1. Create or synchronize
Start with a QBO customer, invoice, amount, due date, line-item summary and accounting dimensions such as class, location or subsidiary.
The Payment Is Only as Good as Its Data
Real-time settlement can shorten the movement of money to seconds, but speed alone does not close an invoice, identify a customer or reconcile a deposit. The future of transaction banking depends on connectivity, clean data and orchestration: the ability to connect an invoice, a digital request, a payer’s decision, a completed payment and the accounting record.
Today Payments brings these parts together through integration-ready workflows for QuickBooks Online, Request for Payment (RfP™), recurring billing, batch operations, hosted payment pages and multiple payment choices. The merchant is the Payee (Creditor); the customer is the Payer (Debtor). The payer reviews the request and chooses how and when to pay, subject to the options offered by the merchant and the payer’s financial institution.
✅ "FREE" Request for Payment Aging & Real-Time Payments Bank Reconciliation – with all merchants process with us.
To support merchants and finance teams of all sizes, TodayPayments.com offers free downloadable templates, including:
- Aging Accounts Receivable Worksheet: Pre-built with 15, 30, 60, 90+ day tracking
- Bank Reconciliation Templates: Instantly match payments with deposits across batches
- ISO 20022 File Format Samples: Plug-and-play structures for batch uploads and RfP message testing
One Connected Model for Real-Time Transactions
A connected payment model begins with an invoice created or synchronized through QuickBooks Online. Today Payments can transform approved invoice data into a payment-request workflow and present it through mobile, email, SMS, text or a Quick Response Code (QR code). The request can route the payer to a secure Dashboard Hosted Payments Page that displays the invoice, merchant identity, amount, due date and available payment choices.
The hosted page becomes the decision layer—not the settlement network. Depending on eligibility and configuration, the payer may choose a FedNow-enabled instant credit transfer, ACH, a card, buy now/pay later, customer financing or another supported method. Each method has different authorization, timing, finality, dispute, return and fee characteristics.
The strategic advantage: keep one clean invoice and reconciliation record while allowing the payer to select an eligible payment method.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to connect accounting, invoicing and payment data so businesses can request funds, offer responsible payment choices, receive timely status information and reconcile transactions with greater clarity.
TodayPayments.com is the orchestration brand for connected receivables: integration-ready QuickBooks Online workflows, ISO 20022-aligned Request for Payment, multi-account hosted payment experiences, recurring and batch operations, and data-driven reconciliation in one merchant-focused platform.
How QuickBooks Online, RfP and Real-Time Payments Work Together
2. Validate
Check customer identity, amount, currency, duplicate references, bank eligibility and delivery permissions before sending a request.
3. Generate
Map invoice data into the required RfP and provider format, assigning stable message, transaction and end-to-end identifiers.
4. Present
Notify the payer through a supported bank channel or direct them to a secure hosted page using an authenticated link or QR code.
5. Pay
The payer reviews the request and authorizes an eligible payment through its financial institution or selected payment provider.
6. Reconcile
Match confirmed payment events to the invoice, apply deposits to the correct entity or account, and update QBO status and reporting.
Integration-ready means the data model and workflow are designed to connect with QBO. Production use requires an authorized application, supported API scopes, customer consent, testing and an active service configuration.
Dashboard Hosted Payments Pages for Payer Choice
A Dashboard Hosted Payments Page can provide more detail than an RfP notification alone. It may display invoice documents, line items, purchase-order references, service dates, merchant contact information, discounts, payment-plan terms and the available payment methods. It can be hosted on a merchant-controlled domain or through a Today Payments hosted-page service, subject to security and configuration requirements.
Coordinating Multiple Merchant Accounts and Deposit Accounts
Each division, subsidiary, franchise, location or brand can be associated with an internal merchant account or MID. Routing rules can then map the hosted page and invoice to the intended settlement account. These are platform-level identifiers and instructions; they are not identifiers issued by the FedNow Service. The receiving bank account and financial institution must be eligible for the selected rail.
Data hygiene is essential. The merchant legal name, DBA, invoice entity, settlement account, alias, customer reference and QBO company must remain consistently mapped. A clean master record helps prevent misdirected deposits, duplicate requests, orphaned payments and cross-entity reconciliation errors.
Alias Naming Instead of Exposing Routing and Account Numbers
A verified phone number, email address or other proxy can create a friendlier payer experience and reduce the need to expose complete bank coordinates in the presentation layer. The alias must resolve through a supported directory or participating provider to the correct payee relationship. It does not eliminate the underlying bank-account and routing data needed by the financial institutions to settle a payment.
