new electrician wants invoicing software

[Ellie03]

Hi, im a new electrician and i would like some simple invoicing software to use when i start trading so if anyone can recommend one that'd be great

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I used quickbooks but if money is an issue I have been told that Wave is pretty good and it is free. I have never used it

 

[grich]

I have used Wave for a few years. I don't use most of its features but I don't have many clients and it does the job I want. And, it's free.

 

[hillbilly1]

I use Jobber, and it integrates with QuickBooks if you want.

 

[mtnelect]

I use QuickBooks Pro - Online ... It just had a price increase to $30.00 and Intuit Payment Solutions $19.95.

 

[Besoeker3]

I use EXCEL. Done so for years.

 

[ptonsparky]

I use EXCEL. Done so for years.

I did until my office help at the time sorted it incorrectly. No way I could recover it.

 

[caitlin295]

i use Invoice24 for all my invoices, it's free too and does what you need it for, this is the link for it if you want to give it a look https://i24app.com/

 

[kwired]

Quickbooks can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. It definitely can do pretty much all your accounting needs if you want it to, and if willing to pay for some services can even send invoicing, pay bills, do your payroll if you have it, send 1099's to subs, etc. Just about can file your income taxes, though Intuit the parent company does specialize in income tax software and AFAIK will can transfer information for tax time if set up right as well.

 

[Mr. Serious]

I used Wave for a few months, but got frustrated at some of its limitations. After having used Quickbooks Online for almost a year now, I realize it also has limitations. But a lot of times, what you want to do is already programmed in, it just takes learning how Quickbooks wants you to do things. And sometimes, with both Wave and Quickbooks, if you find something not possible to do in the accounting program, it might be because they recommend against managing your money that way to start with.

Example, there's no easy way to use a personal account to purchase inventory and count it as a capital contribution to the business - but that's probably because they would prefer you make your capital contribution as an entirely separate transaction for transparency reasons, to be less likely to get in trouble with tax regulations.

 

[kwired]

I used Wave for a few months, but got frustrated at some of its limitations. After having used Quickbooks Online for almost a year now, I realize it also has limitations. But a lot of times, what you want to do is already programmed in, it just takes learning how Quickbooks wants you to do things. And sometimes, with both Wave and Quickbooks, if you find something not possible to do in the accounting program, it might be because they recommend against managing your money that way to start with.

Example, there's no easy way to use a personal account to purchase inventory and count it as a capital contribution to the business - but that's probably because they would prefer you make your capital contribution as an entirely separate transaction for transparency reasons, to be less likely to get in trouble with tax regulations.

Depends what you call easy, and how well you understand the accounting. There is no pre programmed shortcut to enter such transaction, but you can make your own general journal entry, and if something you do frequent enough you can memorize the transaction so you don't have to remember exactly how it needs entered every time. When you open the memorized transaction you just change numbers to suit your needs, the proper accounts are already set up in the memorized transaction. Two most common things I use memorized general journal transactions for are purchases from personal funds and tracking sales tax paid on items I purchased that I didn't need to pay tax on but was from someplace I don't have tax exempt status on file with (which is primarily my supply houses where nearly everything I buy is tax exempt). I can then track that tax paid and credit it against what I owe when I do file my sales tax returns. If you don't understand how the accounting processes work those are maybe difficult for many to set up properly or even utilize though.

 

[mtnelect]

QuickBooks makes it easy when it's time to renew a maintenance contract. I just use make a "copy" of a previous invoice, make changes with a new invoice number and it's done !

 

[Mr. Serious]

I didn't know there was a way to "memorize" journal entry transactions so you don't have to keep referring back to the previous one. Thank you for that tip, it will be helpful.

 

[kwired]

QuickBooks makes it easy when it's time to renew a maintenance contract. I just use make a "copy" of a previous invoice, make changes with a new invoice number and it's done !

If you add it to "memorized transactions", when you open the memorized transaction it should open with new invoice number and date. Though I think it will not have a customer name and that would need entered. But if you use same invoice for various customers, that might be what you want anyway.

