QuickBooks: Create a bill

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Contract 2026-10-20 · Operation quickbooks.bill.create_a_bill

Provider route: POST /v3/company/{realmID}/bill. Alter supplies the connection’s credentials and routing.

Call through Alter

Install @alter-ai/sdk @alter-ai/quickbooks with npm, or alter-sdk-quickbooks with pip. Supply your connected customer’s grant ID and the arguments described below.

import { App } from "@alter-ai/sdk";
import { QuickBooksIntegration } from "@alter-ai/quickbooks";

async function execute(input: Parameters<QuickBooksIntegration["bill"]["create"]>[0]) {
  const app = new App({ apiKey: process.env.ALTER_API_KEY! });
  try {
    const provider = new QuickBooksIntegration(app, { grantId: process.env.PROVIDER_GRANT_ID! });
    const call = await provider.bill.create(input);
    const result = await call.wait();
    return result.bodyJson();
  } finally {
    await app.close();
  }
}

import os
from alter_sdk import App
from alter_sdk_quickbooks import QuickBooksIntegration

async def execute(arguments):
    async with App(api_key=os.environ["ALTER_API_KEY"]) as app:
        provider = QuickBooksIntegration(app, {"grant_id": os.environ["PROVIDER_GRANT_ID"]})
        call = await provider.bill.create(arguments)
        result = await call.wait()
        return result.body_json()

