Needing to change a sub-client from "billing with parent" to "billing with client", but getting error message

I recognize how important it is to flawlessly change the sub-client billing option, CyberSpyder. I'm here to help you sort this out.

This error prompts if the transactions are under your sub-client while the payments are recorded under the parent. You'll have to ensure that there are no linked transactions on both sides before changing the type.

Here's how to change the customer's name on the sales transaction:

1. Select Sales on the left menu and go to the All Sales tab.
2. Open the transaction you want to update.
3. Change the customer name and click Save and close.
4. Click Yes to confirm the action.

Once done, you can now change the option to Bill this customer/client. Here's how:

1. From the Sales menu, choose the Customers tab.
2. Choose the sub-client and then click the Edit button.
3. On the Is sub-customer section, select the Bill this customer/client option.
4. Once done, click the Save button.

Additionally, I've included an article that'll help you personalize your sales forms in QuickBooks Online. This helps you add the info that matters most to your business: Customize Invoices, Estimates, and Sales Receipts.

I'm only a post away if you need more help in managing your sales transactions, CyberSpyder.  It's always my pleasure to help you out again.

I completely understand the idea behind this, but cannot understand how to make this happen.

• What does “linked transactions” mean? Both sides? (<-- of what)
  
  
• How do we know which “sales transaction” to try and change? The sub-client has many (years even) of transactions.
  
  • What customer’s name should be used? The only available name for that transaction is the sub-client’s name? It is already the sub-client’s name, as it should be. However, QBO shows it as “Parent | Sub-Client” – There is no Sub-Client by itself to select from in the list.
  
  
• I’ve tried to do this, from what I can guess, but it didn’t make any difference. I still received the same error message. I changed all the November payments and invoices from the sub-client to a dummy account. Then tried to change the sub-client to bill with client, instead of parent, and still had the error which wouldn’t allow me to change the bill with option.

I completely understand the idea behind this, but cannot understand how to make this happen.

• What does “linked transactions” mean? Both sides? (<-- of what)
• How do we know which “sales transaction” to try and change? The sub-client has many (years even) of transactions.
  • What customer’s name should be used? The only available name for that transaction is the sub-client’s name? It is already the sub-client’s name, as it should be. However, QBO shows it as “Parent | Sub-Client” – There is no Sub-Client by itself to select from in the list.
• I’ve tried to do this, from what I can guess, but it didn’t make any difference. I still received the same error message. I changed all the November payments and invoices from the sub-client to a dummy account. Then tried to change the sub-client to bill with client, instead of parent, and still had the error which wouldn’t allow me to change the bill with option.

Let me share additional clarifications to your questions to continue your work, @CyberSpyder.

Thank you for following my peer's response. The linked transactions that my colleague @CharleneMaeF is referring to are the delayed charges from the customer and sub-customer that you linked to an invoice. This made the error appear when you try to change from Bill with parent to Billing with customer.

To get rid of the error message, you have two options. You can remove the sub-customer charges in the invoice or delete the invoice itself.

If you choose to remove the charges, ensure to take note of the charge amounts and the dates so you can remove them by hand. You'll see this in the sub-customer Transactions List. The value may be slightly different due to tax.

Here's how to remove the sub-customer charges in the customer invoice:

1. Go to the Sales menu and then select the Customers tab.
2. Choose the customer's name and then click the Transaction List.
3. There you'll see the invoices. Pick the invoice that may contain the sub-customer charge.
4. Above the Customer label, click the [no.] linked transactions.
5. Select Remove.
   
6. Hit Save and close.

If you choose to delete the invoice transaction and recreate it after switching sub-customer to Bill with client, you can follow these steps:

1. In the customer Transaction List, select the invoice.
   
2. Click More.
3. Choose to Delete.
   

This will leave the charges open when you recreate the invoice. You can now continue to change the sub-client from Billing with parent to Billing with client/Billing this customer.

On the other hand, as you can see in my screenshots, the name Chris there is the parent, and the sub-client is Sample. The sales transactions that you should change would be under Chris' name. For more details about using the parent billing option on your invoices, you can read this article: Use the bill with parent option on invoices in QuickBooks Online.

However, if the error still appears, I'd recommend contacting our Care Support team to investigate this further. They have tools to pull up your account and see the situation you have in a private session.

Would you have additional questions regarding the parent billing option or any product-related concerns, please tag me in your comment. I'm willing to assist you through this forum. Have a nice day ahead.

@Jovychris_A hanks for the information.
However, before I go another step into this with your steps - how do I determine which transaction is causing the problem? Is it only the last one? Is it only payment transactions that need to be looked at? Or recurring invoices?
The parent has had the sub-client for quite a while and has a few transactions every month for many months. Does every transaction have to be corrected?

