Create a recurring sales receipt to automatically process credit card payments

QuickBooks Payments is available at an additional cost. Learn more and apply.

If you want to bill a customer on a regular basis and have them pay by credit card, you can completely automate the payments. This saves time for both you and your customer.

If your customer would prefer to be billed automatically and still have the choice of when and how much to pay, you can set up a recurring invoice instead.

Before you start

Since this sales receipt actually charges your customer's credit card repeatedly, you'll need to get authorization from your customer ahead of time. How do I get authorization?

Follow these best practices for avoiding disputes.

To set up the recurring payment:

  1. Start a sales receipt or find an existing one and open it.
  2. Fill in or complete the details that you want to include on each instance of the receipt.
  3. For Payment method, select a credit card.
  4. If this customer's credit card isn't already shown, click Enter credit card details and enter the credit card info.
  5. Make sure Process credit card is selected.
  6. Click Make recurring at the bottom of the form.
  7. Change the template name so it's a unique name and make sure the Type is set to Scheduled.
  8. Select the Interval for how often the transaction will be created. For example:

    To repeat...

    Use

    Every other week

    Select Weekly and enter "every 2 weeks"

    Twice a month

    Create two scheduled Monthly transactions: one for the first transaction per month, and one for the second

    Quarterly

    Select Monthly and enter "every 3 months"

    Semiannually

    Select Monthly and enter "every 6 months"

  9. Set the Start date to at least one day in the future. Scheduled recurring transactions are automatically created during the first half of the day, so choosing a day in the future ensures that the first instance will be created on the day you've selected.
  10. Change the End date setting unless you want this transaction to recur for an unlimited time.
  11. Click Save template.
  12. Print the authorization form that displays and have your customer fill it out, sign it, and return it to you before the first recurring charge happens.

See also

QuickBooks Payments overview