Input

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	object	Root	Additional keys: not allowed
query	object	Optional	Additional keys: not allowed
query.minorversion	integer	Optional	Must equal: 75
query.requestid	string	Optional	Minimum length: 1
body	object	Required within parent	Fields not accepted: Id, SyncToken Additional keys: not allowed
body.APAccountRef	Model	Optional	Expand Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To Specifies to which AP account the bill is credited. Query the Account name list resource to determine the appropriate Account object for this reference. Use Account.Id and Account.Name from that object for APAccountRef.value and APAccountRef.name , respectively. The specified account must have Account.Classification set to Liability and Account.AccountSubType set to AccountsPayable . If the company has a single AP account, the account is implied. However, it is recommended that the AP Account be explicitly specified in all cases to prevent unexpected errors when relating transactions to each other.
body.Balance	JSON	Optional	The balance reflecting any payments made against the transaction. Initially set to the value of TotalAmt . A Balance of 0 indicates the bill is fully paid. Calculated by QuickBooks business logic; any value you supply is over-written by QuickBooks. Decimal string Read only: true
body.Balance (anyOf 1)	number	Alternative
body.Balance (anyOf 2)	string	Alternative	Pattern: ^-?[0-9]+(?:.[0-9]+)?$
body.CurrencyRef	Model	Optional	Expand Create a bill — request body — body Currency Ref Reference to the currency in which all amounts on the associated transaction are expressed. This must be defined if multicurrency is enabled for the company. Multicurrency is enabled for the company if Preferences.MultiCurrencyEnabled is set to true . Read more about multicurrency support here . Required if multicurrency is enabled for the company. Conditionally required
body.DepartmentRef	Model	Optional	Expand Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To A reference to a Department object specifying the location of the transaction, as defined using location tracking in QuickBooks Online. Query the Department name list resource to determine the appropriate department object for this reference. Use Department.Id and Department.Name from that object for DepartmentRef.value and DepartmentRef.name , respectively.
body.DocNumber	string	Optional	Reference number for the transaction. If not explicitly provided at create time, a custom value can be provided. If no value is supplied, the resulting DocNumber is null. Throws an error when duplicate DocNumber is sent in the request. Recommended best practice: check the setting of Preferences:OtherPrefs before setting DocNumber. If a duplicate DocNumber needs to be supplied, add the query parameter name/value pair, include=allowduplicatedocnum to the URI. Sort order is ASC by default.
body.DueDate	string	Optional	Date when the payment of the transaction is due. If date is not provided, the number of days specified in SalesTermRef added the transaction date will be used.
body.ExchangeRate	JSON	Optional	The number of home currency units it takes to equal one unit of currency specified by CurrencyRef . Applicable if multicurrency is enabled for the company. Decimal string
body.ExchangeRate (anyOf 1)	number	Alternative
body.ExchangeRate (anyOf 2)	string	Alternative	Pattern: ^-?[0-9]+(?:.[0-9]+)?$
body.GlobalTaxCalculation	string	Optional	Method in which tax is applied. Allowed values are: TaxExcluded , TaxInclusive , and NotApplicable . Not applicable to US companies; required for non-US companies. Conditionally required
body.HomeBalance	JSON	Optional	Convenience field containing the amount in Balance expressed in terms of the home currency. Calculated by QuickBooks business logic. Value is valid only when CurrencyRef is specified. Applicable if multicurrency is enabled for the company. Decimal string Read only: true
body.HomeBalance (anyOf 1)	number	Alternative
body.HomeBalance (anyOf 2)	string	Alternative	Pattern: ^-?[0-9]+(?:.[0-9]+)?$
body.IncludeInAnnualTPAR	JSON	Optional	Include the supplier in the annual TPAR. TPAR stands for Taxable Payments Annual Report. The TPAR is mandated by ATO to get the details payments that businesses make to contractors for providing services. Some government entities also need to report the grants they have paid in a TPAR.
body.IncludeInAnnualTPAR (anyOf 1)	boolean	Alternative
body.IncludeInAnnualTPAR (anyOf 2)	string	Alternative	One of: true, false
body.Line	array	Required within parent	The minimum line item required for the request.
body.Line[]	Model	Each item	Expand Create a bill — request body — body Line item
body.LinkedTxn	array	Optional	Zero or more transactions linked to this Bill object. The LinkedTxn.TxnType can be set to PurchaseOrder , BillPaymentCheck , or ReimburseCharge . Use LinkedTxn.TxnId as the ID of the transaction.
body.LinkedTxn[]	Model	Each item	Expand Create a bill — request body — body Linked Txn item
body.MetaData	Model	Optional	Expand Read a bill — response body — Bill Meta Data Descriptive information about the object. The MetaData values are set by Data Services and are read only for all applications.
body.PrivateNote	string	Optional	User entered, organization-private note about the transaction. This note does not appear on the invoice to the customer. This field maps to the Memo field on the Invoice form.
body.RecurDataRef	Model	Optional	Expand Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To A reference to the Recurring Transaction. It captures what recurring transaction template the Bill was created from. Read only: true
body.SalesTermRef	Model	Optional	Expand Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To Reference to the Term associated with the transaction. Query the Term name list resource to determine the appropriate Term object for this reference. Use Term.Id and Term.Name from that object for SalesTermRef.value and SalesTermRef.name , respectively.
body.TotalAmt	JSON	Optional	Indicates the total amount of the transaction. This includes the total of all the charges, allowances, and taxes. Calculated by QuickBooks business logic; any value you supply is over-written by QuickBooks. Decimal string Read only: true
body.TotalAmt (anyOf 1)	number	Alternative
body.TotalAmt (anyOf 2)	string	Alternative	Pattern: ^-?[0-9]+(?:.[0-9]+)?$
body.TxnDate	string	Optional	The date entered by the user when this transaction occurred. For posting transactions, this is the posting date that affects the financial statements. If the date is not supplied, the current date on the server is used. Sort order is ASC by default.
body.TxnTaxDetail	Model	Optional	Expand Create a bill — request body — body Txn Tax Detail This data type provides information for taxes charged on the transaction as a whole. It captures the details of all taxes calculated for the transaction based on the tax codes referenced by the transaction. This can be calculated by QuickBooks business logic or you may supply it when adding a transaction. If sales tax is disabled ( Preferences.TaxPrefs.UsingSalesTax is set to false ) then TxnTaxDetail is ignored and not stored.
body.VendorRef	Model	Required within parent	Expand Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To Reference to the vendor for this transaction. Query the Vendor name list resource to determine the appropriate Vendor object for this reference. Use Vendor.Id and Vendor.Name from that object for VendorRef.value and VendorRef.name , respectively.
body.domain	string	Optional
body.sparse	boolean	Optional

Referenced models: Read a bill — response body — Bill Meta Data, Create a bill — request body — body Line item, Create a bill — request body — body Currency Ref, Create a bill — request body — body Linked Txn item, Create a purchase order — request body — body Ship To, Create a bill — request body — body Txn Tax Detail

Response

Response media type: application/json. The table describes the pinned successful response. Referenced models link to their complete fields.

Field	Type	Presence	Description and constraints
$	object	Root	Additional keys: allowed
time	string	Optional
Bill	Model	Optional	Expand Read a bill — response body — Bill

Referenced models: Read a bill — response body — Bill

Policy, approvals and errors

SDK function policy ID: quickbooks.bill.create_a_bill. Catalog operation: bills/create. Rules can name either ID; function rules distinguish managed calls and conservatively cover raw calls sharing the route. Existing grant permissions and policy rules apply. wait() returns an immediate result or waits for a required approval; it never approves the request itself. Persist the approval ID to resume after a restart.

Provider errors retain their response; JSON decoding raises ProviderAPIError for provider failures. ManagedOperationError identifies contract/input/retention errors. See error handling and provider-specific behavior. Sensitive input may be refused before approval storage. A decoding error never resubmits a write.

Official provider source