How to Send and Receive International Payments in QuickBooks

QuickBooks is one of the most popular fintech platforms globally. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the product offers financial capabilities to many mid-sized companies. 

Your business can make QuickBooks international payments particularly well with an end-to-end AP automation software integration. AP automation software addresses numerous accounts payable challenges in QuickBooks, including simplifying global payments to require less manual work, reducing approval bottlenecks, offering additional payment method choices, and instantly reconciling payment batches to expedite the accounting close.

QuickBooks Across the Seas

With integrated add-on software, QuickBooks can make and receive international payments with foreign bank accounts. When multicurrency is enabled, the platform offers international invoice features, including support for foreign currencies. Integration allows small businesses and medium-sized enterprises to easily send and accept international payments.

In addition to the US version, QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Desktop (QBD) offer QuickBooks international versions in some countries.

Does QuickBooks Work for International Payments?

According to the QuickBooks Support Team, an integrated QuickBooks Online add-on app is required to receive some international payments. QuickBooks Online doesn’t accept online payments from foreign bank accounts.

A global payables automation app is needed for the QuickBooks Online accounting software. It provides global ACH (and other international bill payment methods) in local currencies, handling foreign exchange rates.

How to Pay International Vendors

Making supplier invoice payments across countries through QuickBooks is enhanced with a QuickBooks Online add-on app, a third-party application. Global payment options include hundreds of countries and foreign currencies, as well as several payment methods. Payment options include global ACH bank transfers, wire transfers, eCheck, debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal. 

QuickBooks Online Bill Pay doesn’t support sending international wire transfers to vendors. To send multiple types of international electronic fund payments (EFTs), including wire transfers and global ACH, integrate a third-party app like Tipalti AP automation.

A step-by-step process for QuickBooks Online international payments is:

Enable multicurrency → Connect Tipalti → Send payment → Automatic sync in QuickBooks

Before sending an international vendor payment with QuickBooks, ensure you are comfortable with the QuickBooks caution that once you enable the multicurrency feature, it cannot be reversed. This feature is required for this task. 

ACH vs. Wire Transfer for International Payments

Comparing global ACH vs. wire transfer for international vendor payments:

• ACH transaction fees are much lower than wire bank fees.
• Global ACH requires adequate banking infrastructure in each country.
• Wires work for certain international payment remittances when:
  • The amount is large.
  • The receiving country lacks a bank-to-bank network similar to ACH.
• Country payment rules for remittances are subject to frequent changes. 

Wire Transfers

Wire transfers use instructions provided by the payor to their bank for direct remittance. This action is from the sender’s bank account to the receiver’s bank account. Large wire transfer fees may be charged by the sending, intermediary, and receiving banks. With international wires, it takes about a week to receive available funds.

Global ACH

A specific global ACH provider, SEPA, utilizes its own network and adheres to standard rules similar to those provided by Nacha for US-only transfers. SEPA, as a type of global ACH for SEPA member countries, requires at least one business day to clear funds in the payee’s bank account, unless a SEPA Instant Credit Transfer is used. 

Another type of global ACH is the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) in Australia, which is used exclusively for Australian domestic transactions and takes one to two business days for payments to clear. 

QuickBooks Payments

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop offer Intuit Merchant Services’ payment processing through QuickBooks Payments upon approval. QuickBooks Payments sends bill payments and accepts/receives customer payments through online invoice and payment processing. 

Using QuickBooks Payments streamlines the process for recording payment transaction deposits. QB Payments can be applied for and used through the QuickBooks accounting software. 

Challenges for Making QuickBooks International Payments

Challenges for  making QuickBooks international payments include:

1. Users can’t make international payments with QuickBooks accounting software alone. 
2. FX fees can be costly when using software that does not offer competitive FX rates.
3. Companies must ensure compliance with global regulatory and tax requirements. 
4. Approval bottlenecks may delay invoice payments. 
5. Payment reconciliation can be time-consuming and delay the financial close. 
6. Supplier inquiries regarding invoice payment status can interrupt and frustrate the AP team by requiring extra follow-up time. 
7. Businesses may lack adequate accounts payable visibility, which hinders effective cash flow management. 

Tipalti AP automation integration with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop solves these pain points. For global payouts to freelancers, affiliates, and creators, your business can also use Tipalti’s mass payments solution. 

Tipalti’s ERP Integration with QuickBooks

Tipalti’s ERP integrations include purchase order management, mass payments, and AP automation integration with QuickBooks accounting software. 

What is Tipalti Integration with QuickBooks?

Tipalti AP automation and mass payments software integrates with QuickBooks Online as an add-on app using a seamless API connection. 

Tipalti’s automated mass payments software is used to make payments to suppliers, vendors, independent contractors, freelancers, royalty holders, publishers, influencers, affiliates, and other partners, all within QuickBooks (or other integrated ERP or accounting software).

Benefits of Tipalti Integration with QuickBooks

Benefits of Tipalti integration with QuickBooks include:

1. Using AP automation and payments software with highly advanced functionality to reduce fraud risk, errors, and hiring needs, saving time and money
2. Automated vendor TIN validation, tax compliance, and global regulatory compliance
3. Digital invoice data capture with AI Smart Scan, invoice matching, and routing for guided online approvals
4. Eliminating paper documents and manual data entry
5. Enhanced ability to make domestic, international, and cross-border payments with a choice of available payment methods in 200+ countries and 120 currencies in large batches
6. Automatic payments reconciliation in real-time
7. Payment status  

More Tipalti Product Features and Advantages

Tipalti offers other features and advantages. Tipalti has multi-instance functionality. For global payments, Tipalti offers advanced foreign exchange (FX) features as integrated product options. 

