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Transfer clients to your wholesale discount plan in QuickBooks Online

by Intuit•6• Updated 5 months ago

Learn how to take over billing for clients who currently pay for their own QuickBooks Online subscription, or transfer existing wholesale clients from another accounting firm.

If you have clients who pay for a QuickBooks Online subscription on their own or clients who are still on their previous accounting firm’s wholesale discount plan, you can transfer them to your wholesale discount plan. In this article, we’ll show you how.

Your firm will cover the costs and billing for them from now on.

Note: Payroll free trials do not apply to wholesale discount units.

Here's how clients can put you on a wholesale discount:

  1. Make sure you have added your Accountant user, then go to Settings ⚙.
  2. Select the Subscriptions and billing tab.
  3. Select the Allow billing transfer to your accountant? link.

Once this is done, you need to advise your accountant that they have a 48-hour window to put you on their wholesale discount plan before the permission expires.



Take over billing for a client

If you can’t move a client to the wholesale discount, check the Eligible to Transfer column. These are the most frequent messages we see.

  • No (permission needed) - The Primary Admin needs to grant permission to the Accountant to take over their billing.
  • No (different Billing system) - A service attached to the company makes it ineligible to transfer.
  • No (in progress) - Result of an incorrect address on either the client or accountant company.
  • No (annual billing) - Customers who are on annual billing payments need to switch to monthly billing.

 If none of these apply, you may need to contact support.

Once your client has provided you with permission to add them to your wholesale billing plan, follow these steps to transfer their existing QuickBooks Online subscription to your billing plan.

  1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Subscriptions and billing.
  2. Under the Client-billed subscriptions tab, find the client you want to add and follow the instructions on the screen.

If your client is currently part of another QuickBooks Online Accountant firm's wholesale discount plan, you can transfer them to yours.

Step 1: Remove the client from the other firm’s wholesale discount plan

Ask your client's previous accounting firm to remove them from their wholesale discount plan.

Tip: As long as you transfer your client within 60 days of being removed, they keep the same discounted rate.

Note: After the client has been removed from their former accountant's billing, be sure to put them on your wholesale discount plan as quickly as possible to avoid any service interruptions.

Step 2: Add the client to your firm

Ask your client to invite you to become their accountant.

Step 3: Get permission to take over billing

Your client needs to give you permission to make the transfer. Ask their primary admin to sign in to QuickBooks Online. Then they'll need to:

  1. Go to Settings ⚙.
  2. Select the Subscriptions and billing tab.
  3. Select the Allow billing transfer to your accountant link.
  4. Select the name of the accounting firm you want to transfer billing to.
  5. Select Allow transfer.

Once your client gives you permission, you have two days to finish the transfer.

Step 4: Transfer your client's subscription

  1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Subscriptions and billing.
  2. Select the Client-billed subscriptions tab.
  3. In the Active clients tab, find the client you want to add.
  4. Select Transfer billing to me in the Action column.
  5. Review your billing info and select Transfer billing to me.

It may take about a week to update the price on your billing statements. If your firm's wholesale discount pricing doesn't change, reach out to our support team so we can help.

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