Today Payments can organize multiple aliases and associate each with an internal MID, business unit, hosted page and eligible deposit account. Because alias capabilities are not universal, availability must be confirmed for each bank, credit union, directory and payment rail. Strong controls should include alias verification, change approval, confirmation notices, tokenization and protection against business-email-compromise fraud.
Recurring and Batch Real-Time Payment Workflows
Recurring Billing and Variable Recurring Payments
A standing approval is a payer’s documented authorization for future transactions that meet defined conditions. Those conditions should identify the merchant, permitted amount or maximum, frequency, start and end dates, notification rules, funding account and cancellation process. A “set it and forget it” experience should still provide transparency, security and a way for the payer to manage the arrangement.
An RfP is a non-value message—it requests payment but does not debit an account. A FedNow payment is an instant credit transfer initiated through the payer’s financial institution, not a merchant-initiated debit. Automated recurring experiences require the payer’s provider to support the authorization and initiation model; a merchant cannot assume that every RfP will be paid automatically.
Batch Initiation with Real-Time Settlement
A business can upload or schedule a collection of invoice requests as a batch at the orchestration layer. Each accepted instant payment is nevertheless processed as an individual transaction with its own identity, screening, response and settlement result. A batch may therefore produce mixed outcomes: paid, pending, rejected, expired, failed validation or requiring review.
This distinction matters for QBO. The source batch should remain traceable, but accounting should post and reconcile each confirmed payment separately or through a controlled deposit grouping. Never mark an entire batch paid merely because the source file was accepted.
Request for Payment Parameters and Attributes
| Category | Representative data | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Message identity | Message ID, creation time, request ID, instruction ID, end-to-end ID | Prevents duplicates and supports full lifecycle traceability |
| Payee (Creditor) | Legal/display name, account or supported alias, servicing institution | Identifies who requests and receives payment |
| Payer (Debtor) | Name, account relationship or supported proxy, payer institution | Routes the request to the intended customer |
| Amount and timing | Amount, currency, requested execution date, due date, expiry | Defines the requested obligation and action window |
| Invoice context | QBO invoice ID, invoice number, customer ID, PO, line-item summary | Supports review, cash application and audit |
| Remittance | Structured references and permitted unstructured text | Links the request and payment to the receivable |
| Presentation | Tokenized HTTPS link, QR-code token, hosted-page reference where permitted | Gives the payer secure access to expanded details and choices |
| Recurring controls | Mandate/consent reference, maximum, frequency, notice and expiry | Documents the approved recurring-payment boundaries |
| Accounting dimensions | Company, class, location, department, subsidiary, MID, deposit account | Directs posting and reconciliation to the correct books |
| Status and audit | Created, sent, delivered, viewed, responded, paid, expired, exception | Separates communication status from confirmed settlement |
Benefits of Connected RfP and Accounting Data
- Fewer manual entry errors: reuse approved QBO customer and invoice data instead of rekeying payment instructions.
- Faster collection opportunities: deliver actionable requests through the channels customers already use.
- Better payer experience: present clear invoice details and eligible payment choices in one secure destination.
- Improved reconciliation: preserve invoice, customer and end-to-end references from request through payment.
- Multi-entity control: coordinate divisions, subsidiaries, MIDs and deposit accounts without mixing accounting records.
- Operational certainty: distinguish confirmed settlement from notification, file acceptance or payer intent.
- Stronger analytics: measure delivery, response, payment time, exceptions and payment-method selection.
- Future-ready connectivity: use modular APIs and ISO 20022-aligned data mappings as banking services evolve.
Feature-Rich Platform Capabilities
Omnichannel invoicing
Mobile, email, SMS, text and QR-code presentation for supported use cases.
Payment orchestration
Eligible real-time payments, ACH, cards, BNPL and financing options from one hosted experience.
Recurring controls
Consent references, limits, schedules, notifications and cancellation workflows.
Batch operations
CSV/Excel intake, XML or JSON transformation, per-item validation and exception reporting.
Multi-account routing
Rules for entity, division, MID, alias, hosted page and eligible settlement account.
Accounting synchronization
Integration-ready customer, invoice, payment, deposit, fee and reconciliation mappings for QBO.
