Why is there 'other business expenses' on my p & l but I can't find any expenses in this category?

I can tell why there's Other business expenses on your Profit and Loss report, and find the expense in this category, stynen.

You can see the Other business expenses category on your report once a transaction is categorize under this option.

You need to select the correct category for your business expenses by clicking the amount next to Other business expenses. This will open the banking transactions under this category.

Then, follow these steps to assign the correct category:

1. Click Other business expenses. 
   
2. Select Show all categories, then choose one that best suits your business transactions.
   

Check out this article for more details: Updates to expense categories in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

If you're still not seeing those expense categories, you can clear the browser's cache and cookies. It could be a browser-related issue. This helps refresh website preferences that might be causing problems when you use QuickBooks.

Keep me posted if you need anything else by commenting below. I'll be around to help categorize your bank transactions.

The question I have, is that I did not mark ANY expenses as "other business expenses". I have them marked as "Membership/subscription" yet under the expenses report they all all under "other business expenses". What other categories are under "other business expenses" This is really frustrating when you mark them in the transaction area as a specific expense and your system lumps them with other expenses.

Hi there, maj5282. I'd be more than happy to share some information about how expense categories work.
 

The Memberships/subscriptions category is a subcategory of Other business expenses. When you categorize transactions using this option, they'll show up on reports as Other business expenses.
 

Here's a list of additional subcategories for Other business expenses:

• Computers
• Phone
• Printing
• Copiers
• Uniforms
• Furniture
• Other tools and equipment
• Photo/Video Equipment
• Apps/software/web services

You'll be able to find more information about how expense categories work in our Updates to expense categories resource. A link to that article can be found in MaryLandT's post. You can also find many detailed resources about using QuickBooks in your help article archives.
 

If there's any questions, I'm just a post away. Have a great day!

It is a real pain in the "you know what" that QBSE groups all of these under other business expenses, they are stated separately on the tax return and it makes it very difficult to provide accurate and detailed information for the return.  I would recommend isolating these types of accounts so that QBSE users can see their expense categories in detail.  Business owners do not spend time categorizing all of their transitions to see them all grouped together.  What if they want to do a cost analysis on their software purchases or another category in the group?  They would have to use a tag report?  What a pain in the butt.  

Thanks for sharing your input, equations808.

I appreciate your thoughts on how you want to customize the expense category in QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE). We are taking note of your suggestion about isolating these types of accounts so that QBSE users can see their expense categories in detail. 

Feel free to visit our Reports page for more insights about creating and managing reports on your account

For now, let me share these easy-to-access articles, webinars, and video tutorials that will help you in familiarizing the different tasks, features, and functions of QBSE. Below are the following:

• QuickBooks Self-Employed Overview.
• List of our articles.

You have me here if there's anything else you need help with. Stay safe and enjoy the rest of the day!

I agree, It is frustrating when my accountant asks me " What are these "other business expenses" and then I have to dig for hours to answer her question. 

I know that tis hasn't been easy for you, Jfarmer12.

I understand that you need to view the transaction under specific category to provide accurate and detailed information for the tax return. Please know that your ideas will definitely to help us understand where we can enhance our products. To help improve your experience, I'd recommend sending feedback to our Product Development Team. Here's how:

1. Sign in to your QBSE account.
2. Click the Assistant icon.
3. Enter "feedback" in the search bar, then select Add a feature.
4. Enter your comments and suggestions.
5. Hit Enter then, then choose Yes.

I'm also adding this article to learn more about Schedule C categories and how to categorize transactions in the program:

• Schedule C and expense categories
• Updates to expense categories

Feel welcome to reach out to me again with any concerns you may have. The Community always has your back.

I'm having the same problem. So frustrating. I use this software to track and sort the transactions, so I don't understand the logic behind combining them all into "other business expenses" on the report. 

So IS there a way to get a breakdown of all of these “other business expenses” sub categories in a report that QBSE generates or am I going to have to go back line by line and find these by myself?  If that’s the case then what am I paying Quickbooks for?  

This is super frustrating.

I second this!! It's so frustrating

I am having the same issue.  

Custom Categories for QB Self Employed are still not possible several years after this post. People have been requesting this for several years, but it has still not been added. 

It seems obvious that self employed businesses will need custom categories for their business accounts.

If anyone using QBSE would like this to be added please add your vote here: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/quickbooks-idea-exchange/allow-users-of-qb-self-employed...

If the post gets 50 votes, apparently Quick books will 'consider' it. Please add your vote & hopefully something will be done to resolve this.

Having to itemize 'other business expenses' has been a part of filing Schedule C's forever. It makes no sense QBSE doesn't allow you to break down this expense line into it's sub categories. My wife's QB Plus (her business is much more complicated than mine) breaks down this line into sub categories on the P&L and makes our tax filing much easier. As a self employed single member LLC, I also need this data on my P&L and I find it very frustrating that this product designed for self employed/small business owners doesn't allow this. 

Please add this feature.

Also, the previous post with directions to request a feature, doesn't work. The Assistant is currently not operational. 

I use the following workaround.  I open the hyperlink for other business expense category and then download the details as a CSV.  This allows me to sort the transactions by their actual categories and come up with the totals I need.  Not great, but only takes about 5 minutes depending on how comfortable you are sorting and summing your spreadsheet.  Hope this helps!

I’ve had to use this method myself.  I just don’t think that we should have to do this extra legwork because of them, though.  Three years ago this wasn’t an issue.  But, they made some changes and now not only is this blanket but you can turn it off!  I’ve submitted questions about it and they are just shrugged off by customer service.

