Invoices & Expenses: get paid, track receipts, keep QuickBooks in step

Before you have any invoices, the screen shows three finished examples made for an invented business, Maple Street Bakery: a full invoice, a receipt being read, and the customer's page with its Paid in full bar. Try it with sample data makes a real sample invoice (marked Sample) you can change, send to yourself, and record payments on; Read a sample receipt runs a real receipt read on a sample photo. Samples are never sent to QuickBooks or webhooks.

On the right, Set up in 2 minutes asks for your business name, a logo (or Use my Brand Kit), a sales tax rate and your own payment link. Save and start my first invoice saves them and opens a new invoice; Skip for now goes straight to the list. All of it can change later in Settings.

The bar across the top holds Invoices, Customers, Items, Time, Expenses, Reports and Settings, plus Quick invoice and New invoice. Every view has its own address (for example ?inv=… for one invoice, ?f=overdue for the overdue list, ?panel=customers&customer=…), so you can bookmark it or send it to someone on your team. A red number on Invoices counts overdue invoices; on Reports it counts reminders waiting for you.

Four tiles sit at the top: Waiting (the money on sent invoices not yet paid), Overdue, Paid · 30 days and Drafts. Each tile is a filter: press it to show just those invoices, and Show all → to go back. Under them are a search box (number, customer or title) and chips for Everything, Credit notes and Repeating. From a quote lists every Quote Studio quote your customer accepted; Make invoice turns one into an invoice, and Open invoice opens the one already made.

Tick the box beside invoices to pick several, then Send, Mark paid (records exactly what's left), CSV or Archive; the message says which were done and why any weren't. With more than one business, a business picker filters the list. Each row shows the customer, the number, when it's due, the amount (the balance on unpaid ones) and its status: Draft, Sent, Viewed, Part paid, Overdue, Paid, Void, Credit available or Credit used.

Bill to: pick a saved customer, or choose New customer and type the name, company, email and address (they're saved as a customer when you send). Details: an optional title, the date, the payment terms (Due on receipt, Net 7, 10, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90, or Pick a date), the currency, which business it's from when you have more than one, and the Hub job it belongs to. Custom fields you add in Settings (like PO number) appear here too.

Lines: each line has a name, details, quantity, price (up to four decimals, so $0.045 each works), an optional discount (percent or dollars off), the tax rates that apply, and its amount. Start typing a saved item's name, or use + Saved item, to fill in its price and taxes. Add a tax rate opens Settings when you haven't set one yet. Add photo puts a product picture on a line: pick one of your products' photos from Quote Studio, a picture from your Graphics Library, or upload one. It's made small and kept with the invoice, and shows on the invoice, the PDF and the customer's page. A saved item that has a photo brings it along.

Discount, shipping, deposit, fees: an invoice discount (percent or amount, with your own label) is spread over the lines before tax, so tax is never charged on money taken off. Shipping can be taxed or not. Deposit now asks for a percent or amount first; the customer's page shows that as due now. + Add a fee adds a line like a card fee or rush fee after tax. Totals shows every number as you type, with the balance due.

Notes, terms and how to pay hold the note to the customer, your terms, your payment link (any provider you use) and how to pay. Repeat this invoice makes a fresh draft copy every week, month, three months or year, until an optional stop date; you look it over and press Send each time.

Everything saves by itself (Saved shows at the top). Changes to an invoice you already sent show on the customer's page right away, and the timeline notes it.

Preview shows the invoice exactly as the customer's page and the PDF print it. Ask for changes takes any change in plain words, like "add a 3% card fee", "make it net 15" or "use the bold layout in dark green". The invoice changes and saves; the answer lists anything it did not do first, then what it did and the total before and after. Undo this change puts it back, and the thumbs ask how it went. Each change uses about 1 token. It never invents a price or tax rate you didn't give.

Payments shows whether the customer opened the page, and Copy link and Open. Record a payment takes the amount (it suggests what's due now), date, how it was paid and a note. Use credit applies an issued credit note for the same customer. Add late fee appears when your late fee rule says one is due. Received lists each payment; payments that came from QuickBooks are removed in QuickBooks. What's next offers the Hub job, getting an agreement signed (once Contracts & e-Sign is available), asking for a review, and quoting the next job. The timeline lists every step.

Look changes this invoice's layout (Modern, Classic, Bold, Minimal), color (Brand Kit colors first), font, logo place and size, the quantity and price columns, per-line tax names and the footer.

Send makes the customer's private page (/invoice/…). Then Copy link, or Email it to open a ready message in your own email app. PDF downloads the invoice at any time, drafts included. More holds Open the customer's page, Duplicate, Make a credit note, Add late fee, Archive and Void (the customer's page then says it was cancelled).

