How to Inactivate an Account in the Chart of Accounts — QuickBooks Online

When you no longer need an account — perhaps it is obsolete, a bank account was closed, or a category was merged — make it inactive rather than deleting it. Inactivating preserves all the historical transactions while removing the account from your active lists, keeping the books clean.

Step 1 – Open Settings

Click the Settings (gear) icon in the top-right corner of the navigation bar, immediately to the right of the search bar.

Figure – Opening Settings

Step 2 – Open the Chart of Accounts

In the Settings menu, select Chart of accounts under the YOUR COMPANY section.

Figure – Opening the Chart of Accounts

Step 3 – Choose Make Inactive

A Select the account – Find the account you want to make inactive in the list.

B Drop-down arrow – Click the arrow at the far right of the row, under the ACTION column.

C Make inactive (reduces usage) – Choose this option from the menu.

Figure – Choosing Make inactive

Step 4 – Confirm the Change

QuickBooks confirms what happens: pending transactions on the account are completed, existing transactions are unchanged, and the account is not deleted — you can make it active again at any time. Click Yes, make inactive to finish.

The account no longer appears when posting transactions.

Figure – Confirming the change