Delete a GL account

Lynda - you are my HERO!!

Thanks so much.

What if I want to start off the company file completely over?
Is it possible? When starting setting up the file right after I subscribed to QBO I hadn't had the knowledge that I have now and made many mistakes.
I am more than 60 days into the subscription.

Hello EBFinancials,

Since your account has been active for more than 60 days, we're unable to purge it and start with a clean slate. If you want to start from scratch, here's what we can do:

1. Cancel your account.
2. Subscribe to a new one.

Here are the detailed steps in canceling the account:

1. Click the Gear icon and select Account and Settings
2. Select the Billing & Subscription tab and go to the QuickBooks section.
3. Click the Cancel hyperlink and select Continue to Cancel.
4. Click Continue to Cancel again and answer the exit survey.
5. Click Confirm Cancel.

When resubscribing to QuickBooks Online subscription, you can use your existing user ID and password.

Let us know if you need more help with this.

I signed up to QBO on 04-Dec-2018 so I am still in the initial 60 days timeframe
Could you please guide me on how to purge my account/company file

Hello again, @EBFinancials,

It's nice to have you in the Community. I can provide clarification on purging your company file.

I'm including a link that contains insight on purging, including what accounts are eligible and the steps for this process: Deleting Online Data And Starting Over. You can locate specific information about this in the section Account has been active for less than 60 days and you need to start from scratch.

Please be aware that this process cannot be reversed once this is performed. As a result of this, I suggest making sure that you want to initiate a purge before doing so. 

Should you have any questions or need anything, I'm just a few clicks away. Cheering you to a wonderful week ahead. 
 

It is not relevant as my QBO subscription is of Simple Start type, therefore, is not eligible for purging.

Hello Lynda,

I am on the Plus version, and there is not a Run Report drop down list. 

On each account there is a View Register drop down list and there is not a delete option there. 

Given the account limits starting on April 1st, I am trying to clean up some of the accounts that have never been used, in order to star using new ones (our number of accounts is over 250).

If I turn them into Inactive, will they count on the 250 limit?

Thank you.

Have a nice day,

Hi there @blancany,

Let me just provide you some insights about the usage limit of your subscription when inactivating your accounts.

First off, there’s no option to delete any of your accounts. However, you can just make them inactive.

Then, once you’re done inactivating these accounts, they won't be counted on the 250 limit of accounts in your Chart of Accounts. Only active accounts, classes, and locations count towards the limit.

You can also check this article for further details: What are Usage Limits in QuickBooks Online?.

If you need other help, I’m always here to assist you. Have a great day!

I'm using Quickbooks Online and there is no option to delete an account -- only inactivate.  Even when the account has not been used.   I finally tried the merge trick in which you create a new account like "Dummy" then rename the account you want to delete with the same name and merge them and THEN try to delete the account --  but that still didn't work.  QB wants to remember these accounts for some reason and so STILL created a 'ghost' of the merged account.  This is incredibly frustrating.   I' m an experienced user and I want to clear up my GL --   NOT inactivate but delete accounts that should be able to be deleted.  How do I do that? 

Allow me to jump into this conversation, NikiPatt.

I'm here to provide further details about inactivating an account in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Since we want to make sure your transactions are intact and reports unchanged, deleting an account hasn't been made available in QBO. You only have the option to make accounts inactive so they remain as part of your company data. You also have the option to restore inactive accounts at anytime.

If this isn't something beneficial for you, please know that we are constantly improving our product's features to meet your needs. I encourage checking our website for any updates and feature enhancements through this link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/blog/.

We hear you, NikiPatt. I'll be sure to update this thread if I hear any changes about the option you're looking for. 

Should you have further questions, just leave a comment below. I'll get them answered for you. Have a nice day.

If I'd known that I wouldn't have added  experimental accounts to try something with a new client who had some specific requests for tracking.  Note that there are advisors who will tell you how to delete  - so if it doesn't work please broadcast that. (That's where I got the merge trick.) .  You need to make it clear from the get go that you can't.  I also understand that there are now a lot of laymen users with no experience in accting or bookkeeping who are using QB Online and so might just 'delete' an acct because they made a mistake -- thus throwing everything into chaos.  Not allowing delete prevents that.  So here's what I recommend:  Allow admins and master admins to access a box which allows deletions of accounts for them.  That means those who post only could not delete an account but an admin could.  The standard QB desktop prompts of "You cannot delete an account with transactions"  and "Are you sure you want to delete this account?"   are plenty for any experienced user.  I have renamed the experimental accts as "Dummy" and inactivated them but it is still unacceptable  that I cannot clean up the General Ledger to my satisfaction.

