Getting Started

Before you can start using QuickBooks® Sync and successfully synchronize transactions with QuickBooks, there are a few steps that need to be taken to make sure that data can be correctly transferred between the two systems. If you are already an active QuickBooks user this should only take a few minutes.

Please carefully review the following paragraphs. You will be asked to confirm that certain items exist in your QuickBooks Item List, or create new ones.

• If you are new to QuickBooks and have not yet setup your company file, that's where you need to start. The next section provides some instructions on how to do so.
• If you have been using QuickBooks, open your existing company file and skip the next section and go to Editing an Existing Company.

To create a new company file in QuickBooks, start the application and click on Create a New Company. QuickBooks' EasyStep Interview will take you through several, intuitive screens in which you will be asked to provide general company information. Simply follow the instructions on the screen as you fill out information about your company's name, address, basic tax information, and more.

Here are a few things to note as you answer questions during the EasyStep interview:

• Select your industry – Unless one of the selections from the list is a direct match to your particular business, we recommend that you select: Retail Shop or Online Commerce. In some versions it may say Retail: General. QuickBooks will create your company file after you finish configuring your company. If you receive an error saving your company file make sure the selected folder has adequate file permissions.
• Tracking inventory in QuickBooks - Make sure to select “Yes” if you want to track inventory.
• Using accounts in QuickBooks. You will be presented a predefined list of income and expense accounts, which is partially based on the type of business that you chose in the previous step. If you are unsure which accounts you will need or not need, then accept the default settings. We will come back to this later.
• Preferences. When going through the EasyStep interview, please note the following:
  • Sales Tax. Select Yes. The sales tax option must be turned on in QuickBooks before importing transactions, even if you do not collect sales tax in your business.
  • Sales Tax Information (if prompted)
    • Single or multiple sales tax. In most cases, you'll select the first option.
    • Enter a short name for the sales tax. E.g. “State Tax”.
    • Enter a sales tax description to be printed on invoices. E.g. “California Sales Tax”
    • Enter the name of the government agency to which you pay sales tax. E.g. “California State Board of Equalization”

Complete the rest of the interview by following the instructions on the screen. When you are done, skip the next section and go to the section entitled Adding Necessary Items to the QuickBooks Item List.

If you have just created a new company file, skip this section. If you are using an existing company file, note that even if you don't charge sales taxes, your company file has to be setup to allow for sales taxes. To check that this is the case, open your QuickBooks company and select Preferences from the Edit menu. From the left-side navigation, select Sales Tax. On the window that appears, click on the Company Preferences tab. Look at the following settings:

• Do You Charge Sales Tax?. Select Yes. The sales tax option must be turned on in QuickBooks before importing transactions from SubscriptionBridge, even if you do not collect sales tax in your business.
• Sales Tax Items. Make sure you have at list one item listed in the drop-down menu (e.g. “Sales Tax”).

The next step is to review your existing Chart of Accounts to make sure that a number of required accounts are listed. It is important to set up the following accounts in QuickBooks. This is true regardless of whether you just created a brand-new company file or are using an existing company file.

Since all item types in QuickBooks (i.e. the product and services that your company sells) require an Income Account, you need an Income Account in your QuickBooks company file. This account is typically called “Merchandise Sales”. Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts to see if you already have an Income Account in your QuickBooks company file. If not, you must add one now:

• Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts.
• Click on the New button and then select Income.
• Under Account Name enter “Merchandise Sales”.
• Leave the rest of the fields “as is”.
• Click Save & Close.

This account is only required if your QuickBooks company file is setup to track inventory. Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts to see if you already have a Cost Of Goods Account in your QuickBooks company file. If not, you must add one now:

• Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts.
• Click on the New button and then select Other Account Types > Cost Of Goods Sold.
• Under Account Name enter “Cost of Goods Sold”.
• Leave the rest of the fields “as is”.
• Click Save & Close.

Since you can import your transactions as Sales Receipts and Sales Receipts indicate that money has already been collected, QuickBooks needs an Asset Account to which the undeposited funds are allocated. This account is typically called Undeposited Funds (undeposited because you will later tell QuickBooks where the money has been deposited: e.g. you might have multiple bank accounts).

Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts to see if you already have an Asset Account account in your QuickBooks company file. If not, you can add it in two ways:

1. Automatically by creating a new Sales Receipt.
   QuickBooks will automatically add an Asset Account to your company file when you create your first Sales Receipt. It is typically called Undeposited Funds.
2. Manually
   You can manually add an Asset Account by following these instructions:
   • Select Lists and then Chart of Accounts.
   • Click on the New button and then select Other Account Types > Other Current Asset.
   • Under Account Name enter “Undeposited Funds”.
   • Leave the rest of the fields “as is”.
   • Click Save & Close.

The next step is to review your existing Item List to make sure that a number of required items are listed. It is important to set up the following items in QuickBooks. This is true regardless of whether you just created a brand-new company file or are using an existing company file.

The actual item names (Item Name/Number field) can be different from the ones listed below, but the Item Type must be the one specified, and the Account must always be an income account.

