TL;DR
QuickBooks can handle invoices and profitability reports, but it doesn’t automatically capture labor hours or mileage.
Unless you use add-ons, timesheets and mileage logs need to be entered manually.
Intuit’s product, QuickBooks Time, helps, but mileage tracking is only available in the Elite plan.
With Timeero, employees clock in/out and mileage is logged automatically — records are GPS-verified,
tied to the right project, and sync effortlessly into QuickBooks.
That means payroll, invoicing, and job costing accurately reflect your expenses — without hours of admin work.
Many business owners and accountants already rely on QuickBooks to manage their books. But when it comes to tracking labor and mileage costs for specific projects, QuickBooks requires hours of manual work to connect the dots.
With no reliable way to capture data on labor and mileage, you can easily face billing mistakes, payroll disputes, and reports that don’t reflect the full picture.
When labor and mileage are missing from QuickBooks:
- Reports may mislead you. Profit margins look higher than they really are.
- Reimbursements become messy. Employees may overreport or underreport mileage.
- Billing feels vague. Clients expect transparency, and without detailed breakdowns, disputes are more likely.
QuickBooks’ Projects feature is designed to show profitability by job. But without accurate labor and mileage data feeding into it, the numbers are incomplete.
Can you track labor and mileage by project in QuickBooks alone?
If you’re already using QuickBooks Online, you may be wondering: Can’t I just do this inside QuickBooks?
The short answer is yes, BUT it’s manual and limited.
- Labor tracking. Employees can’t clock in or out directly in QuickBooks Online. You’ll need to enter time into weekly timesheets or add it through payroll. For example, a contractor running multiple crews must collect hours at the end of the week, type them in, and hope nothing’s missing.
- Mileage tracking. QuickBooks’ mobile app has a mileage tracker, but only admins can use it. That means your field staff can’t log their own trips, which is a significant limitation for mobile teams.
- Project-level reporting. QuickBooks Plus and Advanced let you use the Projects feature, so you can tag income, expenses, and time to jobs. It works, but only if you’re disciplined about manual entry.
- Granularity. You can break down labor into categories (e.g., technician vs. supervisor) by creating service items or classes, but accuracy depends on consistent data entry.
- Reimbursement policy. QuickBooks doesn’t calculate policies for you. You’ll need to decide whether to reimburse at the IRS rate (70¢ per mile in 2025) or a custom rate, and then enter mileage expenses manually.
So yes: QuickBooks can produce job costing reports. But in practice, they’re only as good as the hours and mileage you remember to enter.
That’s why many businesses add Timeero to their tool stack. QuickBooks does the accounting and billing, and Timeero supplies the real-time, GPS-verified data.
How Timeero fills the gap
See it in action — watch our QuickBooks + Timeero demo to learn how the integration works step by step.
Timeero was built to solve exactly what QuickBooks leaves out: capturing labor and mileage automatically, tying it to the right project, and sending it straight into QuickBooks.
- GPS time clock. Employees clock in and out from their phones with a single tap. For construction crews, this means hours are logged on-site, not scribbled on paper and typed in later.
- Automatic mileage tracking. Timeero records trips in the background while employees are clocked in, including start/end points, routes, and distance. Landscaping businesses with multiple client sites per day finally get accurate mileage without extra admin.
- Job and customer tagging. Projects in QuickBooks sync directly to Timeero. When a caregiver logs time or mileage, it’s automatically tied to the correct client project.
- One-click sync. After managers approve timesheets and trips, syncing to QuickBooks takes seconds. From there, payroll, invoicing, and profitability reports can reflect the updated labor and mileage data without extra manual entry.
Why accuracy matters: compliance and costs
The IRS expects mileage to be logged as trips happen. If you’re relying on paper notes or spreadsheets, it’s easy for details to get lost or entered wrong — and those small mistakes can cost you when it’s time to deduct expenses.
But the value of accurate records goes beyond tax season. Accurate and reliable data allows you to:
- see which projects are eating into profits
- back up every invoice you send
- settle reimbursements without arguments
With the Timeero mileage tracker for QuickBooks users, all of this happens automatically. Each trip is GPS-verified, giving you the documentation you need for the IRS and the visibility you need to keep projects on track.
Step-by-step: Tracking labor and mileage with Timeero + QuickBooks
Once the Timeero + QuickBooks integration is set up, the workflow is simple for employees and powerful for administrators — no paper, no spreadsheets, no duplicate entries.
- Create projects in QuickBooks. Set up customers, sub-customers, or projects.
- Sync them with Timeero. Use the QuickBooks Online integration to import jobs into Timeero.
- Employees track work in Timeero. Staff clock in/out and drive using the mobile app. Hours and miles are logged automatically, GPS-verified, and tied to the correct project.
- Managers approve entries. Review timesheets and mileage logs in Timeero, make adjustments if needed, then approve.
- Sync to QuickBooks. With one click, all approved data flows back into QuickBooks. Hours land in Timesheets; mileage shows as Expenses linked to the right project.
- Run reports. QuickBooks now has complete labor + mileage data. You can generate payroll, invoices, or profitability reports without hours of reconciliation.
Tip: Many SMBs schedule weekly approvals to prevent end-of-month bottlenecks and keep data clean.
QuickBooks Time vs. Timeero
QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) is Intuit’s own add-on for mobile clock-ins. It’s a popular option, but there are trade-offs:
| Feature |
QuickBooks Online |
QuickBooks Time (Premium) |
QuickBooks Time (Elite) |
Timeero |
| Employee clock-in/out |
❌ (manual only) |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ |
| Mileage tracking |
✅ (admin only) |
❌ |
✅ |
✅ (all employees) |
| GPS route tracking |
❌ |
❌ |
✅ |
✅ (full routes) |
| Job/project tagging |
✅ (manual) |
✅ |
✅ |
✅ (auto-sync) |
| Cost |
Included in QB |
$20 base + $8/user |
$40 base + $10/user |
$4–11/user (plans) |
For businesses with employees in the field, Timeero often wins because it captures both labor and mileage for every employee on any plan. With QuickBooks, the built-in mileage tracker is limited to admins, and the QuickBooks Time Elite plan is required for full mileage tracking across staff, which comes at a higher cost.
Which app is really better for your business?
Choosing the right time and mileage tracker is crucial.
Our in-depth comparison of
Timeero and QuickBooks Time
goes beyond the feature list to help you decide which is the best fit for your specific needs.
Smarter job costing with Timeero + QuickBooks
QuickBooks is excellent for billing and reporting — but it can’t capture labor and mileage automatically. That leaves SMBs with incomplete project costs, messy reimbursements, and hours of manual admin.
Timeero takes care of what QuickBooks can’t. It captures hours and mileage automatically, links them to the right project, and pushes the data into QuickBooks without extra work.
For business owners and accountants, that means confidence. Reports reflect reality, reimbursements are based on facts, and invoices stand up to client questions. And as your team grows, you won’t be buried in admin work and the process scales with you.
FAQs
Does QuickBooks track labor or mileage?
QuickBooks Online supports manual timesheets and has an admin-only mileage tracker. QuickBooks Time adds mobile clock-ins, but mileage is only available in the Elite plan.
How do I track labor and mileage by project in QuickBooks?
To do this, you will need to pair QuickBooks with Timeero. Create jobs in QuickBooks, sync them, let employees log hours and mileage in the Timeero app, then push it back into QuickBooks for reporting.
Why pair Timeero with QuickBooks?
QuickBooks does the reporting, but not the capturing. Timeero automates labor and mileage tracking, GPS-verifies each entry, and ensures everything flows into the right project.
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