The customer's page needs no account. At the top are your logo, name and social links. A bar shows Due (or Past due since …, or Paid in full) and the amount, with Pay now and Download PDF. Under it, Pay lists each card processor you connected (Pay by card, Pay with PayPal) and your own payment link as Other ways to pay; the customer pays on that company's secure page and comes back to a thank-you note, and the invoice shows Paid in full once the payment completes. With nothing connected and no payment link, there's no Pay button. The invoice and the PDF carry a Pay now button too, which opens this page. Your first visit never counts as the customer opening it.

Quick invoice (top right on a computer, the round button on a phone) makes and sends an invoice in three taps. 1: tap the customer (recent customers are listed first) or type a new name. 2: press the microphone and say the work, or type it: "2 hours design at 85, delivery 25, 3 dozen macarons at 28". Each line appears as you speak with its quantity and price; quantities can be words ("two dozen") and units like hours, days, dozen and miles are understood. A saved product or service brings its own price and taxes; a spoken price beats it. A line with no price is marked Price? and Send waits until it has one. 3: press Send (the invoice goes live) or Save draft. Reading the words happens on your device with no AI; Didn't get it right? Read it with AI uses about 1 token and never invents a price.

Time has a timer at the top left: Start timer, then Stop and save; it keeps counting if you close the tab, on that device. Below it, add time (hours, like 1.5) or mileage (miles or kilometers, set in Settings) with the date, what it was for, the customer and an optional rate. The list shows Not billed, On an invoice or Everything, with a search box; the badge at the top shows unbilled hours and their value. Tick entries (or Select all) and press Make invoice: a draft is made with one line per entry (time in 6-minute steps) and the entries link to that invoice so nothing is billed twice. An entry on an invoice stays (it shows which invoice it's on).

Add a receipt (the camera on a phone), drop a photo, Read a sample receipt, or Type one in. Reading uses about 1 token. The photo sits beside what was read: store, date, total, tax, currency, category, Hub job and a note. Fields it wasn't sure of are highlighted. Mark checked when it's right. The tiles show what's spent, the tax paid, and how many are still to check; filter by category, job or month, and Spreadsheet (CSV) downloads exactly what's shown.

Customers shows each customer's details, what they owe, and a Statement: every invoice, payment and credit note with the running balance (Print statement prints it). New invoice starts one for that customer. Items holds the products and services you sell with their price, unit and taxes. Both have Import CSV (columns matched by name; people already saved are skipped) and Export.

Customers → Portal link copies one private link for that customer: every invoice and credit note you sent them, what they owe, a printable statement, and a receipt for each payment. They need no account and never see drafts or private notes.

Items are the products and services you sell, shared with Quote Studio (the same list in both). Each has a price, unit, the taxes that apply and, if you tick Count stock, how many you have: the count goes down when an invoice with that item is sent and back up if it's voided; Low stock shows at 5 or fewer.

Reports → Tax time: pick This year, Last year, This quarter or Last quarter, and Invoices issued or Money received. You get net sales, expenses (with mileage at your rate), profit or loss, sales tax collected per rate, and the contractor (1099) list of payees under Subcontractors, flagged at the amount set in Settings. Accountant pack (CSV) downloads all of it as one file. It isn't tax advice.

Reports → Who owes what is the aging report: unpaid invoices by customer, split into Not due yet, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days late, per currency. A customer's name opens their statement; a total opens their unpaid invoices. Reminders to approve holds the reminders on your schedule: edit them, add the suggested late fee, Approve and copy, Open in my email, or Skip. Approved by your schedule marks ones that came in already approved.

Settings → Invoice design is where you design a business's invoices; every new invoice starts from it. Pick a layout from the small previews: Classic (the default: a traditional invoice with your logo and details on the left and INVOICE with the number, date, due date, terms and PO on the right, then bill to and ship to boxes), Modern (a deep color band with the amount due), Minimal (white space and black type), Product & promo (large product photos, ship-to first, decoration details), Elegant, Bold or Banded. The layout that suits the type of business you chose under Your business & look says Recommended for your business; Use the suggested layout and fields there sets it up for you (for example Job site address for a contractor, Event date and Headcount for catering).

Under the previews: Colors & font (eight color themes plus your Brand Kit colors, a main and a second color, the font), Logo (place and size), Sections (show, hide, rename and drag or move with the arrows: header, amount due and Pay now, bill to and ship to, shipping and tracking, line items, totals, notes, how to pay, payments received, terms, footer), Table columns (photo, SKU, description, quantity, unit price, tax, amount), Words on the document (rename Invoice, Bill to, Balance due, Pay now and more), Your own fields (up to 10, filled in on each invoice and printed with the invoice's details) and Header & footer lines. Save as new design keeps it under a name; pick a saved design to use it again, Update it after a change, or delete it. One invoice can wear a different design from its Look tab, including any saved design. The preview on the right changes as you go.

