Add a Discount to an Invoice in QuickBooks Online

Short Summary

QuickBooks Online lets you apply a discount to an invoice, estimate, or sales receipt as either a flat amount or a percentage. Before the discount field appears, you need to turn on Discount in your QuickBooks Online sales settings. Intuit also notes that if you turn discounts off while creating an invoice, that also turns the feature off in account settings. 

Prerequisites

Turn on discounts before creating the transaction:

Settings → Account and settings → Sales → Sales form content → Edit → Turn on Discount → Save → Done

This enables the discount field on supported sales forms. Intuit also notes that turning discounts off while creating an invoice turns the feature off in account settings as well.

Procedure / Solution Steps

Add a discount to the transaction total

1. Select + Create.
2. Select Invoice, Estimate, or Sales receipt.
3. Complete the form details.
4. If needed, select the double-arrow icon next to the discount field to apply the discount before sales tax is calculated. This changes the order of the tax and discount fields.
5. In the discount field, choose $ for a flat discount or % for a percentage discount.
6. Enter the discount amount or percentage.
7. Select Save.

Add a discount as a separate line item

If you do not want to discount the entire transaction, Intuit says you can add the discount as a separate product or service line with a negative rate and a description. For example, you can add a line such as Labor Day Discount with a rate of -50. Intuit also notes that this approach supports whole-dollar amounts, not percentages.

Apply a discount only to specific items

If the discount should apply only to certain items on the form, Intuit recommends using a Subtotal item followed by a Discount item so the discount applies to the correct amount. QuickBooks calculates the discount based on the item or items above it, so the placement of the discount line matters.

Troubleshooting

The discount field is missing

Confirm that Discount is enabled in:

Settings → Account and settings → Sales → Sales form content

If the feature is off, the discount field will not appear on the transaction.

You only want to discount part of the transaction

Use a separate discount line item instead of the transaction-level discount field. If the discount should apply to multiple specific items, Intuit recommends inserting a Subtotal first and then the Discount item immediately after it.

The discount is applying to the wrong items

Check where the discount line is placed. Intuit explains that QuickBooks calculates the discount based on the item or items above it, and if you are using a set-dollar discount, lines placed between the discount item and the intended items can affect how the discount is applied.