Why there is an account to track costs associated with vehicles called Auto but at the same time under Other expenses there are a buch of accounts for vehicles expenses?

Hi useryeisonusta!

I'm happy to provide insight about your accounts in Chart of Accounts.

QuickBooks Online allows you to create subaccounts in your Chart of Accounts. This helps you in getting a clearer picture of your income, expenses, and more. For example, if you want to track vehicle-related expenses, you can set up different subaccounts for insurance, repairs, gas, and more.

If you're unsure what account to use or if you really need these, you'll want to seek some advice from your accountant.

Also, please check this link: Create subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online. This will explain more how this feature can help you.

Keep your posts coming if you need more clarifications. Take care!

What I´m trying to say is that for example if I have vehicle expenses like tolls or repairs  I would not know what account to use, if the one called Parking and Tolls and Vehicle Repairs that are under Account Type "Other Expense"  or to create an Auto Account that is under Account Type "Expenses" and create sub accounts for each type of expense. I mean, what is the difference between using the accounts for vehicles under "Other Expense"  and using the Auto Account in Expenses. ?

Regards,

Yeison

Hello, useryeisonusta

Thank you for sharing your concern here in the Community.

The Other Expense account is the same as Expense because they're used to track expenses.
The only difference is how QuickBooks track them in your reports.

You can also check this article that will help you on how to create subaccounts in your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to reply to this post if you have additional concerns. I'm always here to help.
 

Same question... I get that there ARE two expenses: Expenses, and Other Expenses.  I've been just using QB default, and putting vehicle expenses in the Other Expenses... This separates them out on my P&L.

What I don't get is WHY there is this distinction, and WHY QB defaults to putting vehicle expenses under Other Expenses and WHY these are separated out in the P&L and other reports.

What is the REASON for this?

Hello there, ST40.

I'm here to clarify why QuickBooks uses two expenses to categorize transactions and how it's reflected on the reports.

When you create your QuickBooks Online account, the system has created default accounts. Other special accounts are created when certain actions are taken, or features are turned on in your QuickBooks settings.

These default accounts are recorded permanently on the system. However, you can merge the two expense accounts. You can check this reference for more information: Manage default and special accounts in your QuickBooks Online chart of accounts.

I've also added this article as a guide to manage your expenses: Enter expenses.

Don't hesitate to get back to this thread if ever you have other concerns.

Sure... that explains why in the program this happens, but what is the LOGIC for the program to do it that way?

WHY are vehicle expenses treated any differently from other regular expenses?

Would really like an answer to this.

So many things about QB seem entirely arbitrary and difficult... this is just one example: "We're gonna stick your vehicle expenses in a different area called 'other' because... why not... just to confuse you."

OR, if there is a GOOD REASON for this (some tax or reporting thing I'm not seeing) I would REALLY like someone to explain it here.

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Further: I can't edit this default "Vehicle Expense" category to move it into regular expenses like I can with other account categories. 

I run a shuttle business. Vehicle expenses ARE regular expenses for me.

Thanks for getting back to the thread, @ST40. I'll share information on how you can transfer to the regular expense account.

You'll want to create a Journal Entry to transfer from the regular expense account in QuickBooks Online. I'll show you how.
 

1. Click + New and choose Journal Entry.
2. Select the expense account from the Account field and enter the amount in the correct column.
3. On the next line, select the other account you're moving money to or from. Depending on if you entered a debit or credit on the first line, enter the same amount in the opposite column.
4. Review the amounts - it should have the same amount in the Credit column on one line and the Debit column on the other. This means the accounts are in balance.
5. Enter information in the memo section so you know why you made the journal entry.
6. Then select Save and close.
    

You can refer to this article for more details: Create a journal entry in QuickBooks Online.

I've also added the following articles for your future help:
 

• Categorize and match online bank transactions in QuickBooks Online.
• Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.
   

Feel free to post a reply if you have any other QuickBooks-related concerns. I'll be around. Take care!

Thanks. However, that completely ignores the WHY of my questions. 

And is a pretty lousy approach to the how: adding a journal entry for every single entry. (Side note: not sure why QB helpers like recommending Journal entries, everything I've read says they're poison and best to be avoided.)

The correct answer for HOW to change vehicle expenses out of "Other" is to move the category itself (and that moves all the entries).

Only you CAN'T do this if using QB in 'business' mode — which is the default. You have to switch it to 'Accountant' mode which unlocks all the features I've been frustrated that QB lacks for the last year.

Here's hoping QB hires a UX/UI team that can straighten out the mess some day.

Thank you for being persistent about this.  I am not a heavy user of QBO, but I have been using it for a while.  I ran the P&L for a client for the 1st time and I saw this "Other Expenses" section at the bottom of the P&L statement and I was like, what the heck is going on.  

Yes, I would like to understand the logic for doing this as well.

One thing is for sure, I'm not going to spend time moving it from the "Other Expenses" to the "Expenses" category.  When the client and other folks asks what the heck is going on with the P&L statement, I'll just tell them that we're using QuickBooks Online.  Everyone will understand.

Lamar

The default "Other Expense" account is for you to log expenses incurred for personal vehicles in the special circumstances in the course of business that can be tax deductible. However, a vehicle that is used for business and is considered to be used in the course of the overall operations of the business; you would need to create a different vehicle expense account categorized to Expenses>Auto for it stop showing in the P&L as "Other Expense". Hope that helps.

1. I've been trying to figure out the same thing for several days: What meaningful difference is there between "expenses" and "other expenses?" From pursuing a number of threads, it seems that "expenses" are for routine expense transactions that occur every month and "other expenses" are random and would not necessarily occur every report period. 

1. I've been trying to figure out the same thing for several days: What meaningful difference is there between "expenses" and "other expenses?" From pursuing a number of threads, it seems that "expenses" are for routine expense transactions that occur every month and "other expenses" are random and would not necessarily occur every report period.