Connecting with QuickBooks

Connect Puree to QuickBooks Online to create invoices from your quotes and keep linked invoices updated when you make changes in Puree.

How the accounts mapping works

QuickBooks and Xero use different mapping steps:

• QuickBooks: Puree master category → QuickBooks product/service → income account on that service.
• Xero: Puree master category → income account in Xero’s chart of accounts.

For example, map Menu Product/Service in Puree to a QuickBooks service called Catering. If Catering uses the Catering income account in QuickBooks, menu revenue goes to that account.

Puree’s QuickBooks dropdowns currently list products/services whose type is Service. They do not list chart of accounts entries, inventory items or non-inventory products. You do not need to create a QuickBooks product for every dish in your Puree menu.

These mappings select the product/service shown on the invoice. They are not QuickBooks Class tracking, even if your settings page refers to “classes”.

Prepare your services in QuickBooks

Open Products and services in QuickBooks Online. Create a Service for each kind of revenue you want to separate, or edit services you already use. Set the Income account on each service to the account that should receive those sales.

A simple setup might use services named Catering, Beverages, Equipment hire, Staffing, Delivery, Venue hire and Miscellaneous. These are examples: your names and income accounts can be different.

You can select the same service for several Puree categories. You can also use separate services that all post to the same income account. Separate income accounts are useful when you want separate revenue lines in your accounting reports.

See QuickBooks’ guide to changing a product or service’s income account.

Connect in Puree

1. Sign in to Puree as an account administrator and open Settings → Integrations.
2. On the QuickBooks card, click Connect.
3. Sign in to QuickBooks, select the company you want to use and authorise the connection.
4. Puree returns you to QuickBooks Settings. Check the company name before setting your mappings.

Puree supports one active accounting integration per account. If Xero is already connected, disconnect it before connecting QuickBooks.

Choose your product/service mappings

Select the QuickBooks service for each category you use:

• Menu Product/Service: catering menu revenue.
• Beverages Product/Service: beverage revenue.
• Equipment Product/Service: equipment revenue.
• Miscellaneous and Surcharge Product/Service: miscellaneous charges and order surcharges. It also receives package revenue unless a package allocation assigns that revenue elsewhere.
• Staff Product/Service: staff charges.
• Delivery Product/Service: the delivery fee.
• Venue Product/Service: venue charges, when venues are enabled for your account.

Choose your default Tax Code separately. The product/service mapping controls where the income is recorded; the tax code controls the tax treatment.

Set your Invoice reference prefix if needed. Puree appends the quote reference: for example, the prefix INV/ with quote 187 produces INV/187. Avoid changing the prefix after you have started syncing invoices, as this can cause duplicate or conflicting invoice numbers.

Enable Auto Sync with Quickbooks if changes to linked quotes should automatically update their invoices. Click Save Changes.

To return later, open Settings → Integrations and click Settings on the QuickBooks card.

Link a quote and customer

Once a quote is Accepted and ready to invoice:

1. Open its QuickBooks link from the quotes list.
2. In Link with QuickBooks, select the matching QuickBooks Contact. If needed, use Create new contact in QuickBooks.
3. Check QuickBooks Invoice Due Date.
4. Click Save to create the invoice, or update the invoice if the quote is already linked.
5. Open the invoice in QuickBooks and check the customer, amounts, tax and due date before sending it.

Connecting your account does not invoice every quote automatically. Each quote must first be linked. Auto Sync then keeps linked invoices updated when you save changes in Puree.

Puree creates or updates the invoice; it does not email it to your customer. Review and send it from QuickBooks.

Unlink a quote from QuickBooks

Open the quote’s QuickBooks link from the quotes list, then Unlink from QuickBooks at the bottom of the Link with QuickBooks window. Confirm it, and the quote goes back to showing Link as though it had never been sent.

Unlinking clears what Puree holds about this quote’s invoice — the QuickBooks contact chosen for it and its due date go with it. The invoice itself stays in QuickBooks, unchanged. Delete or void it there if it should not exist.

