Link Harvest to QuickBooks Online and copy your Harvest invoices and, optionally, invoice payments directly into QuickBooks Online. This article covers how to enable and use the integration. You can refer to Xero and QuickBooks Online FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions. 

You must have Administrator permissions and your Harvest account must have the Invoices module enabled in order to link your Harvest account and copy invoices to QuickBooks Online. In addition, time and expenses can’t be directly copied or synced from Harvest to QuickBooks Online, and are only copied as line items in invoices.

Note: This integration isn’t available for Harvest accounts on our free plan. In addition, the Harvest integration doesn’t work with the Self-Employed or Desktop versions of QuickBooks Online.

Linking QuickBooks Online and copying invoices

Linking Harvest to QuickBooks Online

1. In Harvest, click on Settings (upper right corner).

   • Only Administrators can view and change account settings.
2. Click Integrations in the left sidebar.
3. In the QuickBooks Online section, click Connect to QuickBooks

4. You’ll be taken to QuickBooks Online. Once signed in, click Connect.

5. Once complete, you’ll be redirected to Harvest.

6. Choose a default Income account, select if you want payments to copy to a Deposit account, turn the Sub-customers setting on or off, and click Save.

   • The income account selected here will only be used if the selected invoice item types in Harvest (and corresponding product/service items in QuickBooks Online) aren’t already linked to an income account in your QuickBooks Online account. More about that below.
   • The deposit account options include the following QuickBooks Online account subtypes: checking, inventory, other current assets, and undeposited funds.
   • The sub-customer setting allows you to create Harvest projects as QuickBooks Online sub-customers.

How data maps from Harvest to QuickBooks Online

• Client → Customer:  When copying an invoice, we will try to match up the Harvest Client with its corresponding Customer in QuickBooks Online. If we can’t find a match, we’ll create a new Customer in QuickBooks Online. Only the client name copies over. The address and other client details don't get carried over from Harvest to QuickBooks Online.
  
• Project → Sub-customer: You can turn this mapping off in your Harvest QuickBooks Online settings found on the Settings page of your Harvest account.
• Issue Date → Invoice Date
• PO Number → Message displayed on invoice
• Subject → Message displayed on invoice
• Invoice Item Type → Product and Service

Best practices for linking Harvest and QuickBooks Online

Client names, sub-customer names, and item types/products and services must match exactly in Harvest and QuickBooks Online in order for invoices to copy correctly from Harvest to QuickBooks Online. Before copying invoices, we recommend reviewing and comparing names of items in Harvest to items in your QuickBooks Online account and editing them to match exactly. If there isn’t a perfect match, duplicate items will be created in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, you will want to review your product and service items in QuickBooks Online under Menu > Sales > Products & services to make sure they’re linked to the correct income accounts. You’ll also want those items to match up with Harvest Item Types under Invoices > Configure > Item types in your Harvest account. Each line item on a Harvest invoice is assigned to a Harvest item type. These item types map to QuickBooks Online products and services and will determine which income account invoice line items are copied to in QuickBooks Online. If there isn’t a perfect match between item type and product or service, we’ll use the default income account selected in Harvest under Settings > Integrations > QuickBooks Online.

Finally, before copying invoices, you may want to select a default tax rate in Invoices > Configure > Default values in your Harvest account. There, you’ll have the option to apply a tax rate from your QuickBooks Online account. Alternatively, you can continue to select tax on a per invoice basis.

Copying invoices from Harvest to QuickBooks Online

Sending invoices to your clients in Harvest will automatically copy them to your QuickBooks Online account. Recurring invoices will also automatically be copied when they are sent to your clients. Invoices paid via retainer will automatically be copied in all cases except when the retainer doesn’t cover the full amount due and payment copying is disabled.

In case an invoice doesn’t automatically copy or you want to re-copy an invoice you’ve edited, you can also manually copy invoices to QuickBooks Online:

1. Go to Invoices > Overview, and select the invoice you want to copy to QuickBooks Online.
2. In the Actions menu, click Copy to QuickBooks.

Once an invoice has been copied to QuickBooks Online, Copied to QuickBooks will appear next to the title.

Note: Retainers and negative invoices can’t be copied to QuickBooks Online.

More on the QuickBooks Online integration

• Payments: You can control whether or not Harvest invoice payments copy to QuickBooks Online under Settings > Integrations > QuickBooks Online.

• Tax rates and discounts: Tax and discount values will be copied directly from your Harvest invoice to your QuickBooks Online invoice. When creating or editing your invoice, click Apply tax from QuickBooks Online and select the tax rate you want to use (these are pulled in from your QuickBooks Online account). You can set a default tax rate from Invoices > Configure > Default values.

• Other currencies: Harvest invoices created in other currencies will be copied in your QuickBooks Online default currency.

• Deleted invoices: If you delete an invoice in Harvest, the copied invoice in QuickBooks Online will remain intact. However, the View in Harvest link will be broken. This also applies if you delete the invoice in QuickBooks Online instead; the Harvest invoice remains intact but the link to view in QuickBooks Online will no longer work.

Disconnecting Harvest from QuickBooks Online

1. In Harvest, click on Settings (upper right corner).
   • • Only Administrators can view and change account settings.
2. Click Integrations in the left sidebar.
3. In the QuickBooks Online section click on Edit settings.

4. At the top of the page, click the button to Unlink QuickBooks.

FAQ

Refer to Xero and QuickBooks Online FAQ for answers to commonly asked questions.