Conversion to QBO Essentials caused "billable" expenses that are not billable

Greetings, @keskel80! We are thrilled to have you join our Community space and appreciate your visit to our forum. It's our pleasure to assist you in making customers inactive and removing the billable flag in QuickBooks Online Essentials.

QuickBooks Desktop and Online are different products, and some features work in one and not the other. As for QuickBooks Online Essentials, you can't directly uncheck a "billable" checkbox for customers. This feature is currently available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced versions.

As an alternative, you'll want to consider our higher versions so you can track billable expenses on the invoices. You can visit this website: QuickBooks Online (QBO) Plans. It lets you view the comparison and pricing chart between the online versions of QuickBooks. Once you've chosen the right plan for you, you can upgrade your subscription.

After that, you can enable the billable expense feature in the settings. Let me guide you on how.

1. Go to the Settings (Gear) icon at the upper right. 
2. Select Account and Settings under Your Company. 
3. Go to Expenses from the left menu. 
4. Choose the Bills and Expenses section.
5. Check these three boxes: Show Items table on expense and purchase forms, Track expenses and items by customer, and Make expenses and items billable. 
6. Click Save. 
7. Choose Done. 

I've also included this article if you want to review how to record, edit, and delete expenses in QuickBooks Online moving forward: Enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks Online.

On the other hand, to make customers inactive. I'd be glad to provide you with the steps on how to accomplish it. Here's what you'll need to do:

1. Go to the Sales tab and choose Customers.
2. Locate the customer name and in the Action column, click the dropdown ▼.
3. Select Make inactive. Then confirm by selecting Yes, and making inactive.

If you have plans to make the customer active in the future, you can check out this article for the steps: Add and manage customers in QuickBooks Online.

Once done, check out these articles on how to use the Billable Expense feature:

• How to Enter Billable Time by Job
• How to Remove a Billable Expense Charge

Lastly, need to work on your reconciliation after downgrading? This article can help you with the process: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Please keep us posted if you need further assistance or have any questions about managing billable in QuickBooks Online. Please feel free to click the Reply button below. We're always here to help you out anytime. Have a great day ahead!

Thank you for the detailed answer.  Having certain expenses marked as billable is not very important to us (since the cost is built into our service billing) and we don't feel the need to upgrade our subscription.  Therefore, we are looking for an answer to correct the outstanding billable expenses to these old customers using QBO Essentials. 

Also, when trying to make the customers inactive again, I received an error message saying we need to resolve the billable expense.  Hoping there is a reasonable way to resolve the billable flag and then we can make the customers inactive again.  Thank you

Thank you for the detailed answer.  Having certain expenses marked as billable is not very important to us (since the cost is built into our service billing) and we don't feel the need to upgrade our subscription.  Therefore, we are looking for an answer to correct the outstanding billable expenses to these old customers using QBO Essentials. 

Also, when trying to make the customers inactive again, I received an error message saying we need to resolve the billable expense.  Hoping there is a reasonable way to resolve the billable flag and then we can make the customers inactive again.  Thank you

Thank you for the detailed answer.  Having certain expenses marked as billable is not very important to us (since the cost is built into our service billing) and we don't feel the need to upgrade our subscription.  Therefore, we are looking for an answer to correct the outstanding billable expenses to these old customers using QBO Essentials. 

Also, when trying to make the customers inactive again, I received an error message saying we need to resolve the billable expense.  Hoping there is a reasonable way to resolve the billable flag and then we can make the customers inactive again.  Thank you

We appreciate you for coming back here and sharing your goal, @keskel80.

Let me help you correct the outstanding balances of your old customers so you can make them inactive.

To correct them, we'll need to remove billable expense charges to your old customers. Here's how:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
2. Go to Sales, then select All sales.
3. Select Unbilled Activity.
4. Select the name of the customer the charge was marked billable to.
5. From the list on the Transactions tab, select the billable expense charge you need to correct.
6. Select Expense (Bill or Check). This redirects users to the specific transaction marked as billable.
7. Find the items you marked as billable.
8. Uncheck the box in the Billable column.
   Note: For billable checks, you need to select the Check link at the top to open the transaction.
9. Select Save and close.

For more info, check out this article: Remove a billable expense charge in QuickBooks Online.

If you see an open billable expense charge, you can create an invoice, mark it as non-billable, or delete it. Feel free to read this article: Delete customers with unbilled charges in QuickBooks Online.

You might want to remove the billable expense charge. Check out this article: Remove a billable expense charge in QuickBooks Online.

If you have additional questions about managing your customer list, click the reply button below. I'll be willing to lend a hand. Have a good one.

Hello.  Thank you for your answer.  Unfortunately, in QBO Essentials, there is no "billable" box to uncheck in any of the screens when I followed your steps.  We need another solution to eliminate the billable association with a customer.  We need to keep the expense itself because it's a real expense that was paid, just not a billable expense to a customer.  Thank you in advance!

Hello there, keskel80.

I understand your frustration with not being able to find the Billable feature in QuickBooks Online (QBO) Essentials. Please know that the billable option is only available in QBO Plus and Advanced versions.

To eliminate the billable association with a customer while keeping the expense in your records, I recommend contacting our Customer Support Team. They have the expertise and resources to help you find a suitable solution to the problem. They can provide personalized assistance and guide you through the process of resolving this issue.

Here's how:

1. Go to the (?) Help icon.
2. Select Talk to a Human.
3. Enter a short description of your concern.
4. Click on I still need a human.
5. Tap Contact Us to connect with our live support.
6. Choose to Get a callback.

Additionally, if you want to use the feature, you can upgrade your current service by clicking the Upgrade button in the Expense settings. Check out the available pricing plans to see which subscription level is right for you.

You can also use these steps to upgrade your plan:

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Under Profile, select Subscriptions and Billing.
3. Select Upgrade your plan.
4. Follow the on-screen suggestion to complete the process.

See the following links to learn more about managing your subscription in QuickBooks Online:

• Upgrade or downgrade your QuickBooks Online subscription
• Manage billing, payment, and subscription info

Let me know if you have other questions about handling billable expenses in QuickBooks. I'm always here to help. Take care.

I was really hoping for a solution here.  Every time I contact Customer service, I get a person who doesn't have the knowledge to answer my question.  The call takes 60-120 minutes and most of the time my question isn't answered.  I'm hoping there is a seasoned expert here that can help.  Thank you.

Did you find a solution to your billable issue?  I am trying to correct the same issue.

Let me chime into this thread and provide additional information about handling billable expenses for your customer, shethewheel. 

To proceed, have you followed the resolutions mentioned in this thread? If not, you may consider performing them to resolve your issue. If you have already completed the task, I recommend we contact our support team for further assistance. They have sufficient resources to provide accurate assistance while guaranteeing the security of your information. 

Here's how: 

1. Go to the Help icon. 
2. Choose the Search tab and select Contact Us.  
3. Enter a brief description of the issue you encountered. 
4. Click Continue. 
5. Choose a way to connect with us:

• Start a chat with a support expert.
• Get a callback from the next available expert.

For more information, check out this article: QuickBooks Online Support.  

Moreover, I have added a guide to help you handle unbilled charges: Delete customers with unbilled charges in QuickBooks Online. 

Comment below if you have more concerns regarding managing tax payments. Stay safe!  

No one has time for chats and telephone calls for such a simple item.  The Billable option was available in QB Desktop (a product I loved until you did away with it and I was forced to convert to QBO).  Just make the billable option available in essentials so we can delete the customers we are done with and do not need to bill anything else to.