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.

Connect 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. Learn more about how the income account is selected. 
   • 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.

Best practices for linking Harvest and QuickBooks Online

Before copying invoices, we recommend reviewing and comparing the 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.

How data maps from Harvest to QuickBooks Online when an invoice is copied

• 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 account's QuickBooks Online integration settings from Settings > Integrations > View settings > Sub-customers. 
• Issue Date → Invoice Date
• PO Number → Message displayed on invoice
• Subject → Message displayed on invoice
• Invoice Item Type → Product and Service

Review client and customer names

Review your client names in Harvest and your customer names in QuickBooks Online to ensure they match exactly. If client names and customer names do not match between the tools, this will result in new customers being created in QuickBooks Online. 

Review item types and products and services to ensure data is mapped to the correct income 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.

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. 

If there isn’t a perfect match between the item type in Harvest and the product or service in QuickBooks Online, we’ll use the default income account selected in Harvest under Settings > Integrations > QuickBooks Online.

Enable default tax rate from QuickBooks Online (optional)

Before copying invoices, you may want to select a default tax rate in Harvest from Invoices > Configure > Default values. 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.

Information about tax rates, discounts, currencies, and deleted invoices for the QuickBooks Online integration

• 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 currencies other than the default currency for your QuickBooks Online account will be copied over 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.

Copy invoices from Harvest to QuickBooks Online

When invoices are sent to your clients from Harvest they will automatically copy to your QuickBooks Online account. 

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.

What invoice types are copied from Harvest to QuickBooks Online?

• Standard invoices for tracked time, expenses, and fixed fees and free form invoices will automatically copy to QuickBooks Online. 
• Recurring invoices will automatically be copied when they are sent to your clients.
• Retainers cannot be copied to QuickBooks Online. See more about why retainer invoices are not copied to QuickBooks online. 
• Standard invoices paid via retainer will automatically be copied in all cases except when the retainer does not cover the full amount due and payment copying is disabled.
• Negative invoices cannot be copied to QuickBooks Online.

Copy invoice payments from Harvest to QuickBooks Online

You can control whether or not Harvest invoice payments copy to QuickBooks Online from Settings > Integrations > QuickBooks Online > View Settings > Deposit account. Payment copy is one way only, from Harvest to QuickBooks Online. 

Disconnect 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.