I have customers (Residents) who have a balance, and I want to make them inactive without creating an offset. I just want them to be inactive and not show up on my list?

Hello rawilber,

Based on the details you've provided, you only want to "hide" the customer profiles with existing balances. In QuickBooks Online, we can either make the customer inactive/delete or leave them as is.

Making a customer profile with existing balance inactive will only create adjusting entries to offset the balance. Instead, you can change their Display name as so they will no show as a first option when creating transactions.

1. Click Sales on the left menu and go to the Customers tab.
2. Select the customer profile and click Edit.
3. Change their Display name as. For example, ZZZ-(customer name).
4. Click Save.

With this, they will show at the bottom of your list when creating transactions or even in your Customers page. You just need to make sure the list is sorted by CUSTOMER/PROJECT.

You can also use this link for reference on how to manage your customers: How to add, delete, merge, and restore a customer.

Let me know if you need additional assistance about your customers. Have a great day!

If you chose to create the adjusting entry to zero out a customer with a balance, where does that adjusting entry go?  Does it record somewhere that would effect reporting and/or balance information? 

It’s great to see you in the Community, Ashley64.

Let me provide some information on what will happen when you choose to create the adjusting entry.

As mentioned by @JamesDuanT, making the customer inactive will remove it from the list. Then it creates an adjusting entry to offset the balance. Performing this task ensures the financial data is accurate for year-end reports and tax filing.

When you run the Transaction List by Customer or Profit and Loss by Detail, you’ll see the adjustment under the Memo/Description column. Also, the customer’s balance will show as zero. 

If your client has a negative balance, QuickBooks will create an invoice to adjust the balance. Then a credit memo will show if the customer has a positive balance. 

For additional resources, this article outlines the complete steps on how to: Add and manage customers in QuickBooks Online. It provides information on what happens when you delete a parent customer.

We've collated resources to help our customers handle any customer-related tasks easily: Sales and customers.  Since the articles are arranged by topics, click on the one you wish to view to see more details. 

Reach out to me again if you have additional on how to handle your customers and their transactions. I’ll be glad to answer them for you. Have a great rest of the day.