How to Use QuickBooks to Send and Receive International Payments

QuickBooks is one of the most popular fintech platforms on the planet. So, it should come as no surprise that the product has endless financial capabilities. This includes the ability to make international payments.

QuickBooks Across the Seas

With integrated add-on software, QuickBooks users can make and receive international payments with foreign bank accounts. The platform provides international invoice features, including foreign currency. Small businesses and medium-sized enterprises can easily send and accept international payments from anywhere on the planet.

Does QuickBooks Work for International Payments? 

According to the QuickBooks support Team, an integrated QBO 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 QBO accounting software. It provides global ACH (and other international bill payment methods) in local currencies and handles foreign exchange rates. 

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 QBO lacks this feature.

QuickBooks accepts international payments via international wire transfers, debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal (using PayPal Passport). This is how to make international wire transfers using Quickbooks Bill Pay:

1. Switch on the multi-currency feature 
   1. Add the international vendor and their currency
2. Initiate wire payment to international vendors
   1. Click “+New” then choose “Pay Bills Online”
   2. Click “Unpaid bills”
   3. Select “international transfer” as payment method

QuickBooks Payments automatically moves processed transactions into your accounts to record the bank deposit. With QB 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 QBO support steps recommended for recording a single invoice payment from a customer:

Record a Single Invoice Payment

1. Select + New.
2. Select Receive Payment.
3. Select the name from the drop-down menu.
4. From the Outstanding Transactions section, select the transactions that you’d like for QuickBooks Online to calculate. As you select these items, the payment total will change.
5. Select the payment method.
6. Enter the reference no. and memo if applicable.
7. You can either deposit the money to your checking account or to the undeposited funds account.
8. Select Save and close.

Besides single invoice payment, the QBO 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 tge 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 with the QuickBooks Payments feature. The payment options include U.S. ACH, 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. If you want to change the payment options, select Edit. Or select the checkbox for the options you want to make available.
6. When you’re done, select Save and send.

QBO 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 set up a Dummy Bank account in the home currency to record the transaction and manually calculate the exchange rate.

When you accept international payments, QuickBooks records the entry using double-entry bookkeeping (with your review). After you turn on multicurrency in QBO, the system automatically tracks foreign currency transactions, including foreign exchange rate gains and losses. 

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

Paying International Vendors

Making supplier invoice payments from country to country through QuickBooks is enhanced through a QBO add-on app. Global payment choices include hundreds of countries and foreign currencies and several payment methods. Payment options are global ACH bank transfers, wire transfers, eCheck, debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal. 

The QuickBooks support link for sending international wire transfers to vendors includes a step-by-step process for QBO. Start by turning on multicurrency before making the wire transfer to avoid a sync error. 

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 country bank infrastructure adequacy.
• 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 change often. 

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 has no formal network or standard rules like those provided by Nacha for US-only transfers. Global ACH requires several business days to clear funds in the payee’s bank account. 

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop offer Intuit Merchant Services payments 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. 

Final Thoughts

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

However, QuickBooks Online lacks the ability to send .receive customer payments from foreign bank accounts and global ACH. Using an add-on app within QuickBooks Online helps to overcome international limitations, adding robust features, automation, and fraud control.