Record bills and pay vendors

A bill is a promise to pay — recorded the moment you receive the invoice from your vendor, not when you pay it. Tracking bills (instead of waiting for the bank charge) gives you a real-time view of what you owe and lets you plan cash flow.

Add a vendor

Just like customers, every bill ties to a vendor. Go to Vendors  ›  Add vendor. Minimum: a name. Add address, email, default expense category, and the 1099 flag if relevant (see below).

Enter a bill

1. Go to Bills in the sidebar and click New bill.
2. Pick the vendor from the dropdown. (Don't see them? Add a new vendor from the same dropdown without leaving the modal.)
3. Enter the bill date (what the vendor's invoice shows) and the due date.
4. Add line items: each line gets a description, quantity, unit price, and an expense category that maps to your chart of accounts.
5. If the bill has sales tax, enter it on the relevant lines.
6. Optionally attach the vendor's PDF/image of the bill — PeakBooks stores it with the record for audit.
7. Click Save. The bill now appears in the Bills list with status Open.

Pay a bill

When you actually pay the vendor — whether by check, ACH, credit card, or wire — record the payment:

1. Open the bill from the Bills list.
2. Click Record payment.
3. Enter the payment date, the amount (partial is fine), and the account it came from (Checking, Credit Card, etc.).
4. Save. PeakBooks creates the matching transaction in the paying account and links it back to the bill. Accounts Payable goes down by the payment amount.

If the bank charge came through first

Sometimes the bank charge shows up via Plaid before you've recorded the bill. Open the charge in Transactions, click its category cell, and pick Match to bill — PeakBooks shows open bills for that vendor and amount. One click links them, and the bill is marked paid.

Recurring bills

For monthly recurring obligations like rent, insurance, or SaaS:

1. Build the bill normally with the line items that should repeat.
2. In the bill modal's right-hand panel, toggle Recurring.
3. Pick the frequency (weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly) and start date.
4. Save. PeakBooks creates the next bill on schedule and surfaces it in your Bills list, ready for you to pay (or auto-pay against a default account, if you've set that up).

Tracking what you owe

• Bills — every bill with status filters (Open / Partially paid / Paid / Overdue)
• Reports  ›  A/P Aging — outstanding bills grouped by how overdue (Current / 1-30 / 31-60 / 61-90 / 90+). Use this monthly to plan cash outflow.

Vendors and 1099 tracking

If you pay independent contractors $600 or more in a calendar year, the IRS wants a 1099-NEC for each one. PeakBooks helps you stay on top of this:

• On the vendor record, tick 1099-relevant.
• Throughout the year, PeakBooks tracks every payment to that vendor.
• At year-end, Reports  ›  1099 summary shows every 1099-relevant vendor and their total paid for the year. Anyone over $600 needs a 1099 filed.