MAXRESULTS 25

-- Invoices by doc number
SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE DocNumber = 'INV-1042'

Get Single Invoice

GET /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice/456?minorversion=73
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Create Invoice

POST /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice?minorversion=73
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Minimal body — one line item, QBO assigns DocNumber and computes TotalAmt:

{
  "CustomerRef": { "value": "123" },
  "Line": [{
    "Amount": 2500.00,
    "Description": "Monthly Managed IT Services - February 2026",
    "DetailType": "SalesItemLineDetail",
    "SalesItemLineDetail": {
      "ItemRef": { "value": "1" },
      "Qty": 1,
      "UnitPrice": 2500.00,
      "ServiceDate": "2026-02-01"
    }
  }]
}

See references/examples.md for the full multi-line managed-services request body and curl equivalents.

Send Invoice via Email

POST /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice/456/send?sendTo=billing@acmecorp.com&minorversion=73
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

Update Invoice (Sparse)

{
  "Id": "456",
  "SyncToken": "3",
  "sparse": true,
  "CustomerMemo": {
    "value": "Payment is now overdue. Please remit immediately."
  }
}

Void Invoice

POST /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice?operation=void&minorversion=73
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

{
  "Id": "456",
  "SyncToken": "3"
}

Delete Invoice

POST /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice?operation=delete&minorversion=73
Content-Type: application/json
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}

{
  "Id": "456",
  "SyncToken": "3"
}

Get Invoice as PDF

GET /v3/company/{realmId}/invoice/456/pdf?minorversion=73
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Accept: application/pdf

Common Workflows

Monthly MSP Billing Cycle

async function generateMonthlyInvoices(billingMonth) {
  // Fetch all active MSP clients
  const customers = await qboQuery(
    "SELECT * FROM Customer WHERE Active = true AND Balance >= '0'"
  );
  const clients = customers.QueryResponse.Customer || [];

  const results = { created: [], errors: [] };

  for (const client of clients) {
    try {
      // Build line items from client's service agreement
      const lines = await buildServiceLines(client.Id, billingMonth);
      if (lines.length === 0) continue;

      const invoice = await createInvoice({
        CustomerRef: { value: client.Id },
        TxnDate: billingMonth + '-01',
        BillEmail: { Address: client.PrimaryEmailAddr?.Address },
        EmailStatus: 'NeedToSend',
        Line: lines,
        CustomerMemo: {
          value: `Services for ${billingMonth}. Thank you for your business.`
        }
      });

      results.created.push({
        customer: client.DisplayName,
        invoiceId: invoice.Id,
        total: invoice.TotalAmt
      });
    } catch (error) {
      results.errors.push({
        customer: client.DisplayName,
        error: error.message
      });
    }
  }

  return results;
}

Project Invoice

async function createProjectInvoice(customerId, projectDetails) {
  const lines = projectDetails.tasks.map(task => ({
    Amount: task.hours * task.rate,
    Description: `${task.description}\n${task.hours} hours @ $${task.rate}/hr`,
    DetailType: 'SalesItemLineDetail',
    SalesItemLineDetail: {
      ItemRef: { value: task.itemId },
      Qty: task.hours,
      UnitPrice: task.rate,
      ServiceDate: task.date
    }
  }));

  return await createInvoice({
    CustomerRef: { value: customerId },
    Line: lines,
    CustomerMemo: {
      value: `Project: ${projectDetails.name}\nWork completed ${projectDetails.startDate} - ${projectDetails.endDate}`
    },
    PrivateNote: `PSA Ticket: ${projectDetails.ticketNumber}`
  });
}

Batch Send Unsent Invoices

async function sendUnsentInvoices() {
  const unsent = await qboQuery(
    "SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE EmailStatus = 'NeedToSend' AND Balance > '0'"
  );
  const invoices = unsent.QueryResponse.Invoice || [];

  for (const invoice of invoices) {
    const email = invoice.BillEmail?.Address;
    if (email) {
      await sendInvoice(invoice.Id, email);
    }
  }

  return { sent: invoices.length };
}

Overdue Invoice Follow-Up

async function getOverdueInvoices() {
  const today = new Date().toISOString().split('T')[0];
  const result = await qboQuery(
    `SELECT * FROM Invoice WHERE DueDate < '${today}' AND Balance > '0' ORDERBY DueDate ASC`
  );
  const invoices = result.QueryResponse.Invoice || [];

  return invoices.map(inv => ({
    invoiceNumber: inv.DocNumber,
    customer: inv.CustomerRef.name,
    amount: inv.TotalAmt,
    balance: inv.Balance,
    dueDate: inv.DueDate,
    daysOverdue: Math.floor((Date.now() - new Date(inv.DueDate)) / 86400000)
  }));
}

Error Handling

• Amount must equal Qty x UnitPrice. QBO rejects the line otherwise rather than recalculating it.
• 6140 Duplicate DocNumber. Drop DocNumber from the payload and let QBO auto-assign rather than guessing the next number.
• 5010 Stale Object. SyncToken is per-record and increments on every write; re-fetch the invoice and retry with the fresh token.
• 610 Object Not Found on create usually means a bad ItemRef or CustomerRef, not a bad invoice ID — the message does not say which.

See references/errors.md for the full error-code and validation tables plus a recovery pattern.

Best Practices

1. Use service items - Create Items for each MSP service (monitoring, backup, help desk)
2. Include service dates - Set ServiceDate on line items for accurate revenue recognition
3. Set EmailStatus - Use "NeedToSend" for automatic email queuing
4. Include descriptions - Detailed line descriptions help clients understand charges
5. Use payment terms - Set SalesTermRef to calculate due dates automatically
6. Track by sub-customer - Invoice sub-customers for per-service-line reporting
7. Add CustomerMemo - Include helpful notes visible on the invoice
8. Use PrivateNote - Store internal references (PSA ticket numbers, project codes)
9. Void instead of delete - Voiding preserves audit trail
10. Batch monthly invoicing - Generate all monthly invoices in a single workflow

See references/api.md for the complete endpoint reference.

Related Skills

• QBO Customers - Customer management
• QBO Payments - Payment application to invoices
• QBO Reports - A/R Aging and revenue reports
• QBO API Patterns - API reference