Windpoppy, we appreciate the opportunity to assist you here in the Community forum. Thank you for taking part in the discussion.

I understand how crucial it is to track your billable time to clients and incorporate that data into their invoices. I'd be delighted to provide you with further information on this subject.

You are correct that you should set up as an employee or contractor to establish a billable time for your customer. Additionally, since you will charge your customer through an invoice, an unpaid employee or contractor won't accumulate.

The Unbilled time activity in your Unbilled time tab under the Sales menu will reflect any billable time you generate for a specific customer. When you create an invoice, it appears on the side part, then click the Add button.

Take note that if you want to bill your customer directly from tracked time, you will need to turn on first the billable time setting.

To enter time, click +New, then choose between Single time activity or Weekly timesheet. Then, the Billable hour should be selected and assigned to the customer.

You might want to read this article to learn how to use QuickBooks Online to generate invoices from project expenses: Invoice customers for project expenses in QuickBooks Online. It also has an information on how to charge consumers for time and materials, a fixed price, or particular project-related expenses.

Keep me posted if you have additional questions regarding setting up billable time or other QuickBooks-related concerns. I'm always available to assist you. Have a flourishing year!