QuickBooks & Alternatives for International Payments in 2024

QuickBooks is one of the top names in accounting and bookkeeping, customizable enough to appeal to a wide range of business types and sizes while staying sufficiently standardized to ensure a common user experience for all users – even international clients.

Though usable by customers and clients in many countries and even integrable between them, one question tends to be tough to answer: Does QuickBooks accept international payments?

QuickBooks Overview

QuickBooks, owned by Intuit, is a one-stop shop for many accounting and bookkeeping tasks. Though the platform got its start primarily as a basic double-entry accounting tool, it expanded its offerings into a range of popular fintech services designed to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) worldwide as digital advancements changed the way we transact, do business – and manage cross-border payments.

What Products Does QuickBooks Offer?

Across its range of platforms, QuickBooks offers:

1. QuickBooks Payroll to help manage employee and contractor payments.
2. QuickBooks Time is used to log working hours on a project or to keep track of employees’ and contractors’ hourly work periods.
3. QuickBooks Money, is a wide-ranging banking solution that includes interest-bearing deposit accounts, payments, and invoicing – essentially a one-stop shop tailored toward B2B transactions.  
4. Optical character recognition to manage manual and paper documents.

QuickBooks also offers custom solutions, including virtual bookkeeping, professional tax advice, and many other functions that are ideally suited for SMBs who may not fully grasp the many financial requirements they face but lack the need or funds to hire full-time help.

You may notice one key feature missing that many need in today’s economy, though – QuickBooks online international payments.

How to Use QuickBooks for International Payments

Here’s the thing: QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online are technically international, cross-border platforms. That means users worldwide can leverage its tools for accounting and bookkeeping purposes and enjoy local support, regional currency management, unique tax structures, and other functions associated with international business.

However, it does not offer direct international payment processing.

Instead, QuickBooks offers a range of integrations with third-party apps to manage international payments. So, while the platform doesn’t provide global or cross-border payments, it enables and facilitates them when used with third-party tools. You’ll have to research the third-party options to determine which best suits your needs, but picks include GoCardless, Wise, Veem, Stripe, and Freedom Merchants.

ACH vs. Wire Transfer

A quick note before moving forward – most legacy international payment solutions were either via ACH or wire transfer. While sometimes used interchangeably, they’re a bit different in execution:

1. Wire transfers directly transfer cash from one bank to another without intermediaries or third parties facilitating the move. Wire transfers tend to be used for large transactions and support currency exchange, but also typically have high fees. Still, they tend to be quick, and some banks even support same-day deposits, though it’s rarer for international wire transfers than domestic.
2. ACH transfers use a third-party facilitator to process a range of transactions, including debits, direct deposits, electronic checks, electronic fund transfers, and direct payments. ACH transfers tend to be low-cost but slower, especially overseas – executing may take as long as a week.

You’ll likely use ACH or wire transfers when paying directly from a bank account. Other payment options like credit cards are also available but processed differently than wire and ACH transfers. Check with the QuickBooks third-party app to see their limitations on either method, how fast they typically execute, and what fees to expect.

QuickBooks’ Features Supporting International Payments

You’ll need to use QuickBooks Bill Pay to send international payments using QuickBooks and your third-party app of choice. You’ll need to enable multicurrency transactions, add your vendor, and then use the standard bill-paying process in QuickBooks or adjust to your third-party app’s directed actions to complete the transaction.

You’ll also need a third-party app to receive international payments through QuickBooks. The good news is that most apps support international wire, card payment, and even PayPal options. QuickBooks Payments will then manage the back-end actions to ensure the cash is correctly deposited into your account.

Benefits of Using QuickBooks for International Payments

Since QuickBooks lacks a native feature for sending or receiving international payments, the benefit of using the platform for these transactions primarily falls within the interest of keeping as many financial functions on a single platform as possible. Though you’ll need to work a bit and run due diligence to determine the best third-party app, integrate it, and adapt to its nuances, it’s a small price to pay for long-term convenience.

Best QuickBooks Payments Alternatives for International Payments

Not convinced? If you need a solution that offers native international payment support, you can consider these QuickBooks payment alternatives:

Wise: Wise is one of the most popular cross-border business payment processors. The tool lets users batch payments and includes payroll tools for overseas vendors. Wise also integrates with QuickBooks, so determining which is best doesn’t have to be a “one or the other” option.

Xero: You’ll need a specific multicurrency plan to send or receive international payments with Xero, but the process is simple and streamlined from there. Xero also offers multiple tax management solutions that are critical in cross-border transactions between regions with varied tax code requirements and expectations.

PayPal: PayPal tends to be a perennial favorite and really needs no introduction. PayPal’s fees are reasonable, and the company operates in most countries where SMBs do business. PayPal’s downside is its standalone nature; you’ll need separate tools like QuickBooks for broad accounting purposes.

Conclusion

While QuickBooks doesn’t offer native international payment options, it facilitates transactions through its many third-party app integrations. Approved by QuickBooks, these tools are vetted and are safe and effective when sending cross-border payments. Still, though there’s something to be said about the ease of use of sticking with one platform for all of your needs, alternatives offering direct payment options may be best for your business needs, especially if you tend to transact large or frequent international payments.