On an invoice, Ship to and shipments holds a ship-to address apart from bill to (or Ship to the bill-to address), and any number of shipments: each with its own address if it goes somewhere else, which lines and how many are in it (to split an order), the tracking number (UPS, FedEx, USPS and DHL are recognized from the number's shape and get a Track link), the date shipped and the date delivered. Packing slip opens a printable slip with no prices. Details also has the customer's PO number and an estimated ship date; with a usual turnaround set in Settings, new invoices fill the ship date in for you.

The customer's page shows Your order: the estimated ship date (with Updated and the day when you change it), each shipment as Preparing, Shipped and Delivered, and Track with the carrier, which opens the carrier's own page. Live tracking status inside aiKit isn't built yet, so you mark a shipment delivered. With After they pay on (Settings → Your business & look), the page invites the customer to leave a review once the invoice is paid (after the number of days you set) or a shipment is delivered; the link is your public page in the Reviews tool, or any review link you paste. Everyone sees the same invite, and nothing is offered in return.

Off by default. Switch on Promo / reseller tools in Settings → Your business & look to add your ASI, SAGE and PPAI numbers (printed with your details) and, on every line under SKU, decoration, cost: the charge type (setup, run, PMS match, freight, printed as a small tag), imprint method, location, colors and size, and an art proof link the customer can open, plus your supplier and your cost each with the margin worked out. Cost, supplier and margin are only for you: they never print and never reach the customer's page. Details gets an in-hands date.

With suppliers on the lines, More → Purchase order to <supplier> opens a printable purchase order at your cost with the decoration details, the in-hands date and where to ship. A shipment can be a drop-ship (ships from a supplier or warehouse) and blind: its packing slip has no prices, leaves the supplier off and names the brand it ships on behalf of.

Your business & look: one place for everything customers see about each business, with the invoice changing on the right as you type. Who you are (business name, reply email, address, phone, an optional tax ID printed as Tax ID, and any other lines), Logo (upload, or Use my Brand Kit), Website and social pages (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, YouTube; a handle like @maplestreet becomes a link, shown as small icons on the invoice, the PDF and the customer's page), Getting paid (payment terms for new invoices, currency, your own payment link and how to pay), Notes, terms and footer, and Template and colors: seven layouts (Classic, Modern, Minimal, Product & promo, Elegant, Bold, Banded), your color, font and logo place and size. Save changes updates every draft; a sent invoice keeps what the customer received until you press Use my latest business details on it.

Card payments: connect the Stripe, PayPal, Square or Authorize.net account your business already uses. Stripe connects by signing in to Stripe or by pasting your own secret or restricted key; PayPal by your app's Client ID and Secret; Square by signing in to Square; Authorize.net by your API Login ID and Transaction Key (and optionally the Signature Key). Keys are stored encrypted. Customers then see Pay now on the invoice, the PDF and their page; they pay on that company's own secure page (aiKit never sees a card number), and when the payment completes the invoice is marked paid by itself, with the payment listed as a card payment from that processor. Test-mode accounts are labeled Test mode. A processor that isn't switched on for your aiKit server yet says Coming soon.

Taxes & terms: every tax rate you charge (several can apply to one line; tick On new lines for defaults) and the default payment terms. Numbering: a pattern per business for invoices and credit notes, with {#} for the number and {YYYY}, {YY}, {MM} if you like; Next only moves forward, and a number is never given twice. Reminders & late fees: the late fee rule, and the reminder schedule (tap the days: before the due date, on it, or late). Approve this schedule once and reminders arrive approved; where email from aiKit is switched on they're emailed, otherwise they wait to be copied. Pause goes back to approving each one. Time & reports: your hourly and mileage rates, miles or kilometers, and the contractor-list amount. Taxes & terms and Numbering are per business: pick the business at the top. Custom fields: up to 10 extra boxes, printed on the invoice or not.

QuickBooks & more: Connect QuickBooks (or Coming soon when it isn't switched on yet). Once connected, Sync now sends customers, items, sent invoices, credit notes and payments, and brings payments recorded in QuickBooks back; Bring in customers & items copies yours from QuickBooks the first time. Changed on both sides lists anything edited in both places since the last sync with Keep aiKit's and Keep QuickBooks'. The sync log shows every step. Xero and FreshBooks are listed for later.

Webhooks & API: up to five https addresses that get a signed JSON post when an invoice is sent, opened, paid in part or paid in full (the secret shows once when you save). The API takes your aiKit API key: list invoices changed since a time, read one, or make a draft. Spreadsheets downloads invoices, customers, items and expenses.