Cannot make an expense account inactive

You could try clearing your cache and trying a different browser. 

You could also try just changing the name of it to something generic, like Inactive, or Null. That way it won't interfere with the accounts you care about.  

It can be challenging when you can't inactivate an expense, FPCNS. I'm here to share some details about this.

When you create your company in QuickBooks Online, specific default accounts are created for you depending on the business entity you selected. On the Chart of Accounts page, it’s important to understand that some of them can't be deactivated.

I've listed the following accounts that you're unable to inactivate:

• Undeposited Funds (also called Payments to Deposit When you record a payment to your company, the funds are added to this account until you deposit them into your bank account.
• Opening Balance Equity: This is the default account for adjustments.
• Retained Earnings: This account reports the net income of your company on the Balance Sheet report. 
• Inventory/Stock Asset and Cost of Goods Sold/Cost of Sales: If you try to edit or deactivate these accounts, any edits to your Products/Services will be recreated.
• Sales of Product Income: This is used to track sales for inventory items. 
• Reconcile/Reconciliation Discrepancies: This account is created if you reconcile an account and the transactions in QuickBooks Online don't match the transactions reported on your bank statement.
• Unapplied Cash Payment Income: This account is created if you record a cash payment from a customer without applying it to a sales form, such as an invoice.
• (Sales tax agency name) Payable: This account is created if you set up sales tax for a tax agency. 
• QuickBooks Checking: When you activate QuickBooks Checking, the QuickBooks Checking bank account is created. 
• Uncategorized Expense and Uncategorized Income: These accounts are created automatically and track money your business earned or spends that still needs to be categorized.
• Uncategorized Asset: This account records any asset that can’t be matched to an account.
• Owner's Equity (also called Owner Draws, Owner’s Investment, or Owner’s Pay & Personal Expense This account represents the cash or assets you’ve invested in the company.
• Services: This is the default income account in QuickBooks Online.

If the account is listed above, it is the reason why you encountered an error. Otherwise, I suggest accessing your account using a private window. This way, we can determine whether this is a browser cache-related issue. The browser utilizes cached data to load web pages quickly. However, excessive cache can lead to problems that impact the appearance and functionality of your account.

An incognito mode helps us verify the issue since this doesn't save any files. Here are the keyboard shortcuts: 

• Safari: Command + Shift + N 
• Google Chrome: CTRL + Shift + N
• Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge: CTRL + Shift + N

If you inactivate it, clear the browser's cache. Doing so deletes all the data from your browser and optimizes its performance. Using other supported browsers also helps us verify if this is a browser-specific issue. 

Please let us know if you have additional questions about inactivating accounts or any QuickBooks-related concerns. I'm always here to lend a hand. Stay safe and well.

didn't work...but thank you.

thank you

1) This is not a system-generated account, but an account I created myself.

2) Incognito mode with clearing cache does not work.

3) Open to suggestions -- should I just call support?

I appreciate your effort following the troubleshooting provided and confirming that you've manually created the expense account, @suds1. I've got the steps to contact our Support Team.

Some accounts require extra steps to disable them. It might be the accounts under products or services where you need to change the account they're linked to. If it has to do with an income account, recurring transactions, or a subaccount, refer to this guide for the complete details: Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Since the issue persists, follow the instructions below to reach out to our representatives. They can help you figure out the reasons behind the error.

1. Go to the Help icon and choose Search.
2. Click the Contact Us button and enter your concern.
3. Press Continue.

See this article for our operating hours: QuickBooks Online Support.

Feel free to check out this reference to help you track financial information effectively: Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Look at this guide to learn more about organizing your accounts: Use account numbers in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Be reassured that our Support Team will help you resolve this issue. If you need help with handling other QuickBooks tasks, just let me know. Stay safe.

on the phone with support -- says this was an issue several months ago, but no issues seen currently.

Went through all of the trouble-shooting steps everyone suggested. (Thank you all, but none of them worked).

