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Alicia Katz Pollock

QuickBooks Online Tags Retiring May 15: How to Migrate Your Data Now

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QuickBooks Online users who rely on the Tags feature are facing a critical deadline. After May 15th, 2025, you’ll no longer be able to add new tags to transactions. This underused but flexible feature is being replaced by a modified Custom Fields alternative that comes with both benefits and limitations.

In a recent episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast,  hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Dan DeLong discussed this major transition and explained what you need to know and do before the deadline.

Why Tags Are Going Away (And Why Some Users Will Miss Them)

According to Alicia and Dan, about three-quarters of QuickBooks users never used Tags at all. As Dan explains, “When they roll out a new feature, if it doesn’t get used, it could stand to be discontinued. When I worked there, typically we wouldn’t find out who used it until we stopped it… and then people would call in droves, like, ‘What are you doing? I was using that!’

But for those who discovered Tags’ flexibility, this retirement is a significant loss. Alicia shares several creative ways professionals used Tags:

  • Marking transactions that needed review: “I would use a tag that said ‘for review.’ And then I could pull up all the transactions that needed review, and boom, they were all right there.”
  • Weather tracking at a gas station: “They used tags to say what the weather was… Is it sunny? Is it raining? Because their business is lower on rainy days, and that helped them filter out weather anomalies.”
  • Animal categorization at a veterinary practice: “They would tag transactions with cats, dogs, birds, rodents and reptiles and then they could see who they were providing their services for.”

Tags were particularly valuable for users on lower-tier QuickBooks plans who didn’t have access to Classes or Locations features. “If you didn’t need any of the other features in Plus,” Alicia explains, “Tags allowed you to get flexible about it.”

The Migration Timeline: Act Now

The retirement process follows this timeline:

  • March 17, 2025: Custom Fields was expanded across all QuickBooks Online subscription levels
  • May 15, 2025: CRITICAL DEADLINE – After this date, Tags become read-only
  • May 16, 2025 – May 14, 2028: During this period, you can view historical Tags and run reports but can’t add new tags
  • May 15, 2028: Complete removal of Tags functionality and all historical data

How to Migrate Your Tags to Custom Fields

If you’re using Tags, here’s what you need to do before May 15th:

Step 1: Make sure all your transactions are properly tagged. Go to the gear icon, select Tags, and click “see all untagged transactions” to catch any missed items.

Step 2: Click the “migrate tags to custom fields” button in the Tags section.

Step 3: During migration, you’ll need to:

  • Choose which tags to include (uncheck any you don’t want to migrate)
  • Name your new Custom Field (it defaults to “Tags”)
  • Specify that the field applies to transactions (recommended)
  • Select which transaction types should display the field
  • Decide whether the field should print on customer-facing forms

Step 4: Complete the migration. Your Tags will convert to a dropdown Custom Field with up to 100 options. If you have grouped tags, they’ll appear as “Group Name: Tag Name” in the dropdown list.

Dan notes an important distinction: “The historical transactions still have the tags on them. The new transactions won’t have the tag field – they will have the custom field available to choose.”

Critical Step: Preserve Your Historical Data

This migration doesn’t transfer your historical tag data to the new Custom Field – it only creates the structure for future transactions. Your 2025 reports will be split between the two systems.

“Run your reports on all of your tags so that you have that history permanently,” Alicia emphasizes. “When you’re looking at the Tags list, every single tag group or ungroup tag has a ‘run report’ link to the right of it.”

Save these reports as PDFs with multiple date ranges. “This is the very last time you are ever going to see a P&L related to this data,” Alicia warns.

What’s Better and What’s Worse in the New System

Improvements:

  • Universal Availability: Custom Fields are now available across all subscription tiers.
  • Increased Fields: Simple Start and Essentials now have one custom field, Plus gets four, and Advanced continues with twelve.
  • Dropdown Functionality: The new custom field is a dropdown, which “helps eliminate data entry errors,” as Dan points out.
  • Form Flexibility: Unlike standard custom fields, this new one works on both sales forms AND expense forms.
  • Printing Options: You can choose whether to display the field on customer-facing documents.

Limitations:

  • No P&L Reporting: “The big heartache is that you cannot do a profit and loss report by custom field,” Alicia explains. This is a major functional loss for many users.
  • Banking Feed Limitations: “You cannot apply this new custom field from the banking feed,” notes Alicia. You’ll need to edit transactions after they’re created.
  • No Multiple Values: Unlike Tags, you can only select one value per Custom Field on a transaction.
  • No Bulk Assignment: Currently, there’s no way to apply Custom Fields to multiple transactions at once, though Intuit has said this feature is coming.

Recommendations for Moving Forward

If the Custom Fields approach doesn’t meet your needs, consider these options:

Consider Upgrading: “If you’re angry because your tags are gone, you probably need to be using the right tool for the job anyway,” suggests Alicia. “Classes are way more reportable… It might be worth upgrading to Plus.”

Use Multiple Custom Fields: If you’re on Plus or Advanced, you have access to more custom fields and can create separate fields for different tracking needs.

Spreadsheet Sync: Advanced users can leverage Spreadsheet Sync to manage custom field data, including retroactively applying values to past transactions.

Stay Alert for Improvements: Intuit has already announced that bulk assignment and adding Custom Fields to deposits are on their roadmap.

The Reality Check

As Dan puts it, “If you don’t use something, it is in jeopardy of going away,” bringing new meaning to “use it or lose it” in the software world.

For many users, Tags weren’t even on their radar. But for those who built creative workflows around them, this transition requires immediate action to preserve historical data and adapt to the new system.