Payment File Formats: Excel, CSV, JSON, XML and ISO 20022
| Format | Appropriate role | Important limitation |
|---|---|---|
| Excel / CSV | Merchant upload, operations review, batch intake and exception export | Not itself a FedNow network message; must be validated and transformed |
| JSON | API payloads between QBO, hosted pages, orchestration services and webhooks | Provider-specific schema; not the native FedNow wire format |
| XML | Serialization used by ISO 20022 messages and some bank interfaces | Valid XML is not necessarily valid for a specific network implementation |
| ISO 20022 | Structured financial messaging, including payment requests, responses and credit transfers | The exact FedNow usage guideline controls required elements, versions and restrictions |
| QBO API objects | Customers, invoices, payments, deposits and related accounting records | Require authorized API access, consent and mapping to payment-domain data |
Unstructured Remittance Text and Hosted-Page Links
The standard ISO 20022 unstructured-remittance element is commonly defined with a maximum length of 140 characters, not 145. If Today Payments accepts a 145-character input field, the platform should validate, shorten or map it into permitted fields before producing the network message. A hosted-page link should be concise, tokenized, HTTPS-secured and allowed by the receiving implementation; do not assume every bank channel will display or activate a hyperlink.
Minimum ISO 20022 Request for Payment Data Fields
A minimum production RfP is not defined by a generic checklist alone. The current FedNow implementation guide determines which elements are mandatory, conditional or prohibited. At a practical level, an implementation normally needs the following groups:
| Data group | Practical minimum information |
|---|---|
| Business Application Header | Sender, receiver, business-message ID, message-definition ID, service ID and creation time as required. |
| Group header | Unique message ID, creation date/time, initiating party and transaction count where applicable. |
| Payment information | Payment-information ID, payment context, requested date/time and routing context. |
| Transaction identification | Instruction ID and/or end-to-end ID plus a unique request reference. |
| Amount | Requested amount and supported currency—ordinarily USD for domestic FedNow transactions. |
| Parties | Creditor/payee and debtor/payer identity data required by the use case. |
| Agents and accounts | Servicing financial institutions plus account or supported proxy information. |
| Remittance | Invoice or obligation reference using permitted structured and/or unstructured data. |
| Controls | Expiry, purpose, requested response and conditional data required for the implementation. |
ISO’s catalogue identifies pain.013 as the Creditor Payment Activation Request and pain.014 as its status report. Version numbers evolve. The associated funds movement uses a separate customer-credit-transfer message; an RfP response is not proof that settlement occurred.
How can QuickBooks Online invoices connect to recurring real-time payments?
An integration-ready workflow can synchronize approved QBO customer and invoice data, create a digital Request for Payment, present recurring-payment terms and return confirmed payment information for cash application. The payer’s provider must support the authorization model, and each settled payment should remain traceable to its invoice and consent reference.
How do businesses upload batch Request for Payment files for FedNow-enabled payments?
A merchant can upload invoice data in CSV or Excel, while an orchestration service validates the records and converts eligible transactions to the exact ISO 20022 or provider format required by a participating institution. File acceptance does not equal payment; every request and resulting credit transfer needs its own status and reconciliation outcome.
Can businesses use a phone number or email alias instead of showing bank-account details?
A verified phone or email alias may be used in supported payment directories and presentation experiences, reducing the need to expose complete bank coordinates to the payer. The alias must still resolve securely to an eligible account relationship, and availability varies by bank, credit union, network and provider.
What is a Dashboard Hosted Payments Page for Request for Payment?
A Dashboard Hosted Payments Page is a secure destination where a payer can review invoice details and select an eligible payment method such as a real-time credit transfer, ACH, card, BNPL or customer financing. The page can preserve a consistent customer experience while Today Payments routes accounting and status data to the correct merchant entity and deposit workflow.
Why are connectivity and data hygiene important for instant-payment reconciliation?
Clean identifiers make it possible to connect the payer, payee, invoice, RfP, payment confirmation, deposit account and QBO record without ambiguity. Strong validation and master-data controls reduce duplicate requests, misrouted funds, unidentified deposits and costly manual investigation.
Conclusion: Make Every Invoice Ready for the Future of Payments
Today Payments helps merchants move beyond disconnected invoices and payment links. Bring together integration-ready QuickBooks Online data, recurring and batch request workflows, hosted payment pages, alias-based presentation, multi-account routing and reconciliation intelligence.
Give customers a clearer way to review what they owe and choose how to pay. Give finance teams cleaner data, stronger visibility and a reliable path from invoice to confirmed deposit.
Build Your Connected Payment WorkflowContact Us for Request For Payment payment processing
Authoritative References
Disclosure: Today Payments, Inc. is a financial-technology and merchant-services company, not a bank, the Federal Reserve or the FedNow Service. FedNow® is a registered service mark of the Federal Reserve Banks. QuickBooks is a trademark and service mark of Intuit Inc. This page does not imply endorsement, certification or affiliation. Availability, timing, finality, returns, limits, pricing, aliases, recurring features and integration functions depend on the participating financial institution, provider, payment method and applicable rules.