Tipalti’s Multi-FX product handles centralized global payments for all subsidiaries through a virtual payment account, with currency conversion from USD to local currencies as needed. Tipalti Hedging locks in the foreign exchange rate on invoices for international transactions between the invoice receipt date and the payment date. 

With Tipalti, your business can complete invoice management and bill processing in time to take and apply valuable early payment discounts in QuickBooks. Automated invoice approval and payment status are available through the self-service supplier portal, significantly reducing the need for time-wasting AP staff follow-up communications with suppliers. 

Tipalti Payment Methods

50+ payment methods offered by the Tipalti automation add-on app include:

• ACH in the U.S.
• Global ACH
• Wire transfer
• PayPal
• Tipalti payment card 

The Tipalti Card, a physical and virtual payment card with a cash rebate for spending, is available to users upon approval. It helps companies better control the non-PO spending of card-assigned employees. Tipalti Card can be used with Tipalti’s optional Expense Management product, which combines with Tipalti AP automation. 

Integrating Tipalti with QuickBooks accounting software will help you maximize your investment in QuickBooks and reliably streamline accounts payable workflow. 

Tipalti Customer Testimonial

A case study highlighting Tipalti benefits is “Skillshare Saves Time & Scales Financial Operations with Tipalti.” Skillshare, an online education community business, switched to Tipalti from Bill.com in 2018. 

Skillshare is a high-growth company with international operations. Lisa Pesante, the head of finance, needed an AP solution to provide robust invoice processing, increase trust and financial controls, and professionally make payments on time. Using Tipalti AP automation and mass payments software helped Lisa achieve her goals for Skillshare AP workflow and payment efficiency. 

We used to spend three hours a week making payments. Now, it’s down to minutes. In our old system, Bill.com, it was difficult to create all of our payments. We work with a lot of international social influencers, and we needed to pay these people in different markets. If we can’t pay them effectively, it limits our reach.

Lisa Pesante, Head of Finance, Skillshare

Receiving International Payments from Customers

For global customers, payments can be streamlined through the QuickBooks platform.

To accept global ACH bank transfer payments from customers, you need an add-on app because QuickBooks Online lacks this feature. Consider Melio, PayPal, or Wise for accounts receivable functions, such as receiving international payments from customers. Tipalti is purpose-built for accounts payable payments and other types of payouts. 

QuickBooks accepts international payments via international wire transfers, debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal (using PayPal Passport).

QuickBooks Payments automatically moves processed transactions into your accounts to record the bank deposit. With QuickBooks Payments, you don’t have to put transactions into the “Undeposited funds account” first to record bank deposit details. 

Receiving QuickBooks international payments uses many of the same recording steps for any customer invoice payments. (Set up multicurrency first.) These are the QuickBooks Online support steps recommended for recording a single invoice payment from a customer:

Record a Single Invoice Payment

1. Click +Create.
2. Select Receive Payment.
3. Select the name from the Customer drop-down menu or +New to add a new customer.
4. Select the payment method or +New to add a new payment method.
5. From the Deposit To dropdown menu, select the deposit account (not applicable for merchant account transactions).
6. In the Amount received field, enter the full or partial payment amount received. 
7. Enter the reference no. and memo if applicable.
8. From the Outstanding Transactions section, find the Description column and select the checkbox for the invoice that you’re receiving payment for. When you select the invoice, the payment amount received appears in the PAYMENT column and the Amount to Apply. 
9. Select Record and close.

You can either deposit the money into your checking account or into the undeposited funds account.

Besides single invoice payment, the QuickBooks Online support article also includes steps for partial invoice payment and grouping multiple payments (bulk).

How Does QuickBooks Accept International Payments? 

QuickBooks Online lets you enter bills, send online invoices, record, track, and accept multiple types of foreign currency payments. First, set up the multicurrency option in the system. This allows a business to accept international customer funds using QuickBooks Payments. 

Before accepting the customer payment, use QuickBooks online invoicing. You can easily email the invoice with a ‘Pay Now’ button and payment options using the QuickBooks Payments feature. The payment options include U.S. ACH for domestic transactions only, credit cards, and other available methods, but not international ACH. 

Send an Online Invoice

The steps for sending an online invoice after turning on payment options are:

1. Select + New.
2. Select Invoice or Send Invoice.
3. Select the customer from the Customer dropdown. Make sure their email address is in the Email field.
4. Go to the Online Payments section. Review the payment options available.
5. To change the payment options, select Edit. Or select the checkbox for the options you want to make available. Click OK. 
6. When you’re done, select “Save” and then “Send.”

QuickBooks Online automatically applies customer payments to the oldest invoice. You can change this setting, according to the QuickBooks Support Team, as follows: 

1. Select the Gear icon.
2. Click Account and Settings.
3. Select Advanced on the left of the screen.
4. Click the Pencil icon in Automation.
5. Remove the check mark in the box next to Automatically apply credits. 
6. Click Save and select Done.

If your small business invoices are issued in one currency and the customer pays in a different currency, QuickBooks Online requires you to initially set up a temporary Dummy Bank account in the home currency to record the transaction, then transfer the money to the actual bank account and manually calculate the exchange rate.

When you accept international payments, QuickBooks records the entry using double-entry bookkeeping with equal debits and credits (for your review). After you enable multicurrency in QuickBooks Online, the system automatically tracks foreign currency transactions, including gains and losses resulting from foreign exchange rates. 

It should be noted! Setting up multicurrency determines the home currency and can’t be turned off. 

Final Thoughts

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop facilitate sending and receiving international payments. 

However, QuickBooks Online cannot send and receive customer payments from foreign bank accounts and global ACH. Using an add-on app like Tipalti AP automation within QuickBooks Online helps to overcome international limitations, adding robust features, automation, and fraud control. Download our eBook, “7 QuickBooks Payables Problems Solved with Automation.”