Understanding QuickBooks Online Error Messages in Tradify

Learn more about error messages when using Tradify with QuickBooks Online, what these mean and how to fix these issues.

Find your error below. If your error message isn't here or you're still having issues, please check out Contacting Tradify Support.

Incorrect Account Codes 

The Problem: Houston, we have a problem. Bill XXXXXX can't be sent to QuickBooks because of the following errors: Fix the incorrect account code on each line item or price list item, approve the Bill and resend to QuickBooks.

The Solution: The account code associated with either the line item or the default price list item (of the item on the document) has not been entered correctly. You'll need to enter an existing and relevant account code and try again.

Line Item Account UID Issues

The Problem: Houston, we have a problem. Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks because of the following errors: Line Item 1 IncomeAccount.UID: Income Account is required. Fix the incorrect account code on each line item, payment, price list item or billing rate, approve the invoice and resend to QuickBooks.

The Solution: There may be multiple causes for this error. However, if you try manually typing the account code into the text field (as opposed to selecting it from the drop-down menu) on a default price list item and save it, the system will not link the item to the account in QuickBooks. Additionally, this may occur when importing a .CSV file intro Tradify with the incorrect account code. Ensure that you're using the drop-down menu or double-checking your .CSV files prior to importing. 

The Unit of Measure field's character limit has been exceeded

The Problem: Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks because of the following errors: Line Item 5 SellingUnitOfMeasure: Maximum allowed characters for SellingUnitOfMeasure is 5.

The Solution: One of the items on the invoice has a Unit of Measure field that exceeds 5 characters. To fix this, you need to check every items default setup to find which one has the exceeded character limit

Error parsing query QueryParserError: Invalid Content.

The Problem: Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks because of the following errors: Error parsing query QueryParserError: Invalid Content. Lexical error at Line 1, column 36. Encountered: "\u2010" (8208), after : "\'LL"

The Solution: Dash characters ("-" and "—") are invalid characters and cannot be sent to QuickBooks. Check your line items and remove any dashes before retrying. 

Transaction date is prior to start date for inventory item

The Problem: Houston, we have a problem. Bill XXXXXX can't be sent to QuickBooks because of the following errors: Transaction date is prior to start date for inventory item. Transactions with inventory (QOH) products can't be dated earlier than the Inventory Start Date for the product.

The Solution: Check QuickBooks to make sure that the 'Created On' date for the inventory/price list item is is after the Invoice's creation date on Tradify or vice versa. Tradify sends the invoice/bill date and Quicbooks sends the 'Created On' date. If the item was created in QuickBooks after it was added to the Invoice, this error will occur.

Duplicate Name Error 

The Problem: Duplicate Name Exists Error The name supplied already exists. : Another product or service is already using this name. Please use a different name.

The Solution: While this issue has a variety of known and unknown causes, if an item in QuickBooks has certain presets applied to it, it will not send to Tradify properly. You may need to contact support for more assistance on this issue but double-check your line items and you may discover what line items are causing this issue.

Duplicate Category Error

The Problem: Duplicate Category Name Exists Error The category name supplied already exists. : Another product or service is already using this category name. Please use a different name.

The Solution: This issue is very similar to the duplicate name error above. You should avoid having Price List Items in Tradify that have the same name as a QuickBooks category. If you try to create a Product in QuickBooks with the same name as a Category, QuickBooks will tell you that you can’t because the product already exists.

Required param is missing

The Problem: Required param missing, need to supply the required value for the API Required parameter Line.DetailType is missing in the request.

The Solution: This may happen when you have a '0' quantity on a line item, however, there may be undiscovered causes for this issue as well. 

Tax not configured in QuickBooks:

Error messages:

• “Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: A tax rate used on a price list item doesn't appear to exist in QuickBooks. Please use another tax rate for the price list item in the settings page, or add the new tax rate in QuickBooks and try again.”
• “Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Cannot send this invoice/bill to QuickBooks because it includes tax and QuickBooks is not configured for tax”

Solution: Even if you are not VAT registered, you still need to have matching Tax rates in Tradify and QuickBooks. If you have a zero VAT rate set up in Tradify, you'll need to create this in QuickBooks Online.

To create this tax rate in QuickBooks follow these steps or check out this guide.

Add a tax rate and agency

1. From the left menu, select Taxes.
2. Under the Related Tasks list on the right, choose Add/edit tax rates and agencies.
3. Select New and choose either a single or a combined tax rate.
4. Enter a name for the tax, the agency you pay, and the percentage for the rate.
5. Select Save.

Once you have done that you should be able to approve and send these invoices. 

