How to a change from Simple Start to Self Employed?

Welcome, @brookfieldphotog.

It's a pleasure to see you here in the Community. I can help change your subscription from QuickBooks Online (QBO) Simple Start to QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE).

While QBO gives you the option to upgrade your service, you can't migrate directly to QBSE. This is because they're totally different programs and are designed for different types of businesses.

To switch over to QBSE, you need to cancel the existing QBO Simple Start subscription and create a new company in QBSE. To make sure that you still have a copy of your company information, I'd highly recommend exporting your chart of accounts, products and services, reports, customers and vendors to Excel before canceling your current subscription.

To export them to Excel, here's how:

1. Log into your QBO Simple Start account.
2. Go to the page with the information that you're wanting to download.
3. Look for the Export to Excel icon (a square with an arrow curving out of it).

For your reference, you may check out this article for further guidance: Export then import list data into QuickBooks Online. Once exported, you can now cancel your QBO subscription by following the steps laid out on this article: How to cancel your subscription.

After that, please go to this link to create your QBSE account: https://selfemployed.intuit.com/login#. Just in case you need it, you may visit these articles that can help you learn how to navigate the program:

• QuickBooks Self-Employed overview.
• How to get started.
• Connect a bank account.

That should help you switch from QBO Simple Start to QBSE. Please let me know how it goes or if I can be of additional assistance. I'd be glad to answer should you have any follow-up questions. Wishing you and your business continued success.

I'm surprised to see this topic is not more popular!

I can't even find a video on how to change from QBO to QBSE.  

What happens to all the receipt images we have stored?

@Lx95020 

You are unable migrate data from QBO to QBSE. You may open a new blank QBSE account and run the bank feeds.

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Truth, I switched and never once did it say I could not change back. QBO is absolute garbage compared to QBSE

I currently use Quickbooks Simple Start (QBO.) I tried to migrate to QBSE, so I tried the method mentioned above. However,  when I try to make a purchase using the same email address, it says that "You already have a QuickBooks Self-Employed and Turbotax account" then unable to proceed.

Though I already downloaded the data stored in QBO, I don't want to lose the receipt image (which I think is not transferable to QBSE) so I am afraid to cancel the existing QBO until the data is moved to the new QBSE.

In that scenario, could the below process work?

1) create a new QBSE account using a new email address

2) move the data from existing QBO with the original email address and cancel the QBO

3) After the complete the move, change the email associated with the new QBSE account to the original email address (Not sure if the system allow this... )

Thank you for your input!

Hello, kike12. I'll explain each one individually with your concerns. 

Based on the information provided by my colleague above, there is no straightforward method to migrate data directly from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Self-Employed. However, we can still move the data from QuickBooks Online to QuickBooks Self-Employed by downloading and saving it to Excel format. Afterwards, we can import the Excel file to QuickBooks Self-Employed. 
 

Regarding receipts, it is not possible to transfer them automatically to QuickBooks Self-Employed. However, we can always add them manually by uploading them from the computer. This way, you can keep track of all your receipts in QuickBooks Self-Employed and maintain accurate records of your business expenses.

With the email address, you can access your existing Intuit account through your QBO account on the QBSE website. Alternatively, you can use a new email address and transfer the transaction to QBSE. However, in scenario 3, it's important to note that changing the email associated with the new QBSE account to the original email address is not possible. Doing so will cause the system to generate an error message indicating that the email address already exists, which could cause confusion and potentially result in data loss. Therefore, it's recommended that you use a new email address when creating a QBSE account.
 

Moreover, you can open this article to learn more about changing your email, user ID, or password for QuickBooks Self-Employed.

Additionally, I got here an excellent resource that you can open to look for references and related articles to use as guides in performing your QuickBooks tasks: the QBSE Help page. This will enable you to offer more comprehensive and detailed guidance for users who require assistance with QuickBooks-related queries and issues.

Comment below if you have follow-up questions or concerns with your account migration. I'll be happy to answer them for you. Take care and stay safe.

@kike12 

You can't migrate data from QBO to QBSE. I would recommend another option

1, Convert your data from QBO to QB Desktop file format. You can access your historical data for good with the trial version.

2. Canceling your QBO account sometimes does not remove your email address from their system. Consider upgrading your plan to QBO Essentials, and changing your email address to a different email address.

3. You will use the old email address for your QBO account to register for a new QBSE account and start your data from scratch.