Skip to main content
K
keskel80
January 4, 2024
Question

Conversion to QBO Essentials caused "billable" expenses that are not billable

  • January 4, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

Hello,

We had QBD Pro and converted to QBO Essentials.  In QBD, we were able to "associate" certain expenses to a customer, but did not (and didn't want to) bill them.  The cost was built into the price of our services billed to the customer.  During the conversion to Essentials, those associated expenses now have been flagged as billable expenses to those old inactive customers from years ago.  Those customers have also been classified as active in the conversion.

 

We want to remove the billable flag and make those customers inactive again.  In QBO Essentials, there is no check box to uncheck "billable".  I was also unable to find "add time and costs and hide" as listed in other solutions in the Community.

 

I'm looking for a solution that will not mess up past bank reconciliations.  

Thank you in advance for any solutions you can provide!

 

 

 

1 reply

L
LollyNino_C
January 4, 2024

Greetings, @keskel80! We are thrilled to have you join our Community space and appreciate your visit to our forum. It's our pleasure to assist you in making customers inactive and removing the billable flag in QuickBooks Online Essentials.

 

QuickBooks Desktop and Online are different products, and some features work in one and not the other. As for QuickBooks Online Essentials, you can't directly uncheck a "billable" checkbox for customers. This feature is currently available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced versions.

 

As an alternative, you'll want to consider our higher versions so you can track billable expenses on the invoices. You can visit this website: QuickBooks Online (QBO) Plans. It lets you view the comparison and pricing chart between the online versions of QuickBooks. Once you've chosen the right plan for you, you can upgrade your subscription.

 

After that, you can enable the billable expense feature in the settings. Let me guide you on how.

 

  1. Go to the Settings (Gear) icon at the upper right. 
  2. Select Account and Settings under Your Company. 
  3. Go to Expenses from the left menu. 
  4. Choose the Bills and Expenses section.
  5. Check these three boxes: Show Items table on expense and purchase forms, Track expenses and items by customer, and Make expenses and items billable. 
  6. Click Save. 
  7. Choose Done. 

 

I've also included this article if you want to review how to record, edit, and delete expenses in QuickBooks Online moving forward: Enter and manage expenses in QuickBooks Online.

 

On the other hand, to make customers inactive. I'd be glad to provide you with the steps on how to accomplish it. Here's what you'll need to do:

 

  1. Go to the Sales tab and choose Customers.
  2. Locate the customer name and in the Action column, click the dropdown ▼.
  3. Select Make inactive. Then confirm by selecting Yes, and making inactive.

 

If you have plans to make the customer active in the future, you can check out this article for the steps: Add and manage customers in QuickBooks Online.

 

Once done, check out these articles on how to use the Billable Expense feature:

 

 

Lastly, need to work on your reconciliation after downgrading? This article can help you with the process: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

 

Please keep us posted if you need further assistance or have any questions about managing billable in QuickBooks Online. Please feel free to click the Reply button below. We're always here to help you out anytime. Have a great day ahead!

K
keskel80Author
January 4, 2024

Thank you for the detailed answer.  Having certain expenses marked as billable is not very important to us (since the cost is built into our service billing) and we don't feel the need to upgrade our subscription.  Therefore, we are looking for an answer to correct the outstanding billable expenses to these old customers using QBO Essentials. 

 

Also, when trying to make the customers inactive again, I received an error message saying we need to resolve the billable expense.  Hoping there is a reasonable way to resolve the billable flag and then we can make the customers inactive again.  Thank you

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement