Can't inactivate accounts because of recurring templates or scheduled liabilities

Hi there, @William Lavasque.

I can help you successfully inactive the account in QuickBooks Online. You will have to go through your list of recurring transactions and scheduled liability payment to delete them and/or update the associated account.

Here's how to delete recurring transactions:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Under Lists, choose Recurring Transactions.
3. Highlight the template you would like to use.
4. In the Action drop-down arrow, choose Delete (see screenshot).
5. Click Yes.

Here's how to update the bank account associated for payroll accounting preferences:

1. Click the Gear icon.
2. Choose Payroll Settings.
3. For the Setup header, choose Preferences.
4. Select Accounting Preferences.
5. Update the Bank account (see screenshot).

After that, you can already delete (inactive) the bank.

That's it. Feel free to visit the Community site if you have questions about working in QBO. We're always here to help.

But I can't get to these steps, because I'm using the the simple start version. When I click recurring transaction it takes me to a page telling me to upgrade to Essentials or Plus. I don't need the Essentials or Plus version. 

But I can't get to these steps, because I'm using the the simple start version. When I click recurring transaction it takes me to a page telling me to upgrade to Essentials or Plus. I don't need the Essentials or Plus version. 

i have no scheduled transactions and it still won't let me remove an old bank account.

bugs everywhere.

Hi there, brotherjug.

I'm here to help and provide some insights about removing an old bank account in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

Deleting a bank account is a known issue in QBO, our engineers are currently investigating and working on an immediate fix. I suggest reaching out to our Customer Care Team to add your account to the list of affected users. This way, you’ll be notified of any updates on the progress of the investigation via email.

You can get our contact support through this link: Get help with QuickBooks Online. 

For future reference, you may also check this article on how to delete an account and restore it.

We appreciate your patience as we work through this. If there's anything else I can do for you, please let me know. I'll be around to help you out. 

I can not use your software anymore. It is full of too many bugs.

It's unreal to me that you released this software without testing it properly.

This issue is causing a major issue for me as my accountant needs personal bank accounts removed from my quickbooks, yet your software won't allow this.

How do I fix this? I have over 150 pages of recurring tranactions. I need to remove these accounts b y 12/31.

This account cannot be deleted because it is used by a recurring template or scheduled liability payment.

Why does it say "solved" I am still getting the error.

Good day, brotherjug.

As what my colleague stated, this is a known issue and is currently under investigation. Our product engineers are still looking for a permanent fix so you can delete the bank account already.

For now, I suggest getting in touch with our QuickBook Online Customer Care so you'll be added to the list of affected users.

Here's how to contact us:

1. Navigate to: https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
2. Choose QuickBooks Online.
3. On the Contact Us page, click Solving issues & error messages, then choose Banking.
4. Click the Get Phone Number button. 

As always, you can post anytime if you have other concerns. Happy holidays! 

How many months is it going to take for you to fix this?

There are over 5000 recurring transactions (unscheduled) that need to be removed in order for an old bank account to be deleted. Your support personnel is telling me that I have to delete them manually. Are you kidding me?

I am convinced that you are not putting any resources into this issue and I would appreciate it if you would stop telling me that it's under investigation.

Hi @brotherjug,

Here in QuickBooks, we are striving hard to provide great service to all users. 

Currently, the only way to delete your recurring transactions is to delete them one at a time. Once done, you can now delete your old bank accounts. Please bear with us in using this process to delete your recurring transactions.

Here's how you can delete your recurring templates:

1. Click on the Gear icon, choose Recurring Transactions.
2. Under the Action column drop-down of the template, click on Delete.

We appreciate your patience while we are fixing this. Please let me know if you have any other concerns.

I have the same issue.  I have over 1600 recurring transactions.  It would be impossible to delete them one at a time.  As a result, I have 650 accounts listed.  I can only hava a maixumum of 250 starting April 10.  What is the solution?

Greetings, @COR115!

You'll have to manually inactivate each of your accounts. Allow me to help you accomplish this.

1. Go to Accounting.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Under the ACTION column, click the drop-down menu.
4. Click Make inactive.

This way, you'll be able to delete your accounts. If there are accounts you're unable to delete, you can follow the same steps above.

From there, review your recurring transactions if there are accounts assigned to them. Then, delete them to delete your accounts successfully.

Please let me know in the comment section below if you have any other questions about your chart of accounts. I'll be always happy to help.

Hi there, edig.

Thanks for joining us in this thread. I'm here to help find the list of your recurring transactions, so you'll be able to delete an account. 

