Failed to make account inactive

Hello there. Thanks for getting in touch with us here. Let me share insights and steps to help you inactivate accounts in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

In QBO, there are a few reasons you'll need to know before making an account inactive, that includes:

• If products or services use the account, change the account they're associated with.
• If you want to delete an income account with pending charges, invoice your customers for the billable expenses, time, or charges. Then you can make the account inactive.
• If you have recurring transactions linked to an account, you need to unlink them.
• You can't deactivate accounts with subaccounts until you move the subaccounts. 

Additionally, you're unable to deactivate them if this is a default account created by QuickBooks. Thus, you'll need to ensure you've reviewed these areas before making them inactive. You can visit this guide for more detailed information: Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Once ready, here's how to inactivate your accounts:

1. Go to Settings ⚙ and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Find the account you want to delete.
3. Select the Action ▼ dropdown and click Make inactive.

Furthermore, I've also included this guide if you want to make these accounts into one active account: Merge duplicate accounts, customers, and vendors, in QuickBooks Online.

We'll always be around if you require additional assistance managing your accounts. Please don't hesitate to leave them in the comments below. Have a good one!

Thank you for the comprehensive information. Very helpful! Most of this doesn't apply to the account I want to deactivate, but this gives me a couple other things to check before marking this as a solution. By the way, QBO should put this information in the help section. I tried searching every iteration I could think of for deactivating a GL account and found nothing even close. 

Hi sgray98660,

I appreciate you for getting back to us. I can see how accommodating it is to find an article to help resolve your concerns efficiently.

I'll take note of your idea and share it with our writer.

Feel free to post in the forum if you have other concerns.

I'm having the same problem, but I'm not finding a solution.  I want to make obsolete benefits accounts inactive in my chart of accounts.  These are sub-accounts under the "Employee Benefits" account.

Hello, @KJF3.

Currently, we have an ongoing investigation about the Chart of Account issues you're experiencing in QuickBooks Online. Rest assured that our engineers are doing their best to fix it as soon as possible.

I recommend contacting our Customer Care Support team so you'll be added to the list of affected users. This way, you'll receive email updates on the investigation's status and be notified once it's been resolved. I've included the steps to contact support below. 

1. Click the (?) Help icon in the upper right-hand corner of the dashboard.
2. Select Talk to a Human.
3. Enter a short description of your concern and press Enter.
4. Click I still need a human.
5. Select Contact Us to connect with our live support.
6. Choose Get a callback.
   

After making your accounts inactive, you'll still be able to see them and their transactions when generating reports. You can customize them to hide inactive ones.

We genuinely appreciate your patience and understanding as we work towards a solution.

When you click "Got it" or "OK" after the message, try scrolling all the way to the top of the page. Usually there's an Alert Box with red letters explaning why it can't be inactivated. Not sure why QBO hides it all the way up there where you wouldn't think to look.