Note: You may need to set your No VAT rate to 0.0% 

To set up QuickBooks for VAT:

1. On the left-hand side, click on Taxes.
2. Click on Edit VAT in the top right-hand corner, then select Edit Settings.
3. Set Up an account for VAT.
4. Enter any dates and details, and include a VAT reg number of 9 zero’s ( 000000000 ).
5. Click Save.
6. Go To Taxes Again
7. Click on “Edit VAT” in the top right-hand corner, then select Edit Rates.
8. Switch off all Rates containing a percentage of 20% with the toggles available.

Duplicate Invoice number error

Error Message: “Invoice [number] can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Duplicate Document Number Error: You must specify a different number. This number has already been used. DocNumber=[number] is assigned to TxnType= with TxnId=”

Solution: Essentially, QuickBooks is not posting the Invoice as another invoice already exists in QuickBooks with this invoice number. Ensure to check whether you're using Tradify or QuickBooks' numbering sequence for invoicing. 

• If this is from Tradify: you'll need to update the sequence to a number that hasn’t been used.
• If this is from QuickBooks: you should try and update the number sequence in QuickBooks (see steps below).

This error usually means that QuickBooks (which controls your invoice numbering sequence) is generating a duplicate invoice number that already exists. This can happen if you've recently deleted an invoice, or reset one to draft. To fix it, you'll just need to adjust your QuickBooks number sequence. To do this:

1. Look at your invoices in QuickBooks and note down the invoice with the highest number.
2. Create a new invoice in QuickBooks and check to see what invoice number it receives.
3. If it's below the existing 'highest number', change the invoice number so that it becomes the new highest number (you can change the invoice number in the small box to the right of the invoice below
4. Now save the invoice in QuickBooks (QuickBooks remembers the new invoice number you’ve entered, and then continues the sequence for the next invoices).

You should now be able to approve your draft invoices in Tradify, and send them to QuickBooks. But if you’re still having any trouble, you can try creating a copy of the draft invoice and deleting the original.

Account type error

Error Message: “Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Fix the incorrect account code on each line item, payment, price list item or billing rate, approve the invoice and resend to QuickBooks.”

Solution: Firstly, check that the account codes in Integration Settings are correct, then check each item in the Billing Rate Settings or Price List Settings. 

Duplicate Customer Error Messages

Error Message: “Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Duplicate Name Exists Error The name supplied already exists.: null”

Solution: Delete the customer from QuickBooks (only if that customer has no invoices against them).

Error Message: “Invoice Draft can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Duplicate Name Exists Error The name supplied already exists: Another customer is already using this name. Please use a different name.”

Solution: This usually happens if you have been updating customer names in QuickBooks directly, and haven’t made the same update in Tradify.

We recommend creating and maintaining customers in Tradify directly, as these will automatically update in QuickBooks when sending invoices over. Whereas if changes are made in QuickBooks, you would need to manually select to import these changes into Tradify.

Permissions error

Error Message: “Invoice ___ has been sent to QuickBooks. However, QuickBooks reported the following warnings: you don’t appear to have permission to access this feature. Please double-check your QuickBooks account”

Issue: You may find some issues when your line items aren't showing correctly in QuickBooks Online when you send the invoice across. This can happen if you're using the QuickBooks Essentials tier, as this tier does not include inventory tracking. 

Solution: In Tradify's QuickBooks Settings, toggle off the Send price list items to QuickBooks as inventory.

Transaction date/stock error

Error Message: “Invoice can't be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: Transaction date is prior to start date for stock item Transactions with stock (QOH) products can’t be dated earlier than the Stock Start Date for the product.”

Solution: QuickBooks Online is date-specific and Invoices can only be posted after the starting date of tracking a particular line item (for inventory management purposes). You can't create an Invoice with a transaction date before the inventory item was being tracked — meaning you'll need to ensure your Invoice dates are after this. 

To ensure the inventory tracking date is before the Invoice date:

1. In QuickBooks, select the gear icon in the 
2. Open Products & Services in QuickBooks Online.
3. Look for your specific item(s).
4. Select Edit.
5. In Quantity on hand, select Starting Value.
6. Select Got it.
7. Change the date in As of date.
8. Select Save and close.

Please note you'll need to do this for all items in the Invoice with this error for the Invoice to successfully send through to QuickBooks.

Category error:

Error message: Invoice Draft can’t be sent to QuickBooks due to the following errors: A business validation error has occurred while processing your request Business Validation Error: You can’t change a Category into another item type.

Solution: You may find this if your customer has categories in QuickBooks named either Misc or Standard. If this is the case, you'll need to rename these and then your Invoice should send over.

0 quantity error

Error message: Required param missing, need to supply the required value for the API Required parameter Line.DetailType is missing in the request’:

Solution: This is usually caused by a line item on an Invoice having a 0 quantity. Change this to a value greater than 0 and the Invoice should send over.