How does one remove or close out past years of QB info no longer needed?

You may close the book

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/customer-company-settings/close-your-books-to-lock...

Hi there, jjellingson.

Closing the books will help lock old transactions but this doesn't remove them. You may consider signing up for a new QuickBooks Online (QBO) account and start fresh instead of deleting the old data. Before doing so, you'll want to delete your account.

Here's how:

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
2. Click the Gear icon at the top right section of your Dashboard.
3. Tap Account and Settings.
4. Choose Billing & Subscription.
5. In the Payroll section, click Cancel or Cancel trial.
6. Hit Continue to cancel.
7. Answer the short survey, and select Confirm cancel.

For information and instructions on how to cancel a QBO account, see this link: Cancel your QuickBooks Online subscription.

Read through this article to become more familiar with the whole process of deleting your data and start over in QuickBooks Online.

You can always find me here if you have other questions. Wishing you a good one.