I accidentally edited an account to be "other current liabilities" to "sales tax payable"

Hello there, @RCCJessie. I want to ensure you'll be able to correct your account in QuickBooks Online (QBO). Follow along below to get this done right away.

Before we begin, may I know the steps you've performed when attempting to edit the account? Also, have you encountered any error messages that prevent you to change it? Any additional information is a great help so I can provide the exact resolution to fix this. 

In the meantime, let's perform some browser troubleshooting steps to edit the account. This way, we can determine if this is a cache-related issue. This is a component of your browser that helps websites to load faster but sometimes gets corrupted and cause problems. To start, access your QBO account using an incognito mode. Below are the shortcut keys you can use:

• Google Chrome: Press CTRL + Shift + N.
• Safari: Press Command + Shift + N.
• Microsoft Edge: Press CTRL + Shift + N.
• Mozilla Firefox: Press CTRL + Shift + P.

Once signed in, edit the account again. Here's how:

1. When signed in, click the Gear icon and select the Switch to Business view button.
2. After that, navigate to the Bookkeeping menu and choose Chart of Accounts.
3. Next, look for the specific account you need to change.
4. Then, select the drop-down arrow under Action and click Edit.
5. From there, choose the correct Account type and the Detail type.
6. When done, click Save and close.

For reference, check out this article: Add an account to your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

If this works, I recommend clearing the cache of your regular browser to eliminate damaged cache. If the same thing happens, I suggest using another supported browser or device. Might be that the current one your using has a temporary issue with QBO.

Let me know updates on how this goes. I'd appreciate any details you can add. If you have any other questions about editing your account, please don't hesitate to post again here. I'm always ready to lend a hand. Have a great day ahead. 

Hey,
I changed it through my chart of accounts and going to edit (just as you describe I should do to fix it).  I selected edit and changed it to sales tax payable.  When I try to edit it again to change it back to "other current liabilities" it shows an error message saying I can't edit or delete the account bc it is used to calculate sales tax.  It first gives an error message saying continuing will effect reports etc but I click ok and then it comes up with an error message saying I can not edit it.

I have also tried going into the audit log and finding where/when I made the edit and trying to undo/edit it from there but I get the same error message and it doesn't allow me to change it back to what it was.  I'm assuming it won't let me change it because it has a balance but it seems like there could/should be a way to override it.

btw, I have tried a different browser and using a private/incognito window and have gotten the same result

Hi there, @RCCJessie.

Thanks for your update.

Any accounts that QuickBooks automatically create after setting up sales tax can't be changed or deleted. Can you clarify if the account you're trying to change is the same account you edited before? Do you mind sharing some screenshots?
 

I look forward to hearing back from you and troubleshooting further! 

I’d love to share screen shots but I’m not in front of my desktop currently.  The account in question is the same account I edited.   Under ‘detail’ it used to be ‘other current liabilities’ but I changed the ‘detail’ to ‘sales tax payable’ and now I can’t change it back. 

The account itself is a work around that I use to calculate 5.5% tax because QBO only allows one sales tax rate per state to show up on the balance sheet.  So our sales taxes at 8% go into sales tax payable while our 5.5% taxes are kept track of via a line item adjustment.  I just wanted to see if changing the account from ‘other current liabilities’ to ‘sales tax payable’ would make it appear on my sales tax report.  It did not, so I went to switch it back to what it was before.  But quickbooks said noooo.