Intuit Changing QuickBooks Online Bill Payment Options
On August 7, Intuit announced significant changes to bill payment options available in QuickBooks Online (QBO). These changes result in fewer choices and potentially increased costs for QBO subscribers who use existing online bill payment tools. Read on, and you will learn about these changes and how they may impact you or your clients.
What's Changing?
According to Intuit’s announcement, the company will end integration between QBO and Bill Pay powered by BILL (also known as Bill.com). This action will occur on September 19, 2023. Assuming the change goes into effect on that date, existing customers using the Bill Pay powered by BILL service will be unable to integrate the service with QBO.
Likewise, Intuit is discontinuing integration with Melio’s Bill Pay service. This change will begin affecting QBO subscribers as early as September 12, 2023, although not all customers will lose integration with Melio’s platform at that time. However, the integration between Melio’s platform and QBO will eventually cease for all users, and existing Melio users will not be able to integrate the service with QBO.
When Do The Changes Take Effect?
As indicated above, the integration between QBO and Bill Pay powered by BILL ends on September 19, 2023 for all existing QBO users who integrate with Bill Pay powered by BILL. On the other hand, terminating the integration between QBO and Melio’s Bill Pay service will occur over time, beginning on September 12, 2023. Notably absent from Intuit’s press release was a scheduled ending date for the phase-out of the Melio integration.
What Are My Transition Options?
Unfortunately, losing the integration between QBO and the two platforms mentioned above means few choices will be available to QBO users seeking an integrated payment platform. The only supported integration appears to be with the newly announced QuickBooks Bill Pay service. QuickBooks Bill Pay is a new subscription service Intuit is introducing to replace the functionality provided previously by the Melio and Bill-powered solutions.
According to Intuit, QuickBooks Bill Pay fully integrates with QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Bill Pay is available only as a subscription service. There is no monthly subscription fee, and each subscription provides up to five free ACH transactions each month. Intuit will also make enhanced subscriptions available, including offerings with more ACH transactions, customized bill approval workflows, and roles and permissions to control access by team members. Existing QBO subscribers will receive more information directly from Intuit on these changes and options available going forward.
Summary
If you use QBO and pay bills electronically, Intuit’s decision to discontinue integration with the bill payment services powered by BILL and Melio likely surprises you. Further, the timing of the action provides a relatively short time frame for creating an action plan on how to proceed. The most practical choices appear to be transitioning to the new Intuit-powered solution or moving away from electronic bill payments altogether. If Intuit’s announcements impact your business, make sure you begin to create your action plan immediately to avoid any unpleasant surprises in September.
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