So you're able to delete an account, you will have to go through your list of recurring transactions and scheduled liability payments in QuickBooks Online (QBO). You can filter the transaction type on the Recurring Transactions page.

Let me show you how:

1. Click on the Gear icon.
2. Select Recurring Transactions.
3. Choose Scheduled as the Template Type.
4. Choose a type of transaction that a possible account is used on the form. It could be bills, check, expense, etc.
5. Then, click on the Edit drop down and choose Delete.
6. Select Yes to confirm.

As a reference, you can also check out this article for further guidance: Remove recurring transactions or templates.

To access which accounts were used on the scheduled liability payment, please follow these steps:

1. Click on the Gear icon.
2. Select Payroll Settings.
3. Click on the Preferences link.
4. Go to Accounting Preferences and review each account used from there.
5. Click on OK once you're done.

After following these steps, you should now be able to delete an account.

Please let me know how it goes. I want to make sure this matter gets resolved.

I know how to delete RTs one at a time.  I have 1700.  it is impossible to delete them one and a time.  I need to know how to purge them, bulk delete them.  I have 600 accounts that cant be deleted until i delete the 1700 RT's.  If you read this, please don't tell me how to delete them one at a time

It's under the gear wheel under lists or on the command line, Company>Recurring Transactions.

Hello again, @COR115.

Allow me to step in for a moment and provide additional information about deleting recurring templates by batch.

In regard to purging transactions, you should be able to do this task if the desktop data is still within the 60 days period. Just a warning though, this will delete any data that has already been entered into the company.

I can see a lot of customers have the same need for the batch delete feature for recurring transactions. Rest assured, we’re looking into this, and we take every opportunity to improve the application.

In the meantime, you can stay up to date on upcoming feature releases and product updates by visiting the QuickBooks Blog.

Reach out to me if you have any other questions or concerns. Please know I’m always ready to answer them.

Has this issue been fixed?  I just converted from Quicken for all my finances to QB for my small business.   EVERYTHING came into QB.  It seems this is not uncommon for quicken transfers!

For what I could get rid of, I did the following:

1. Went to Chart of Accounts
2. Clicked Action View Register for the personal account
3. Clicked Make inactive
4. It either worked (for some) or I got this error:

This account cannot be deleted because it is used by a recurring template or scheduled liability payment.

So, I followed another instruction in this string.

1. Click on the “Gear” Icon
2. Select Recurring Transactions
3. Chose “Scheduled” and the Template Type
At this point the instructions give a couple more steps (chose a transaction type, click edit and delete)

But, when I do the above, the Recurring Transaction screen tells me I have no recurring transactions

So I’m stuck and now have years of personal transactions I don't want in QB that I cant get rid of in QB. Has this been resolved?  Can you assist?

Hi there, @mikey007.

If you don't have any recurring transactions on the Recurring Transactions page you should be able to delete or inactivate your accounts under the Chart of Accounts. Since you're still receiving an error message about not being able to delete the account since it's used by a recurring template or scheduled liability payment, ensure to select All for the Template Type, Transaction Type, and Department to verify the list of your recurring transactions.

If you're able to view your recurring transactions after the necessary customization, you have to find the template to be able to delete the account.

If you don't have any recurring transactions from there, I recommend getting in touch with our Support Team to check and investigate this further. For the support's contact information, you can check it here: Contact the QuickBooks Online Customer Support team.

To learn more about recurring templates, you can read this article: Create templates for recurring transactions.

You can also check this article for additional reference about making accounts inactive in QBO: Remove accounts you no longer use.

In case you have any other QuickBooks concerns in the future, you can also read this article: Help articles for QuickBooks Online.

Keep posted if you have any other questions. I'll be right here to help!

I don’t see the “department “ category in the filter?   Make a difference?

It's possible you've used a different category name, mikey007.

There are a lot of label that you can use to categorize a location/department. Here's how:

1. Click the Gear icon, select Account and Settings.
2. Go to the Advanced tab.
3. Click the edit (pencil) icon on the Categories section.
4. Select Department on the Location label drop-down.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Done.

You can always click the links provided by Angelyn_T, on how to remove an account  and create a templates for recurring transactions.

Enjoy the rest of the day!

Thanks Adrian.

I have added Department to recurring transactions. Now when I look at recurring transactions (Template All, Transaction All, Department All), there are still 1405 transactions to eliminate. Is there no batch function to eliminate this. Perhaps there should have been an upfront warning when transferring Quicken to QB? Maybe we could have segregated those accounts on the Quicken side (or during the desktop to online transfer)

I’m worried if I eliminate the 1400 one by one, there will be another issue