Melio automatically syncs your invoices, customers, and payments with QuickBooks Desktop so you can collect payments through Melio and have everything reconciled between the two systems. QuickBooks Desktop sync is available on the Boost and Unlimited plans.
Once you connect QuickBooks desktop to Melio and your accounts receivable account is active, Melio runs a first sync of your open invoices from the last 180 days, together with their customers.
After that, new, edited and deleted invoices, customers and payments sync automatically.
Is this article for you?
This article covers how Melio syncs invoices you send to your customers to collect payment. It doesn't cover bills you pay to your vendors.
This article contains the following sections:
- Invoice types at a glance
- Full invoices (created in Melio)
- Light invoices (created in QuickBooks Desktop)
- How to detect a light invoice in your Melio account
- When a full invoice becomes a light invoice
- Items you can use on invoices
- Sales tax
- Discounts
- How payment sync works
- Rules and limitations
Invoice types at a glance
The type of invoice you see in Melio depends on where it was originally created. Melio displays invoices in one of two formats to keep your data accurate and prevent sync errors.
| Full invoice | Light invoice | |
| Created in | Melio | QuickBooks Desktop |
| Details shown | All line items, tax configurations, and discounts | Customer name, total amount, due date, PDF generated by Melio |
| Edit in Melio | Yes | No - edit in QuickBooks Desktop |
| Send & collect | Yes | Yes |
| Sync to QuickBooks Desktop | Changes you make in Melio sync out to QuickBooks Desktop | Changes to invoice details must be made in QuickBooks Desktop |
Full invoices (created in Melio)
Full invoices contain all the details of the invoice you created in Melio, including individual line items, tax configurations, and discounts.
You have full control: you can edit, delete, send, and collect payments for them directly within Melio. Any changes you make sync to QuickBooks Desktop.
Light invoices (created in QuickBooks Desktop)
Light invoices are created in your QuickBooks Desktop and synced to Melio. They show the essential summary information: the customer name, total amount, and due date, together with an invoice PDF. QuickBooks Desktop doesn't make the invoice file available to Melio, so Melio generates the PDF from the invoice data.
To prevent data conflicts between the two systems, light invoices can't be edited in Melio, but they can be paid. Any changes to the invoice details must be made directly in QuickBooks Desktop.
When you send a payment request for a light invoice, Melio attaches the PDF it generated. Your customer sees the invoice amount, due date, and details when they go to pay you.
How to detect a light invoice in your Melio account
The light invoices (created in QuickBooks Desktop) can be easily identified in your Melio account by following these steps:
1 - Select Get paid on the left sidebar.
2 - Select the Invoices tab.
3 - The light invoices will have a ‘QuickBooks Desktop’ mark under the invoice number.
Alternatively, you can open the invoice and check the invoice source. For light invoices, the source is ‘QuickBooks Desktop’.
When a full invoice becomes a light invoice
If you edit a Melio-created invoice in QuickBooks Desktop and add attributes that Melio doesn't support, the invoice automatically converts to a light invoice. This ensures the invoice stays visible and payable in Melio rather than failing to sync.
Adding any of the following in QuickBooks Desktop triggers the conversion:
| QuickBooks Desktop change | What it means |
| Group items | Groups of items bundled together as a single line entry |
| Unsupported item types | A line that uses an item Melio can't map, such as inventory part and assembly items, payment items, or items with no income account (see Items you can use on invoices) |
| Other discount or subtotal lines | Any discount or subtotal line other than the ones Melio creates for an invoice discount (see Discounts) |
Once an invoice switches to a light invoice, you can no longer edit it in Melio - but your customers can still pay it securely.
Items you can use on invoices
- Supported: QuickBooks Desktop items that have an income account set up in their sales information. In practice, these are Service, Other Charge, and Non-inventory part items.
- Not supported: Item groups, items with no income account, inventory part and assembly items, discount items, payment items, subtotal items, and sales tax items.
- Items created in Melio are added to QuickBooks Desktop as non-inventory items. Their income account is "Uncategorized Items", which Melio creates if it doesn't exist.
Sales tax
Melio follows the sales tax setup of your QuickBooks Desktop company.
- Sales tax on in QuickBooks Desktop: Melio uses your company's default taxable and non-taxable tax codes. An invoice with a tax rate syncs with that rate. An invoice with no tax rate syncs without one, and every line is sent as non-taxable, so no tax is charged.
- Sales tax off in QuickBooks Desktop: Melio doesn't send any tax information. An invoice or item that adds tax doesn't sync to QuickBooks Desktop. Changes that make an existing item or line non-taxable do sync.
- Melio doesn't support 0% tax rates. A 0% rate in QuickBooks Desktop appears as "no tax rate" in Melio. A tax rate on a QuickBooks Desktop invoice with no taxable lines is ignored.
- Tax rates created in Melio are created in QuickBooks Desktop as sales tax items with the same name and rate. QuickBooks Desktop requires a tax agency (vendor) for each of them, so Melio adds a vendor named "Receivables Service Provider Tax Vendor". You may see it in your vendor list.
Discounts
QuickBooks Desktop has no invoice-level discount. When you add a discount (percentage or fixed amount) to an invoice in Melio, Melio adds two lines at the end of the invoice in QuickBooks Desktop: a "Global Subtotal" line and a "Global Discount" line. Melio creates these two items the first time you sync an invoice with a discount.
- Updating the discount in Melio updates both lines. Removing the discount removes both lines.
- When an invoice in QuickBooks Desktop ends with a Subtotal line followed by a Discount line, Melio reads them as the invoice discount. When sales tax is on, the discount line must be taxable for Melio to recognize it.
- Any other discount or subtotal line turns the invoice into a light invoice.
How payment sync works
Payments sync automatically between Melio and QuickBooks Desktop. Here's what happens in different payment scenarios:
| Event | Result |
| Customer pays via Melio | Payment details sync back to QuickBooks Desktop, marking the invoice as paid and closing it out. |
| Payment recorded in QuickBooks Desktop | Invoice status in Melio changes to "Marked as paid". The payment is logged in your Melio payments history with the payment date, amount, and reference number. The payment method is shown as "Other" and the note reads "Payment received on QuickBooks Desktop". |
| Payment deleted in QuickBooks Desktop | Melio removes the payment registration and reopens the invoice so it can be paid again |
- Batch payments: If one payment closes several invoices, the same reference number is added to each. If several payments close a single invoice, all their reference numbers are listed, separated by commas.
- Payments that came from QuickBooks Desktop can't be marked as unpaid in Melio. To change them, update the payment in QuickBooks Desktop.
Partial payments aren't supported at this time.
Rules and limitations
- Invoice number length: QuickBooks Desktop allows a maximum of 11 characters in the invoice number, and Melio can't shorten it automatically. If your invoice number is longer than 11 characters, Melio shows the warning. You can still create the invoice, but it won't sync to QuickBooks Desktop until you shorten the number. Auto-generated invoice numbers stay within 11 characters.
- Duplicate invoice numbers: If more than one invoice has the same invoice number, only the first is synced. Invoices with the same customer, amount, and invoice number are treated as the same invoice.
- Currency: Melio only supports USD invoices. Invoices in other currencies aren't synced.
- Service charges: Invoices that include a service charge aren't synced to QuickBooks Desktop.
- Partial payments: Not supported at this time.