QuickBooks Online Billable Expenses for Contractors

QuickBooks® Online can track a supply-house purchase as a billable expense and carry it onto the customer's invoice with markup — but only on some plans.

Which plans have billable expenses

As of 2026-10-02, here's the split¹²:

Plan	Billable expenses	Billable time
Simple Start	No	No
Essentials	No	Yes
Plus	Yes	Yes
Advanced	Yes	Yes

Billable expense tracking in QuickBooks Online will require the Plus or Advanced plan.

Job costing (Projects) follows the same split — Plus and Advanced only²³.

Turn it on

The setting lives under "Settings → Account and settings → Expenses → Bills and expenses" (as of 2026-10-02)¹. Two toggles matter: "Track expenses and items by customer" and "Make expenses and items billable." The same screen lets you set an optional default markup¹.

Set a default markup and the markup income account

Markup on a billable expense posts to a markup income account you choose in settings, separate from the expense account the purchase itself hits. The default rate you set here can still be edited on any single transaction⁴¹.

Record a supply-house purchase as billable

On a bill, an expense, or a check — whichever matches how you record the purchase — tick Billable and pick the customer¹.

Add it to the invoice

When you start an invoice for that same customer, an "Add to invoice" panel lists the billable expense waiting to go on¹. You still choose which lines go on which invoice; nothing goes on without that step.

On Simple Start or Essentials

Billable expenses aren't included on Simple Start or Essentials. The workaround every plan supports: add the part as a non-inventory product or service line with its cost, then put it on the invoice yourself⁵. Essentials can also add billable time, just not billable expenses. Owners on Simple Start ask about this workaround often enough that it's a recurring thread in Intuit's own community forum⁶ — worth reading as an illustration of how common the question is, not as official guidance.

Can you import invoice lines from a CSV?

The invoice CSV import in QuickBooks Online tops out at 1,000 rows and 100 invoices per import, and it turns off once sales tax is set up on the account⁷. With sales tax on, those lines go in by hand instead.

Where this breaks for crews

Every step above assumes the receipt made it back to whoever does the books. On a multi-truck crew, it often doesn't — see Lost Supply House Receipts: A Fix for Trade Shops for what happens to a counter-run receipt between the supply house and the invoice, and Unbilled Parts and Labor in HVAC and Plumbing Shops for the wider pattern this fits into.

If you bill on time and materials rather than a flat rate, Time and Materials Invoice Template for HVAC & Plumbing has a ready template, and HVAC and Plumbing Invoice Mistakes That Leak Money covers the other invoice mistakes that leak money alongside this one.

The flow, start to finish

The path runs from the supply-house bill to the finished invoice line in four steps: the bill comes in and gets marked Billable against a customer; that customer's next invoice shows the expense waiting in the "Add to invoice" panel; pulling it onto the invoice adds the line with markup; the invoice goes to the customer.

How LineTack handles this

Approved lines come to you as a CSV e-mail, ready to copy onto your invoice. QuickBooks is connecting soon.

FAQ

Why don't I see billable expenses in QuickBooks Online?

Billable expense tracking is only on the Plus and Advanced plans. Billable expenses aren't included on Simple Start or Essentials¹.

Can I mark up billable expenses?

Yes, on Plus and Advanced. You can set a default markup rate and edit it per transaction, and the markup posts to a markup income account you choose⁴¹.

Does Essentials have billable expenses?

No. Essentials has billable time but not billable expenses — that split is Plus and Advanced only¹.

Sources

1. Intuit (vendor), 2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/manage-customers/enter-billable-expenses/L37dCZU5O_US_en_US
2. Intuit (vendor), 2026-10-17. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/
3. Intuit (vendor), 2026-08-05. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/job-costing/set-use-projects-quickbooks-online/L1r1S3lKX_US_en_US
4. Intuit community (staff answers) (vendor), 2024-11. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/other-questions-9/markup-on-billable-expenses-88152
5. Intuit (vendor), 2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/small-business-processes/add-product-service-items-quickbooks-online/L9yEFWaNM_US_en_US
6. Intuit community (forum), undated. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/community/reports-and-accounting-5/i-need-the-track-billable-expenses-by-customer-for-invoicing-option-just-to-track-expenses-by-property-but-only-have-the-simple-start-plan-anyone-have-a-work-around-61509
7. Intuit (vendor), 2026. https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/import-multiple-invoices/L7E9Xrd8l_US_en_US