I'm actually moving to a different service starting this week.  The price increase along with this “other business expenses” stuff has pushed me into finding an alternate software provider.

I'm using QBSE in trial to try it out. This is the biggest sticking point so far. I need to be able to connect my business credti card and my checking accounts into one software (All American Express banking accounts) and QB allows this. I was using Wave before and I couldn't connect my banking accounts. 

Super curious what software you're moving to?

Thanks for the workaround, it works for my needs for now. 

Welcome to the Community, @JHTP.

I am aware of the advantages for businesses like yours to break down expenses line into subcategories. I want QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) to have this feature as much as you do.

But QBSE still doesn't have this feature. However, I strongly urge you to share your thoughts with our software engineers. They carefully examine customer feedback, especially when determining how to improve QuickBooks.

Currently, the browser Assistant button is not working to send feedback. I recommend submitting feedback using the QuickBooks Self-Employed mobile app.

Here's how:

1. Select Assistant in the upper right corner.
2. Type in Feedback, then click Enter.
3. Follow the prompts to submit feedback.

I've added this handy article to give you a general guide and help you prepare your taxes: QuickBooks Self-Employed Annual Tax Guide.

Don't hesitate to comment below if you need further assistance in managing your expenses in QuickBooks Self-Employed. I'm always here to help. Have a great day.

I'm also curious which platform you are moving to.

I'm fairly new to QB and 80% satisfied with how it's working, but the lack of categories is a big failing for an accounting software, so also looking into affordable alternatives for a small self employed business.

Thanks.

"Currently, the browser Assistant button is not working to send feedback. I recommend submitting feedback using the QuickBooks Self-Employed app."

The browser assistant hasn't been working for some time now. There is a message saying that it's being worked on, but there has been no improvement or development on that in the time that I have been using QB.

Why?

This is very poor service for a paid software with millions of users - likewise features like Custom Categories have been requested for several years now but QB has done nothing to make that possible.

Why?

I actually just stumbled upon the beta feature of creating custom categories, where you can also send feedback about. At the top, click the gear icon/account settings, then under Tools, click Labs (ADMINS - you didn't know about this???). You can enable Custom Categories, and also leave feedback about it. The feature says 'up to 10' but I've only been able to successfully create 6. You can file it under 'Other Business Expenses', but it doesn't show up there, it shows up as it's own category. Which would be fine from a basic usage perspective, but still doesn't do the job of what it should be doing. These 'sub-categories' don't show up on the P&L; nor does it show up any where else there is reporting, such as in Taxes. FWIW, it's in beta, so try it out and leave them some feedback. 

I agree that I'm about 90% happy with QBSE, but this is a sticking point. The CSV workaround is fine for now, but not ideal for PAID accounting software. Any accountant using this product would be appalled (my wife's bookkeeper was astounded by this). In the meantime before my trial runs out I'm taking a look at Xero to see if my accounts will sync up seamlessly with it. 

JHTP - thanks for that tip.

I don't seem to be able to find that option under the gear icon. The only options visible to me under 'Tools' are 'Create Rules' and 'Set Up Tags'.

Can someone from the QB Admin team please able to help and advise?

I'm not sure how useful it will be if it doesn't include these categories in the P&L, but it sounds like a step in the right direction, so it would be good to be able to give feedback on this feature.

It does seem bizarre that a paid accounting software doesn't give users the ability to create categories relevant to their businesses. 

We have a way you can access the Labs option under Tools from the Gear icon to enable the Custom Categories feature in QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE), JSSE. I'll guide you on how to do this.

Starting April 29, 2023, all QBSE customers in the U.S. can use the initial version of Custom Categories (also known as Tagging), which is currently accessible only through the web, not the mobile app. To do this, here's how:

1. Open a web browser and log in to your QBSE account.
2. Go to the Gear icon.
3. Under Tools, select Labs.
4. On the Labs page, select the Turn it on button under the Custom Categories section.

Furthermore, we welcome your feedback as you begin using this attribute. You can use the Give Feedback link on the Labs page, as our team closely monitors this.

Additionally, classify your transactions after they have been downloaded into your account to put them on the correct line of your Schedule C. To do this accordingly, please see this article: Categorize transactions in QuickBooks Self-Employed.

For any additional concerns about custom categories in QBSE, please don't hesitate to let us know in the comments below. We'll always be right here to help you anytime.

According to your post this has been in “Labs” for almost 10 months now. It still hasn’t been rolled out to the general public who pay for this service - you have to come to the boards here for someone to tell you.

I’ve had this problem with the “other business expenses” classification for almost three years.  So have many, many other people.  The assistant on the app is broken and there’s almost no way to voice concerns or complaints - or get help.

And, in order to fix problems that this phone app-based software creates you have to log in through a laptop or desktop to fix it?

AND they just raised the price to $20 a month for this?!?  

I'm done with the Quickbooks and Intuit.  The only thing that holds any value for me with it at this point is the integration of the mileage tracker.  But, because of the price increase it’s MORE expensive than for me to use a dedicated mileage tracker app and a different accounting software.

I know that you are a mod and not someone nessecarily with the company, but this isn’t excusable.  As soon as I can go through and finish cataloging my tags for 2023 I’m out.  

Exactly.  When they made this change to “other business expenses” that’s just a vacuum for all of these other (valid) subcategories, my tax people literally emailed me “WTF?!?”.  

There are other solutions out there and now they are less expensive than QBSE.   I hate having to learn new systems but I also hate having to pull excel sheets to reclassify my expenses when it should have been done in app.