 

[Ravenvalor]

In North Carolina they make us electrical contractors buy most of our material tax free, charge the customer for the tax for the material and then pay that tax once a month. This is a called a sales and use tax. We also have to charge the customer tax for the labor we charge and pay that to the state the same time we pay the material tax in one lump sum. Quickbooks Pro is good at this feature.

On a side note, It is a good tax boost for the state because we charge and pay tax not on what we purchase the material for but purchase price plus our mark-up.

 

[Mr. Serious]

In North Carolina ...

I suppose that is relevant for a lot of places. There are also many places where it is not relevant. In Oklahoma, no labor is ever taxed at all, unless there's some tiny exception I don't know about. And they don't want contractors collecting taxes, although it seems like maybe the way the law is written we're supposed to for repairs. But not for new construction. The contractor pays the tax on the material, and the customer is buying a service, a completed building, not parts, so they don't pay tax on the parts bought by the contractors. That's the theory. Plenty of other states do it the same way.

OP is in the UK, so I suppose there is VAT to add onto everything. I would guess that Quickbooks does that too, but I don't really know.

 

[kwired]

I suppose that is relevant for a lot of places. There are also many places where it is not relevant. In Oklahoma, no labor is ever taxed at all, unless there's some tiny exception I don't know about. And they don't want contractors collecting taxes, although it seems like maybe the way the law is written we're supposed to for repairs. But not for new construction. The contractor pays the tax on the material, and the customer is buying a service, a completed building, not parts, so they don't pay tax on the parts bought by the contractors. That's the theory. Plenty of other states do it the same way.

OP is in the UK, so I suppose there is VAT to add onto everything. I would guess that Quickbooks does that too, but I don't really know.

That taxable labor is really dependent on state/locality. Most time it is called "taxable services", keep in mind not all services are taxable. Construction related trades often are not, but occasionally are or certain situations might be. Remember the tax agency is covering a pretty wide variety of trades, industries, etc. The construction industry is just a small part of what they have jurisdiction over so you need to know how to interpret what is in that tax code that applies to what it is that you do.

If you have things that you sell (goods or services) that some are taxable and some are not, you need to know how to itemize/track to get best possible deal for your clients and/or yourself. Generally you won't be penalized for collecting (and remitting) more sales tax than you legally needed to.

A contractor situation often you must collect and remit any applicable sales tax based on the location of where goods/services were delivered as well. So if you install things in multiple local tax jurisdictions, you need to keep track of each one.

 

[mtnelect]

In California you have to apply for a sale tax exemption and submit this certificate to each supplier in order to purchase without be taxed. Then you must file a sale tax return quarterly. You purchase items you have claimed on the sales tax application at the wholesale price without tax. Then retain the retail tax on the items to be reported. If you as a contractor do not have retail sales in your business, then you pay the tax at the wholesale price. The advantage to the state is the higher tax revenues. You cannot use the sales exemption for personal use.

With QuickBooks, it automatically figures the correct tax by zip code.

 

[kwired]

In California you have to apply for a sale tax exemption and submit this certificate to each supplier in order to purchase without be taxed. Then you must file a sale tax return quarterly. You purchase items you have claimed on the sales tax application at the wholesale price without tax. Then retain the retail tax on the items to be reported. If you as a contractor do not have retail sales in your business, then you pay the tax at the wholesale price. The advantage to the state is the higher tax revenues. You cannot use the sales exemption for personal use.

With QuickBooks, it automatically figures the correct tax by zip code.

What version of QB? Mine doesn't, I have to set up each tax jurisdiction essentially as a vendor or sub vendor and assign a tax rate to each jurisdiction, then assign said tax rate that applies to each customer. State tax rate is default when setting up a new customer though

 

[mtnelect]

What version of QB? Mine doesn't, I have to set up each tax jurisdiction essentially as a vendor or sub vendor and assign a tax rate to each jurisdiction, then assign said tax rate that applies to each customer. State tax rate is default when setting up a new customer though

It's "QuickBooks Pro" online, at $30.00 a month.