Tags are suddenly being phased out! Why?

I understand your concerns about the upcoming changes, AG777. While the changes can be a bit of a hiccup, the phaseout is to enhance QuickBooks Online's (QBO) reporting features by transitioning to Custom Fields. Let me provide the details below.

While the tag feature will become read-only in May 2025, you'll still be able to view your tagged bank deposit information until mid-May 2028. On May 15, 2028, the tags will be removed from QuickBooks Online. This means your tags will disappear from historical transactions. To maintain data tracking, I highly suggest migrating your tags to custom fields and utilizing the custom fields feature for new transactions.  

Here's how you can migrate your tags into custom fields:

1. Navigate to Settings and select Tags.
   
2. On the tags page, select Migrate tags to custom fields.
   • Up to 100 tags will be auto imported and all transaction forms will be pre-selected. Review the selections and make any necessary changes.
   • For additional tags, you'll need to add them to a custom field manually.
     
3. Make any changes you want, then click Save. Your tags will be successfully migrated to custom fields and be visible on the selected transaction forms.
    

Additionally, make sure to download any reports you need before May 15, 2028. After that date, the tags will be permanently removed.

You can also refer to this article for more details about migrating tags to custom fields in QBO: Migrate tags to custom fields in QuickBooks Online.

Furthermore, you can check out this article to memorize reports and save their current settings in QBO: Customise reports in QuickBooks Online.

Please keep the discussion going if you have further questions about the updates on the tag features in QBO. We're always here to provide additional explanations. Be safe!

I can't migrate the tags as they are all relating to bank deposits.

I'm stuffed.

What can I do?

I appreciate your determination to migrate the tags from your bank deposits entered in QuickBooks Online (QBO), @AG777. Allow me to discuss the capabilities and limitations of the process.

Please note that the migration of tags is limited to certain sales forms, and bank deposits are not included in this category. However, you can generate and export a report using the tags you’ve created. This document can also help you with analyzing and tracking your bank deposits in QBO. Allow me to guide you through this process step-by-step:
 

1. Go to Settings and click Tags.
2. Select the tag you want to view and hit Run report.
3. Customize the Report period to show the data you want to keep.
4. After that, tap the export icon and choose either Export to Excel or Export to PDF.

For further details on tag migration and the deadlines, review this article: Migrate tags to custom fields in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, if you notice some expected payments are missing in the Bank Deposit window of QBO, you can still track and ensure their successful deposit. For assistance, please refer to this resource: Find missing payments you want to deposit in the Bank Deposit window in QuickBooks Online.

We're committed to ensuring your bank deposit tags are managed correctly, @AG777. Should you have any questions or need more support, don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to assist you at each step of your journey.

My organization has 4 Tags and 4 bank accounts. Every cheque and deposit we input has a Tag assigned based on the bank account. We use the Tag to be able to run P&Ls for each bank account separately which is critical for our organization. After May 2025 can you instruct me on how I can obtain P&Ls for each bank account.

OUT OF EVERYTHING / ANYTIHNG WITHIN THE QB SOFTWARE - THIS IS THE WORST THING THEY COULD GET RID OF!!!! THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!! THIS IS THE DUMBEST MOVE QUICKBOOKS HAS EVER MADE!!!

This isn't going to be 'a bit of a hiccup' — this amounts to a net-loss of functionality, and for some of us the move will be debilitating.

For instance: we've been using Tags heavily for 3+ years now as a tool for adding our own custom annotation schema directly to each order in QBO's Sales Receipt & Invoicing system… and losing this is going to be a nightmare.

Initially these were merely basic 2-3 letter codes meant for tracking internally which shipping-related characteristics and/or LTL surcharges applied to each order, i.e. ‘RE’ or ‘CO’ to signify that it was a ‘Residential’ or ‘Commercial’ delivery, or ‘LG’ and ‘AP’ to show that the delivery also required a ‘Liftgate’ and a ‘Delivery Appointment’, or ‘LP’ to show it was a ‘Local Pickup’.

As time went on, we also started using it to record which LTL carrier or 3PL brokerage system was used for determining the shipping cost (which saves time when it comes to actually scheduling the shipment for p/u), and we eventually expanded it further to include a few other non-shipping related data points that are also helpful to know or keep track of at the order level. Codes for tracking and/or explaining why a discount was applied (military/fire dept., major sale event/coupon-codes, volume discount, etc.), or codes for noting why a replacement item had to be shipped out to the customer. So isn’t uncommon for some orders to have as many as 6-7 different tags applied, depending on the order’s circumstances.

The system isn’t overly complex, but one major payoff is it allows anyone in the office to open up any given order within QBO — be it an old order a repeat customer is looking to replicate, or a new one they’re otherwise completely unfamiliar with — and know within seconds which key factors apply when quoting or scheduling a shipment. And that’s largely because the Tags can also be categorized and color-coded to help with recognition (and the fact the Tag field itself is a single, centralized input is an added bonus). Heck, I even managed to jerry-rig an automation system (Power Automate Desktop) to extract the tags from each order and apply the various surcharges/accessorials automatically.

Even if I manage to transition some of those into their own separate custom fields, I still won’t be able to do all of them and it will never be quite as effective as the current system regardless (since adding more custom fields clutters the screen). Not to mention I already utilize two of our allocated custom field slots already (one for adding Customer PO’s and one for adding the Sales Rep), so you guys are basically trying to force us to pay $2500+ per year if we want to have similar (but still ultimately less) capabilities to what we’ve had for years on the current Plus Plan. Does that sound fair or logical to you?

This is unreal. Intuit announces a price increase and takes away functionality at the same time. I only use Tags on bank transactions. There is no plan to add a custom field to the bank transactions page, so when Tags are phased out, I will have no other way of tracking and reporting on my transactions. They tell me, the only other way to accomplish this is to add 20 Class types, which is disruptive and will cause me to have to update all of my reports. To add insult to injury, I migrated my tags to a custom field and noticed the "sort alphabetically" option was missing (even though it is shown in the video that trains us how to migrate tags to custom fields). I have tried ad nauseum to manually move the drop-down options, but the system throws an error. They tell me I have to inactivate each line item and then re-enter each one manually. I am extremely disappointed in Intuit and this product.

This is not just a "bit of a hiccup". Our company uses TAGs to track P&L for each install we make and for the Commissions paid out. Custom fields are not user friendly and don't have the same functionality that TAGs has. The only solution I found was to use class but that would increase our subscription over $2,500/yr. We will now have to use excel to track profit per sale and the commission. This is very frustrating and disappointing.