⚠️ Note (QuickBooks Online US only): Direct expense are supported in Tofu. Tax support is coming soon and will be available under Entity Settings → Accounting.
1. Turn on Direct Expense as an Extraction Type
Enable Direct Expense for your entity
Go to Entity Settings → Features
Under Extraction Types, toggle Direct Expense ON
Once enabled, Tofu will extract paid expenses such as petty cash, card receipts, and bank-paid expenses.
2. Configure Direct Expense Settings for QuickBooks Online
Go to Entity Settings → Integrations → QuickBooks Online
Open the configuration panel
Under Direct Expenses, enable Auto-publish. Auto-Import is disabled by default; you can still manually import Direct Expenses from QuickBooks at any time using the Import action.
💡Recommend Settings
Auto-Publish ON
Automatically sends verified Direct Expenses from Tofu to QBO.Self-Prompt (recommended for new entities)
Tofie learns from your accounting data and applies your rules automatically. You can enable it before clicking Activate in the QBO configuration settings, or after activation by going to Entity Settings → Knowledge Base → Select Direct Expense → Self-Prompt, then choose QuickBooks Connected or Upload CSV/Excel to use your own transaction file.
3. Upload Direct Expense
Go to the Source Documents column
Click Upload document
Select a receipt or expense file.
Tofu will detect and extract the document as a Direct Expense.
💡 Tip: For the easiest workflow, connect Google Drive, SharePoint, or Email with Tofu. Once connected, any direct expense you add to your chosen folder or send via email syncs into Tofu automatically.
4. Review the Extraction and Publish
Open the extracted Direct Expense from the Extractions column and review the details:
Supplier / Payee
Account
Transaction date
Payment type (Cash / Check / Credit Card)
Location (if applicable)
Line items (category/account + amount)
Tax (if applicable). To adjust tax, edit the total tax amount directly above the Total. QuickBooks handles tax at the total level rather than per line item, so you override the one figure rather than each line.
Showing Account Type: to show Account Type during review, go to Entity Settings → Features → Accounting and enable Account Type. If it's disabled, click the "+" icon in the Account column to view it.
Note: Changing the extraction type after sync creates a new transaction, and the original may still need cleanup in QuickBooks. Learn more: What Happens When You Change an Extraction Type After Syncing to Your Accounting Software
Optional: Combined Line Items
If Aggregate Line Items is enabled for your organization, you’ll see a Combined Line Items button during Direct Expense review.
Use this to merge multiple line items into a single summarized line
Helpful when receipts contain many small line items
The combined line description uses the first line item’s description
Multiple Receipts in One File
If a file contains multiple receipts:
Use Multi-Receipt Cropping to split it into separate snippets before extraction
Each receipt will then be created as its own Direct Expense
Publishing to QuickBooks Online
You may see a Publish Error ⚠️ at first. This is expected: QuickBooks Online requires a Payment Type (Cash, Check, or Credit Card) before an expense can be published.
Select the correct Payment Type
Make any necessary adjustments
Click Save Draft, then Publish
If Auto-Publish is ON, saving your changes will automatically publish the expense to QBO.
If your supplier/contact is inactive in QuickBooks
If a supplier/contact was archived (made inactive) in QuickBooks, publishing a Direct Expense may fail because QuickBooks won’t accept an inactive contact.
What to do:
Open QuickBooks Online and reactivate (unarchive) the supplier/contact.
Return to Tofu and Publish again.
This helps avoid duplicate supplier records and ensures the expense publishes successfully.
💡 Tip: Train Tofie to Auto-Select Payment Type
You can teach Tofie to choose the correct payment type automatically.
Click Tofie in the top-right corner
Set Extraction Type to Direct Expenses
Enter an instruction, for example:
“Always select Credit Card as the payment type for Direct Expenses.”
Click Generate, then Save
When you re-extract similar receipts, Tofie will apply this rule automatically.
5. Make Changes in QuickBooks Online and Sync Back to Tofu
Open QuickBooks Online
Edit the expense if needed (tax, category, amount, etc.)
Return to Tofu
Click Import
Any changes made in QBO will be reflected back in Tofu.
Important notes
Direct Expenses are for already-paid receipts.
If the vendor invoice is unpaid and requires an AP workflow, use AP Bills instead.Payment type matters in QBO.
QBO Purchases support Cash, Check, and Credit Card.
The account used must match the payment type (e.g., credit card account for credit card payments).No automatic back-sync for Direct Expenses.
Changes made in QBO will not auto-sync back to Tofu. You must click Import.
✅ You’re All Set
Your Direct Expenses are now flowing from Tofu to QuickBooks Online and staying in sync.
This lets you work in either system without re-entering data, keeping your expense records accurate and up to date.