Learn how to delete accounts from your chart of accounts.
Keep your chart of accounts simple and organized. If you don't plan to use an account anymore, you can make it inactive. This essentially deletes it. QuickBooks hides inactive accounts from lists and menus, but keeps past transactions on your reports.
If you've never used an account or its balance is $0, you can easily make it inactive. However, active accounts you've used for a while will take a bit more work. Since accounts are connected and rely on each other to stay balanced, deleting data from one affects everything else. We'll guide you through what you can do so you can make the best choice.
There's a big difference between disconnecting an account from online banking and deleting one from your chart of accounts. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Make an account inactive to delete it
Note: Before you start, reach out to your accountant. Make sure this change is right for you. Don't have an accountant? We can help you find one.
Once you make an account inactive, it's very difficult to undo.
If you make an account with a balance inactive, QuickBooks creates a journal entry. This moves the remaining balance to another account. Your existing transactions don't disappear and stay on your financial reports. However, if you decide to use the account again, QuickBooks won't move the balance back or change the journal entry.
| Important: QuickBooks uses certain accounts as default accounts for features. Tax and undeposited funds accounts are examples of default account. You cant delete default accounts. Learn more about default accounts. |
Some accounts require extra steps before you can make them inactive:
- If products or services use the account, change the account they're linked to. Or you can make products and services that use the account inactive.
- If you want to delete an income account with pending charges, invoice your customers for the billable expenses, time, or charges. Then you can delete the account.
- If recurring transactions are linked to the account, you need to unlink them from the account.
- If the account has subaccounts, move the subaccounts to a different account on your chart of accounts. You can't delete accounts with subaccounts.
When you're ready to make an account inactive:
- Go to Settings ⚙ and select Chart of accounts.
- Find the account you want to delete.
- Select the Action ▼ dropdown and select Make inactive.
See inactive accounts
When you run reports, you’ll still see inactive accounts and their transactions. QuickBooks includes them to keep everything accurate. You can customize some reports to hide inactive accounts, but this may affect accuracy.
If you want to see your inactive accounts:
- Select Settings ⚙ and then Chart of Accounts.
- Select the Gear icon ⚙ at the top of the list.
- Select the Include inactive checkbox.