Change the account for a product or service item

Learn how to change the income account for any of your product or service items in QuickBooks Online.

You may need to use a different income account for your product or service item and make sure your company has an accurate record of your transactions.

Change the income account for your items

1. Go to Settings and select Products and services (Take me there).
2. Find the item and select Edit.
3. From the Income account ▼ dropdown, select the account you want to use. 
   Note: Can't see the account? Make sure the account's detail type is Sales of Product Income.
4. Select Save.

Note: You can only change the account for an item one at a time.

To update past transactions

For service and non-inventory items, tick the Also update this account in historical transactions box after step 3 in the above Change the income account for your items section. This updates all transactions that uses the item.

For inventory items, the box doesn’t appear. This is because inventory items track quantities on hand using First In, First Out (FIFO). FIFO affects your assets and Cost of sales (COS) differently from service and non-inventory items.

Note: When you change the income account for inventory items, it also affects prior transactions. If you don't want to update past transactions, create a new item with the correct income account and use it to replace the old item.

First, add a new inventory item. Make sure to select the correct income account.

1. Go to All apps , select Sales & Get Paid, then select Invoices (Take me there).
2. Select the invoice you want to update.
3. Select Edit invoice.
4. For the old inventory item, select the delete icon .
   Note: In case the invoice is linked to a quote, expense, or any other type of transaction, provide your confirmation to delete the item.
5. Add the new inventory item, and enter the corresponding quantity and other details.
6. Select Save.

Do this for every past transaction you want to update.

If past transactions aren't updating, change the income account and switch it back to the correct one.