@Jovychris_A 

Also, trying to follow your screen shots and info - my QBO shows Clients instead of customers which is OK. Then when I go to an invoice that is the parent | sub-client, I don't have linked transactions shown. I do have a payment made link on the top right under the PAID info. That link shows me the payment receipt. There are no REMOVE buttons, as shown in your screenshots. Are you wanting us to delete the payment receipt for that particular invoice? 

Your confusion ends here, @CyberSpyder.

Allow me to provide further details on your concern and help you from there.

The main cause of this problem is the payments or the delayed charges linked to an invoice. That said, you'll have to remove/delete every payment or charge from your sub-client to get this corrected. Since you don't have the option to remove the charges, you can delete the payment instead. To do so, you can click the 1 payment made link under the Payment Status section, then select More and choose Delete in the Receive payment window.

If you get the same issue, I suggest reaching out to our QuickBooks Support Team. This way, they can further check on this matter and provide additional steps to get this resolved. 

In the future, you might want to review all the sales transactions made in QuickBooks. You can go to the Sales menu and select All Sales.

I'm still open to your replies, @cjloveconsulting. If you have any additional questions about your concern, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. I'll be around to provide further assistance.

@cjloveconsulting. Thanks for your reply. 

Question: Would scheduled automatic recurring payments be a cause?

These sub-clients do not have any actual unposted payments or pending payments other than possibly the above scenario?

It still doesn't 'compute' in my brain as to why we were able to change some of a client's sub-accounts from 'bill with parent' to 'bill with client' but not others. The main client pays all of them at the same time. When comparing one sub-client to the other - there are no differences. It makes no sense why we can change some and not the others under the same 'parent' client.

This seems very tedious.  I'm in a similar situation where the parent company has changed.  We have the same subcustomers but the parent company is a new entity.  I can't be deleting invoices and payments.  Is there another way to change the parent company?

If I create the new parent company and going forward need to invoice a subcustomer.  Can I now invoice the same sub customer under the new parent?  

Thanks!

Hi, @melissas-marines.

I can see the challenges of deleting and recreating invoices and payments to transfer your sub-customers to another parent customer. Let me share some insights on this.

To transfer a sub-customer to another parent account, all of its transactions must be under its own name. If any transactions, like payments, are associated with the parent account instead, the transfer cannot be completed because it would break the link between invoices and payments.

To answer your question, the only solution is to delete and recreate the payment transactions, assigning them to the sub-customer rather than the parent customer. This adjustment will allow you to successfully transfer the sub-customer to a different parent customer.

Once you have transferred the sub-customers, you'll want to keep track of their transactions by checking their balances. I recommend reading the article titled Print a customer or vendor register in QuickBooks Online. This will guide you through running balance reports to help you monitor the transactions effectively.

If you have any further questions about QuickBooks or anything else, please don't hesitate to ask. I'm here to assist you.

@AldritchM 
In my experience, a possible solution is to make sure there are no open invoices for the sub-company/client. Then, when editing the sub-client, in the sub-account/parent area, there's usually a check box that allows the sub to billed/invoiced with the parent or on it's own. You want this to bill/invoice NOT with the parent, nbut on it's own sub-account. I've been usccessful, on occasion, being able to make the switch, but sometimes not. If you can switch it to it's own, you casn then change or reassign it to another parent.
Probably only about a 35% success rate, but it's worth a shot to try before deleting/recreating invoices.
Also, in the process of deleting/recreating, it might be worth a look to see if when editing the invoice, you could duplicate the invoice and assign it to the new parent at that time. That would save you from having to manually re=enter all of the items, etc. and it would keep all of the exact billing cycles, etc. Haven't tried this myself, but it might be worth a shot.

We were not able to find a solution that works everytime, but see my reply below the QB reply. Maybe it can help you out.

@CyberSpyder  I was excited at your response, but it didn't work for me. At this point because I have so many transactions I'm going to try and create new invoices under the new parent.  I just don't have the time/focus without interruptions to fix the past.  Thanks for your help.

@AldritchM I can see the payments are part of the problem as the parent company paid one check for several subcustomers.  I would have to delete the payment and break it up by sub but I've already reconciled and don't want to mess with that.  I'll review the article on projects as that might be the way to go in the future.  Is there a video tutorial on any of this?

Thanks

After creating the new parent, it might also be possible to duplicate an existing invoice and then change it to the new cliet before saving it. If that works, you'd save all the time of re-entering every invoice's details.

I admire your initiative, Melissas. I'll be happy to share the video tutorials to help you learn your way around QuickBooks Online (QBO).

If you're having trouble navigating QBO to handle your concern about changing the parent company, don't worry. We provide video tutorials to assist you in customizing our key features to meet the needs of your business. 

Watch them by going to this link: QuickBooks Video Tutorials.

You may also narrow the list of video tutorials by selecting a specific topic at the upper portion of the screen. 

Additionally, feel free to check out this article so you can have an overview of the different areas of your business, including sales and expenses: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know whenever you have clarifications concerning the video tutorials. I'll be more than glad to continue assisting you. Stay safe and happy watching!