Upgrade or downgrade your client's QuickBooks Online subscription

Learn how to upgrade or downgrade your client’s QuickBooks Online subscription.

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Firm-billed clients are those whose subscription is billed directly to the firm. You can either upgrade or downgrade, based on their business needs. Here’s how.

Note: You can change a client’s subscription between QuickBooks Essentials, Plus, and Advanced, but not from or to Self-Employed. You can also downgrade a client's QuickBooks Online subscription to Simple Start.

Now, you can use split billing to charge your company or client separately. Your firm can pay for QuickBooks Online while your client pays for add-ons (such as QuickBooks Payroll, Payments, and Time).

Upgrade your client's subscription level

If your firm-billed client needs more accounting tools, you can move them to a higher QuickBooks Online subscription level:

Note: Make sure your firm's billing and subscription info is up-to-date.

1. In QuickBooks Online Accountant, go to Settings ⚙ and select Subscriptions and billing.
2. From the All clients column, select the Show only accountant-billed tab.
3. Find your client. Select the arrow ► next to the client's name to expand subscription details.
4. From the Subscription actions ▼ dropdown menu, select Upgrade.
5. Select the plan you want to upgrade to, then select Choose plan.
6. Select Change Plan.

Tip: If you recently moved a client to your firm-billed plan and their status is pending, you need to wait to upgrade them.

Downgrade your client's subscription level

Talk to your client about the features they currently use before you downgrade their subscription.

Note: Review and learn what happens when you downgrade a QuickBooks Online subscription. Your client may need to turn off certain features before you can downgrade them.

1. In QuickBooks Online Accountant, go to Settings ⚙ and select Subscriptions and billing.
2. From the All clients column, select the Show only accountant-billed tab.
3. Find your client. Select the arrow ► next to the client's name to expand subscription details.
4. From the Subscription actions ▼ dropdown menu, select Downgrade.
5. Select the plan you want to downgrade to, then select Choose plan.
6. Select Change Plan.

Note: If you don't see the Downgrade option, you can't downgrade your customer's subscription.

Things to consider when downgrading your client’s subscription

Important: If your client downgrades from QuickBooks Online Advanced, they may need to remove users. Each subscription level has a different user limit.

If you see a "Changing plans?" or “Contact us” message, call the number on your screen or contact us via QuickBooks Online Advanced Saves Team.