The customer’s QuickBooks contact mapping is kept, because it belongs to the customer rather than to one quote. Relinking does not mean finding the contact again.

Unlink when the quote went to the wrong QuickBooks contact, when the invoice was deleted in QuickBooks but Puree still shows the quote as linked, or when you would rather start the invoice over than keep updating the one already there.

Delete or void the old invoice in QuickBooks before sending the quote again. Puree cannot take over an invoice that is already in QuickBooks, so if QuickBooks refuses the send because that invoice number is in use, you will get an error and no invoice is created.

How the invoice is organised

Puree sends category totals, with separate charges for staff, delivery and other applicable services. The invoice also includes a link to the detailed Puree quote.

When different tax codes apply within one category, that category can appear on more than one line. For example, taxable catering and zero-rated catering need separate lines even if both use the Catering service.

Packages normally use the Miscellaneous mapping. If package revenue allocation is enabled, the package’s allocation determines how its value is split between the category mappings. Read Xero Allocation: Split a Package’s Price Across Your Revenue Accounts for details.

Tax settings and tax bands

The quote’s inclusive or exclusive setting controls how its prices reach QuickBooks. Inclusive prices already contain tax; exclusive prices have tax added on top. Changing the account default does not change the setting saved on an existing quote.

If additional tax bands are enabled for your account, open Settings → Tax and map each Puree band to its corresponding QuickBooks tax code. These mappings take precedence over the default Tax Code in QuickBooks Settings.

For example, map your normal GST or VAT band to the matching taxable sales code, and your zero-rated band to the appropriate zero-rated sales code. A delivery fee using the zero-rated band should then use that code on the invoice, even if catering uses a taxable code.

QuickBooks calculates tax using its mapped codes. Mapping a Puree band to a QuickBooks code with a different percentage can change the tax amount and, for exclusive prices, the invoice total. Check both the quote’s saved band and its accounting mapping when comparing totals.

Discounts and surcharges

With the updated tax-band integration:

• Prices including tax: Fixed and percentage discounts are shared across invoice lines, with the discount shown in each line’s description. This preserves the quoted total when QuickBooks rounds tax.
• Prices excluding tax: Fixed and percentage discounts use QuickBooks’ invoice discount field. Sales lines retain their original prices, and QuickBooks calculates tax after the discount.
• Surcharges appear as separate lines, split by the applicable mapped tax codes. They use Miscellaneous and Surcharge Product/Service.

For example, a surcharge reaches an Other revenue account only if the selected QuickBooks service uses that income account. Change the selected service in Puree, or its Income account in QuickBooks, to use a different destination.

Troubleshooting

An income account is missing from the dropdown: create or edit a QuickBooks Service that uses that account, then reopen QuickBooks Settings in Puree. The dropdown contains services, not accounts.

A product/service is missing: check that it belongs to the connected company, is active and has type Service. Reopen the settings page after changing it in QuickBooks.

Revenue appears under the wrong account: check the selected product/service in Puree, then check that service’s Income account in QuickBooks.

Tax or totals differ: check the quote’s inclusive/exclusive setting, its saved tax bands and the QuickBooks tax-code mappings. A product/service’s income account does not determine the Puree tax-band mapping.

Changes are not syncing: confirm the quote is linked and Auto Sync with Quickbooks is enabled. Open Sync History on the QuickBooks integration card to see failed updates. If the connection has expired, use Re-Authenticate.

Make invoice changes in Puree wherever possible. Edits made directly in QuickBooks do not update your Puree quote and may be overwritten by the next sync.

For the alternative accounting connection, see Connecting with Xero.

Change tax on an individual quote

Open Adjust quote tax while editing the quote, then select Includes sales tax or Excludes sales tax. Entered prices stay unchanged; excluding tax adds it on top.

Use Change beside a line’s tax label for its Tax band, or turn on Override all tax bands to choose Tax band for all charges. Map every band you use to its matching QuickBooks tax code in Settings → Tax.

The product/service selection still controls the income destination. It does not replace the tax-code mapping. See Tax Rates.