Why do Quickbooks recommend only disconnecting a bank account instead of making it inactive? I have a closed and disconnected bank account with zero balance.

You've come to the right place, @Tarek_k. Thanks for providing the details of your concern. I'm delighted to explain the difference between disconnecting a bank account and making it inactive.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), we recommend disconnecting accounts connected to online banking instead of deleting them. This simply stops QuickBooks from downloading new transactions. If you disconnect an account from online banking, your existing accounting data will remain unchanged, and you can reconnect it at any time to start downloading transactions again.

Follow these steps if you want to disconnect your bank account:

1. Go to Transactions, then select Bank transactions.
2. Pick the tile for the bank account.
3. Click the pencil ✎ icon, then tap Edit account info.
4. Tick the Disconnect this account on save checkbox.
5. Hit Save and Close.
   
   

On the other hand, making an account doesn't remove its transactions, which remain intact even after the account is deactivated (deleted). You can access financial reports and data, and deleting transaction records is also possible. However, retrieving the deleted transactions into your account can be difficult if you want to recreate them later. Check out this article for more details about the process: Disconnect or reconnect a bank account in QuickBooks Online.

Regarding your additional concern about inactivating your old bank account, it's safe to make it inactive if you have corrected the balance to zero. Because if it's not, QBO makes an automatic adjustment entry to zero out the non-zero balance of the inactive account. The entry could cause incorrect tax information to be filed, so it's crucial to ensure that the balance of your old bank account is corrected to zero before you make it inactive. 

Before making any changes, it would be best to consult your accountant to ensure it's right. Visit this resource to learn more about it: Make an account inactive on your chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, check out these articles to learn more information about how the Chart of Accounts organizes your transactions so you know how much money you have and owe in each account:

• Learn about the chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online
• Learn about account types and detail types in QuickBooks Online

Please don't hesitate to get back to me if you still have additional questions about managing your bank accounts in QBO. I'll be here to lend a helping hand. Have a great day ahead!

Hello @Kevin_C ,

Thanks for getting back to me on this.

I assume when you say "deleting an account", you mean making it inactive.

You mention "deleting an account is a permanent action that removes it from menus and lists. While you can still access financial reports and data, deleting transaction records is also possible". Could you please clarify this more because you can make an account active again later if you change your mind, so it is not a permanent action. In addition to that. what do you mean by "deleting transaction records is also possible"? From what I've read on Quickbooks help forums, all historical account data are retained when you make an account inactive, so what data exactly is at risk of being lost?

Thanks for the support.