Does you company file already have an Item in the Item List that is used for shipping or delivery charges? If yes, make sure that it has the properties listed below, and then skip to the next item. If no, add it now by following these instructions:

• Select Item from the Icon Bar or Item List from the Lists menu.
• Click on the Item button at the bottom of the page and select New.
• As the Item Type, select: Other Charge.
• As the Item name/Number, enter “Shipping Charges”.
• As the Description you may enter anything you wish.
• Leave the Amount field set to 0.
• Under Tax Code, specify whether this item is taxable or not. Shipping charges are often non-taxable.
• As the Account, make sure to select an income account. For example, by default QuickBooks creates an account named Sales: Shipping and Handling. If this account doesn't exist, either use another income account or add it to your Chart of Accounts by selecting <Add New> from the Account drop-down on the New Item window.

Tax calculation in QuickBooks will be bypassed and taxes will be added to a Sales Receipt as a “line item”. That is: there are cases in which SubscriptionBridge must calculate and display taxes in a certain way, and QuickBooks should not be allowed to automatically calculate taxes on the subscription as it is transferred from SubscriptionBridge.

An example will help you understand this issue: If you are using the hosted checkout, with tax enabled, then taxes will be calculated differently depending on the customer's shipping address. A different tax rate picked from a list of possibly dozens of tax rates will be used depending on the customer's “ship to” address. These different tax rates typically do not exist in QuickBooks, where a Sales Tax Account item is associated with just one tax rate (e.g. 8.25%).

In this and other scenarios, SubscriptionBridge will export tax information for the transaction as an item listed on the Sales Receipt, below other items (e.g. shipping charges, etc.), instead of letting QuickBooks automatically calculate sales taxes.

To properly handle these scenarios, you will need to create two different Sales Tax Items in your QuickBooks company file. Both Sales Tax Items must have a 0.00 rate.

The first Sales Tax Item must be called “Line Item Tax”

• Select Item from the Icon Bar or Item List from the Lists menu.
• Click on the Item button at the bottom of the page and select New.
• As the Item Type, select: Sales Tax Item.
• As the Sales Tax Name, enter “Line Item Tax”.
• As the Description you may enter anything you wish.
• As the Tax Rate enter 0.00
• Under Tax Agency, specify the vendor (tax agency) associated with this tax item.

The second Sales Tax Item must be called “Order Level Tax”

• Select Item from the Icon Bar or Item List from the Lists menu.
• Click on the Item button at the bottom of the page and select New.
• As the Item Type, select: Sales Tax Item.
• As the Sales Tax Name, enter “Order Level Tax”.
• As the Description you may enter anything you wish.
• As the Tax Rate enter 0.00
• Under Tax Agency, specify the vendor (tax agency) associated with this tax item.

At least one customer account is required for transactions to be exported. Does your company file already have a Customer in the Customer Center? If yes, skip to the next item. If no, add it now by following these instructions:

• Select Customer Center from the Icon Bar.
• Click on the New Customer & Job button and select Customer.
• Fill in all required fields.
• Note: This is a generic customer account. You may name the customer Generic Customer Account or Web sales, etc.
• Click OK.

At least one item is required for transactions to be exported. Does your company file already have an item (e.g. Service, Inventory Part, Inventory Assembly, or Non-Inventory Part)? If yes, skip to the next item. If no, add it now by following these instructions:

• Select Item from the Icon Bar or Item List from the Lists menu.
• Click on the Item button at the bottom of the page and select New.
• As the Item Type, select: Service, Inventory Part, Inventory Assembly, or Non-Inventory Part.
• As the Item name/Number, enter the item's SKU (part number).
• As the Description you may enter anything you wish. This is the name of the product or service.
• Fill in all remaining fields.
• Under Tax Code, specify whether this item is taxable or not. Shipping charges are often non-taxable.
• Make sure to select all the required accounts. For example, all Inventory Parts require an income account. By default QuickBooks creates an income account named Merchandise Sales. If this account doesn't exist, either use another income account or add it to your Chart of Accounts by selecting <Add New> from the Account drop-down on the New Item window. You may want to create a new income account for Online Sales.

We strongly recommend that you backup your QuickBooks company file before using the sync for the first time.

To perform this task

1. Open the company file you want to back up.
2. Go to the File menu and click Save Copy or Backup to open the backup wizard.
3. Click Backup copy, click Next, and then click Local backup.
4. If you haven't already done so, click Options to set your backup defaults and choose a location on your hard drive to store the temporary backup. Click OK.
5. Click Next.
6. Click Save and then click Next.
7. (Optional) If you want to change the name or location that QuickBooks suggests for the backup file, type your changes in the File name field and click the Save In drop-down arrow to select another location. Do not change the .qbb filename extension.
8. Click Save to start the backup.
9. QuickBooks verifies the integrity of your company file based on the backup defaults you set, temporarily closes your company file, and then creates the backup.
10. When the backup is complete, QuickBooks displays a message showing the location of the backup file. Click OK.

Web Connector Setup

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