Vendors and bills

Vendors are the businesses and people you pay. Bills are what you owe them. This article covers both pages, from adding a vendor to creating a recurring bill.

Vendors

A vendor is any business or person you pay. Keeping them in one list means bills and expenses fill in faster, and your 1099 report is ready at year end.

Tour of the Vendors list

1. Page actions. Import, Export and Add vendor.
2. Totals. How many vendors you have, what you owe them, how many are 1099 vendors and how many W-9 requests are waiting.
3. Tabs. All, Active, Inactive, 1099 vendors and W-9 requested.
4. Expense type. The categories this vendor usually falls under. A 1099 tag marks vendors included in your 1099 report.
5. W-9. Not requested, Requested (with the date) or Received.
6. Row menu. Every action for one vendor.

The You owe column shows the vendor's unpaid bills. Click a row to open the vendor.

Add a vendor

Click Add vendor. Only the name is required.

• Vendor name.
• Contact person and Mobile number.
• Email. Used for W-9 requests and remittance emails.
• Tax ID. The vendor's EIN or SSN. You need it to file their 1099.
• Default payment terms. New bills from this vendor start with these terms.
• Status. Shown when you edit a vendor. Inactive vendors are hidden when you add new bills and expenses.
• Billing address.
• Vendor logo. Optional. SVG, PNG or JPG.

Set a vendor's expense types

Under Details, choose one or more Expense types. Tabby suggests these categories when you add a bill or expense from this vendor, so the first line is usually already right.

Track 1099 vendors and W-9s

Tick 1099 eligible to include a vendor in the 1099 report at year end. The vendor gets a 1099 tag in the list and appears under the 1099 vendors tab. The totals at the top tell you how many 1099 vendors are still missing a W-9.

Request a W-9 from this vendor is part of the Professional plan. With it, Tabby emails the vendor a secure W-9 form and saves it on their record when it comes back. On other plans the option shows as locked, with a link to upgrade.

The vendor row menu

Mark a vendor inactive or delete it

You can delete a vendor only if they have no bills, expenses or subscriptions. If they do, Tabby offers Mark inactive instead. An inactive vendor keeps its history but no longer appears when you add a bill or expense.

Bills

A bill is money you owe a vendor. Recording it when it arrives means your reports show the cost in the right period and you can see what's due before it's late.

Tour of the Bills list

1. Page actions. Pay bill, Import, Export and New bill.
2. Totals. Open bills, Overdue, Due in the next 7 days and Recurring bills.
3. Status tabs. All, Unpaid, Partly paid, Overdue, Paid and Recurring.
4. Vendor filter. Show bills from one vendor. The search box beside it finds bills by reference or vendor.
5. Status. Where the bill stands. A partly paid bill shows what's left under the amount.
6. Row menu. Every action for one bill.

A small repeat icon beside the reference marks a recurring bill. Click a row to open the bill.

Create a bill

Click New bill. The bill opens as a full-screen sheet with the form on the left and a running summary on the right.

1. Bill details. Vendor, reference, terms and dates.
2. Item details. The lines that make up the total.
3. Bill summary. Subtotal, tax and total, with the save buttons.
4. Save bill. The same action as the button in the summary.

Bill details: vendor, reference and dates

• Vendor. Pick a vendor, or click New in the picker to add one. A card then shows the contact and any other unpaid bills from the same vendor, which helps you spot a duplicate.
• Reference #. The bill or invoice number from your vendor. If you leave it blank, Tabby gives the bill a number. A reference can be used only once per vendor.
• Payment terms. These start from the vendor's default.
• Bill date and Due date. The due date is worked out from the terms and marked Auto. Change it to set your own.
• Bill type. One-time bill or Recurring template. See Recurring bills.

Item details: categories and lines

Pick a category for overheads, or a product or service when you're buying stock.

For each line:

1. Choose a Category. This is required, and it decides where the cost shows in your reports.
2. Enter the Qty and Price.
3. Enter the Tax shown on the vendor's bill, as a dollar amount.
4. Add a Description if it helps.

To put every line in the same category, choose it in Apply one category to all lines and click Apply to all. Click Add line item for another line.

Product or service is optional. Choose one only when you're buying stock. Those lines add to the quantity on hand and post to Inventory Asset.

Sales tax you paid

In the US, sales tax you pay is part of the cost. Enter it in the Tax column for your records. It stays in the expense and isn't claimed back.

Class, attachments and notes

• Class. Click Add class to tag the bill by client, project or location. Classes appear in the Profit & Loss by Class report.
• Bill attachment. Add the vendor's bill as a PDF, PNG or JPG, up to 10 MB.
• Notes. Anything your team should know about this bill.

Recurring bills

For rent, retainers and other bills that repeat, set Bill type to Recurring template. Tabby then adds the bill again on the schedule you set.

• Repeats. Every week, every month, every 3 months or every year.
• Next bill on. The date of the next bill.
• Ends. Never, on a date, or after a number of bills.

Recurring bills have their own tab in the list, and the Recurring bills total counts your active templates.

Save a bill

• Save bill records the bill as unpaid.
• Save and record payment saves it and opens the payment step straight away.
• Mark as paid appears on a saved bill that still has a balance.

Once a bill has payments, the summary lists them with the date and method. If something is missing when you save, Tabby marks the fields and tells you how many to fix.

The bill row menu

Edit, duplicate or delete a bill

Open a bill to change it. You can't reduce a bill's total below what's already been paid.

A bill with payments can't be deleted. Tabby tells you it has payments and offers to take you to Bill payments. Delete the payments first, then the bill.

Import and export

Import a list

Click Import at the top of a list and upload a CSV file, up to 10 MB.

• Vendors. Tabby reads the Name, Email, Contact and Mobile columns and skips vendors you already have.
• Bills, bill payments and expenses. Tabby Talk maps the columns from your spreadsheet or old software and adds each one as a draft for you to check.

Export a list

Click Export to download a CSV of what's on screen. The export follows your current tab and search. The vendor export includes each vendor's tax ID, address, expense types, 1099 flag and W-9 status.

Common questions

Why can't I delete a bill?

It has payments. Delete the payments in Bill payments first. The amounts go back onto the bill, and you can then delete it.

Can I request a W-9 from a vendor?

W-9 requests are part of the Professional plan. On other plans you can still tick 1099 eligible and enter the vendor's tax ID yourself.

Is sales tax on a purchase recorded separately?

No. In the US the tax you pay is part of the cost. Enter it in the Tax column so your records match the receipt, and it stays in the expense.

Updated on: 07/10/2026