I agree with you NikiPatt.  There is no reason someone using the Accountant version of QBO shouldn't be able to do some things that the "uneducated" user can't.

Also, there are certain accounts that can't be inactivated... like inventory for a service business.

What if there is no "delete" option in the drop down?

Hello there, @pgsla.

I'm here to provide some information regarding the process of removing a ledger account from your Chart of Accounts. The option you'll see on the drop-down actually reads Make Inactive. I'm including some detailed steps as well as a visual example of this process below:

Deleting an Account in QBO

1. From QuickBooks Online, click the Gear icon (⚙) and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Next to the Account you'd like to remove, click the drop-down ▼ and select Make Inactive.
3. You'll be prompted about the circumstances of deleting certain accounts. If you understand and wish to continue, select Yes.

Check out our awesome guide on deleting accounts here for more information. I've also included a brief video demonstration I made on this below:

That's all there is to it! With the help of these instructions, you can remove any unused or unneeded accounts from your QuickBooks Online company. It is worth noting that, if there is a non-zero balance in the account whenever it's deleted, the balance will be written off to the Opening Balance Equity account. This is the only way such an account can be removed due to the double-entry style of accounting that QuickBooks uses.

Please feel free to keep in touch with me here anytime you need a helping hand with QuickBooks, that's what I'm here for. Thanks for coming to the Community, wishing you a safe and productive week ahead.

I've already done that.  This doesn't delete it though, it just makes it in active.  

Thank you for the clarification, @pgsla.

At this time, there's no way to fully delete ledger accounts from QuickBooks Online. Due to the double-entry nature of QBO's accounting style, accounts can only be made Inactive to ensure all transactions can be tracked by their Debits and Credits accordingly.

As a workaround, if you've already removed all transactions from an unneeded account, you can rename and re-categorize it to be recycled for a new account. Should you wish to do this, the instructions below will ensure your success:
 

Change an Account's Name

1. From QuickBooks Online, click the Gear icon (⚙) and select Chart of Accounts.
2. Next to the Checking Account you'd like to change the name on, click the drop-down ▼ and select Edit.
3. Enter the new name under Name. Click Save and close once finished.

You can learn more about editing your chart of accounts from the article here or the video tutorial below:

Once you've renamed the account, the options just below the name field will allow you to re-categorize it however you'd like. Please know I'm always available here to help with anything you need. Thanks again, and take care.

My options are only Edit or Make Inactive. I am using the Online version. I created the GL account and it has never been used.

Hello dear, JC Worth. Yes, that's correct. 

Making the account inactive and editing it is one of the options we can do in QuickBooks Online. With that, we can only have the option to modify and deactivate them even we do not use this account yet.

When we inactivate accounts, it only means that they are not in use. You may want to check out these articles. You'll get more information on how accounts from the Chart of Accounts works.

• Understand QuickBooks Chart of Accounts.
• Manage default and special accounts in your chart of accounts.

Post again if you have follow-up questions. I'm right here together with the Community people to help you out! Take care!

Through a careless typo someone created a Bank Type account in the Chart of Accounts. I'm not satisfied with making it Inactive. It is a ridiculous account (Titled Janitorial Expensei). It's never been used, should never have been created. I made it inactive, but it's still sitting there like a sore thumb.

What can I do to get rid of it?

Keeping your Chart of Accounts (COA) organized is my priority, @Dianne48. That's why I'm here to share further details about this and guide you on the actions you need to help take care of this matter.

For the time being, the option of getting rid of an inactive account is unavailable in QBO. The system does this instead of deleting them, so you have access to past transaction data (if you have any) for reporting purposes. 

However, you can either deselect the Include inactive checkbox (please see the screenshot below for your reference) or rename and re-categorize the account to be recycled for a new one in the future. This way, you're unable to see the inactive account in your chart of accounts.

Also, to learn more about your chart of accounts and which default or special accounts can be deleted, edited, or merged in QBO, I'd recommend checking out these articles:

• Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online
• Manage default and special accounts in your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts

Let me know in the comments if you have other concerns about managing accounts in your Chart of Accounts in QBO. I'll gladly help. Take care, and I wish you continued success, @Dianne48.