Only thing i can think of (which I suggested to support) was that this account was created a decade ago when we were using the desktop version -- we switched over to QBO maybe 5-6 years ago?

I have a similar problem with some Income accounts as well -- accounts created on desktop which cannot be made Inactive in QBO. No services, items, etc. are linked to these accounts, but they cannot be made Inactive. I've not had Support specifically look at these accounts re: this issue.

Wondering whether that is the underlying problem? Support says desktop-created vs. QBO-created is not the issue. But...what other underlying difference is there?

For my own reference case# 15108326879  

We have the same issue with 2 expense accounts. We set them up so they are not the type of account that can't be made inactive. They are not attached to a product or service but do have a parent GL account. I've tried a bunch of things but can not make them inactive. About 2 years ago we switched from Desktop to QBO. 

Hi, Judy.

Did you encounter an error when attempting to make the expense accounts inactive? 

If you didn't, you can perform basic troubleshooting steps. A cache-related issue is likely causing the inability to make the accounts inactive. You can use a private or incognito window to rule out cache problems in your browser. Here are the shortcut keys:

• For Mozilla Firefox browser: Ctrl + Shift + P
• For Google Chrome browser: Ctrl + Shift + N
• For Safari browser: Command + Shift + N

Next, log in to your QuickBooks Online (QBO) account and make the accounts inactive again. If it works, you can clear your browser's cache. This removes the webpage data that's causing the issue. If a private browser doesn't work, you can use other installed supported browsers as another option.

If the issue persists, you can reach our contact support for further investigation. Here's how:

1. Go to the Help menu at the top right corner.
2. Choose or type Contact Us.

Additionally, I'll add these supplementary articles for more information regarding making accounts inactive:

• Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online
• Manage default and special accounts in your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts

Just in case you want to reconcile your accounts to always match your bank and credit card statements, you can check out this article for more guidance: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

You can always hit reply if you need further assistance making your expense accounts inactive. We're available to help you.

I just discovered why we could not make the two expense accounts inactive. I did get an error "Failed to inactive some accounts."  Once you click Got it and scroll to the top of the screen I saw an error message that indicated that the GL was linked to the 1099's. Once I removed the GL associated with the 1099's I was able to make the expense accounts inactive.  

I just discovered why we could not make the 2 expense accounts inactive. Yes I did get an error message. "Failed to inactivate some accounts". After clicking Got It, I scrolled to the top of the screen and noticed an error message that the expense accounts were linked to the 1099's. Once I deleted the expense accounts from the 1099 list I was then able to make the expense accounts inactive. 

Hello FPCNS,

Thank you for sharing your input to help address the issue. We love to see members supporting one another! Have a great day.

I have been trying for months to inactivate an expense account (Landscaping) that I created in my COA.  I had not had the time to contact Intuit to help me until today.  I chatted with them and the technician could not figure it out.  I then decided to request a return call and was connected to a tech named Carl.  I wish I could connect with him if I have future issues.  He used critical thinking and perseverance to work with me to resolve the issue.

The steps I had taken prior to calling Intuit were as follows:

1.  Confirmed that the account had a zero balance and no transactions (all dates).

2.  Checked Products & Services to ensure that the account was not linked to a product/service.

3.  Confirmed that it was not connected or linked to a workflow.  I did not have any workflows.

Carl asked me to do perform the following:

1.  Show all inactive accounts.

2.  Once done, there was an inactive subaccount associated with the Landscaping account that I was trying to inactivate.  He had me reactivate the subaccount, and then make it a parent account (uncheck subaccount).

3.  Then he asked me to inactivate the Landscaping account.  When I attempted to do so, it did not work.

4.  He asked me to merge the Landscaping account into another account, which is what I did and it worked.

5.  Then I inactivated the other account that I made a parent account.

Carl informed me that other people have been having this issue as well.  Hopefully, the above will work for everyone.

Good luck!