Has anyone run into this? Error: This employee cannot be deleted because it is used in unbilled charges

Let's review a report to resolve the error, lmatch.

You run the Uninvoiced Charges or Unbilled Charges report to check if the employee is used in one of the transactions. Here's how:

1. Go to the Reports menu.
2. Look for Uninvoiced Charges or Unbilled Charges report. 
3. Check if the employee that you're trying to delete is used in one of the transactions.
4. Click the transaction to open it.
5. Uncheck the Billable box.
6. Click Save and Close.  

Once done, delete the employee to check if that works. You can also reply to this thread if you have follow-up questions. 

Thanks for the reply.  That was the first thing I looked at, and there are no unbilled invoices or unbilled time (those are the only two reports that come up for me) for this former employee.  Other former employees deleted (made inactive) just fine.

Actually, we figured it out.  The reports that are available are actually titled "uninvoiced charges" and "uninvoiced time", but when you run the report, the report is titled "unbilled charges".  That's just to keep everyone confused.  Anyway, running the uninvoiced charges report did come up with some items, but under someone's name other than this employee's name.  However, opening up those charges showed a check, and the check was indeed under this employee's name, with several items on it that had a check mark on "billable"!  Unchecking those checkmarks on the check and saving it allowed us to make the employee inactive.  Makes no sense, but it worked.  Hmm..

Hi again, lmatch.

Thanks for letting me know that you're able to make the employee inactive. I'll also send your feedback about the name of the report to our engineers so they can take a look at it.

Let me know if you need anything else. 

Is there another solution to this problem?  Like much of the world, I just had to layoff several employees, and the have thousands of billable hours that weren't billed because they weren't "hourly" projects.  Now it looks like I have to uncheck each entry one at a time.  Would take hours or days to do.  There must be another way

Hi Paul C,

Currently, you can only uncheck the billable box in your timesheet to remove the billable hours. Let me show you how.

1. Click the + New.
2. Select Weekly Timesheet.
3. Uncheck the Billable option.
4. Click Save and new. 

I'll also make sure to pass this along to our product team to let them know of your business needs.

For future reference, please check this article for more information: How to Enter Billable Time For Employees.

Please let me know if you have any other concerns.

Were you able to find a solution?  I have time going back to 2009 and prior that I need to remove the billable checkmark for.    Not going to happen if I have to do it one at a time for every old employee.

Thank you for getting back here in the Community, @jillroth.

Currently, the workaround to remove billable checkmark for the employees is the steps provided by, @MariaSoledadG. 

For more information about entering billable time by job, please check this article link: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/pay-wages/how-to-enter-billable-time-by-job/00/186....

To check for the new added features or updates in QuickBooks, you can also visit our blog page. 

I'll be around if you need anything else. Stay safe and take care always!

So is the answer to my question that we need to pull up every time sheet for every individual that was marked billable and shouldn't be?    

Any other way to just remove old employees from the drop down on timesheets?   These individuals have never been paid through QBO and I don't care if I have no record of them moving forward.    

Good Evening, @jillroth. 

Yes, that's correct. The confirmed workaround is the steps that my colleague @MariaSoledadG provided above. However, I'll send feedback to our Product Developers so they can consider this in one of the upcoming updates. Our Developers take the time to look over every request that's sent to them by customers. Here's an extra article that can help you in the future: 

• How to enter billable time by job

If there's anything else I can do, just let me know. The Community is always here to have you back. Have a great day!

We have this issue as well. The Unbilled Time report shows over 40k of these "billable" items. The dollar amount is zero. So, how about invoicing them to clear the employee's attachment. They can be deactivated at that point, right?

Yes, you can actually create an invoice to clear out all the unbilled charges, bayer368.

Once cleared, you can follow these steps to deactivate the employee. Here's how:

1. Go to the Payroll menu, then proceed to the Employees tab.
2. Look for the employee's name and click on it.
3. Click the Pencil or Edit ✎ icon next to Employment.
4. Edit their info and select Done.

Let me also share these articles in case you might need the when managing your employees in QBO:

• Terminate Or Change Employee Status Payroll
• Change An Employee's Direct Deposit Info

Don't hesitate to send in another question or add a reply below if you have other questions.