If you need help with the migration process or want to discuss this change, you can reach out to Alicia and Dan at unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com.

Listen to the full episode for more details and insights about this important transition in QuickBooks Online.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

QuickBooks Updates: Tap to Pay, Third-Party Integrations, and Training Opportunities for Accounting Pros

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In the latest episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Matthew “Spot” Fulton break down the most important QuickBooks announcements from Intuit’s March “In the Know” webinar. 

Here’s what’s new, from streamlined payment processing to expanded integrations and professional development opportunities.

Upcoming Training Opportunities for ProAdvisors

Here are several important training opportunities that ProAdvisors should mark on their calendars:

Level Two Certification Virtual Conference (March 25-27) – This training offers 9.5 CPE credits and prepares you for the advanced certification that many firms now require. Alicia emphasized, “Level one is like what buttons do you push… Level two is really leveraging the resources, some of the more advanced features, being able to think creatively about how to use the features to solve problems.”

MailChimp Training – Two new trainings are available in the ProAdvisor certification portal: “Getting Started with MailChimp” and a “MailChimp Product Guide” for client conversations. These trainings help ProAdvisors understand how MailChimp (now owned by Intuit) can be used for targeted client communications.

Recertification Window (April 28 – June 30) – The hosts emphasized the importance of recertifying early. “If you certify much earlier, your chances are probably better than later to get that prize,” mentioned Matthew, referring to the weekly $250 gift card drawings for those who pass the test. Remember that ProAdvisor certification tests are open-book!

Construction Industry Training (May 8) – For those interested in the construction niche, Intuit is offering specialized training covering “the modern construction landscape, mapping the construction workflow, connecting field and office, and key technology solutions.”

Tap to Pay on iPhone Eliminates Hardware Requirements

One of the most exciting announcements is the new Tap to Pay feature for iPhone, available in both the QuickBooks Mobile and Go Payment apps. This eliminates the need for the $50-100 Bluetooth card readers that many users didn’t even know existed.

“This is huge,” Alicia explained. “Now all you have to do is pull up the GoPayment, pull up the sale, and all the person has to do is either tap their phone to your iPhone or tap their credit card to your iPhone, and it automatically pays.”

The financial benefits extend beyond hardware savings. Transactions processed through Tap to Pay cost just 2.5% compared to 3.4% for manually keyed entries. ProAdvisors can secure even lower rates for their clients through preferred pricing.

However, both hosts emphasized that the real value isn’t in the processing rates but in the automated reconciliation. “If your focus is on the rates versus the efficiency, then you’re actually paying attention to the wrong thing,” Alicia noted. “QuickBooks Payments has huge ROI because when you run the payment through it, it recognizes it, it pays the invoice, it puts it in undeposited funds, it batches the payments and it matches to your bank feed.”

This feature is currently available in the US, with Canada expected to follow later.

Third-Party Payment Integrations Expand

QuickBooks Payments is significantly expanding its third-party integrations, allowing more applications to use it as a payment processor. The growing list includes PandaDoc, ChargeOver, Notify, ServiceM8, Buildertrend, Lightspeed, Salesforce, BigCommerce, and many others.

“Basically, what happens is you go into the settings on these apps for the payment processor, and it’s going to now give you a choice,” Alicia explained. “So instead of just going to Stripe, you will now actually have choices… and QuickBooks will be on the list.”

A major advantage for bookkeepers is how QuickBooks Payments handles processing fees. Unlike other processors that deduct fees from each transaction, QuickBooks extracts fees as separate transactions. “When you see the money in the bank, you’re seeing the full payment on your invoices and they’re all batched at their totals, which makes it much easier for you to batch and reconcile,” Alicia noted.

Intuit is also exploring options to allow merchants to pass processing fees to customers—a feature many professionals have requested.

ProConnect Tax Planning Tools Enhanced

For accounting professionals who handle taxes, ProConnect Tax now offers enhanced integration with QuickBooks. The system allows you to toggle different tax strategies on and off to see how they affect clients’ estimated taxes and tax projections.

“They’re trying to create an environment where it’s more intertwined and you can start to be planning for quarterly estimate payments, better projections, that type of stuff,” Matthew explained.

Users can create multiple “what if” accounts to compare different tax scenarios, view federal and state tax implications, and even print estimated tax payment vouchers. The integration also incorporates Intuit Assist’s AI-powered insights to identify opportunities you might otherwise miss.

QuickBooks Live Expert Service Evolving

QuickBooks Live, Intuit’s $50 support service that allows clients to get simple questions answered, is being refined based on customer feedback. Initially seen as potential competition, many ProAdvisors now view it as a valuable addition to their service offerings.

“I actually now see it as a huge value-added service,” Alicia shared. “I have some of my high maintenance clients calling into it instead [of me].”

The service has important limitations that protect the ProAdvisor relationship: “They’re only answering the question that’s asked. They can’t contribute more information… they can only answer what has been requested of them.”

Intuit is now testing enhancements, including priority queue access and weekend support hours, which could prove valuable during crunch times.

Making the Most of These Updates in Your Practice

These March updates reflect Intuit’s commitment to creating tools that help accounting professionals deliver more value with less effort. For those looking to leverage these innovations effectively:

  1. Focus on efficiency over processing rates when evaluating payment solutions
  2. Consider introducing clients to QuickBooks Live for basic support questions
  3. Pursue Level Two certification to enhance your problem-solving capabilities
  4. Explore specialized training in high-demand niches like construction
  5. Complete recertification early to maximize learning and incentive opportunities

The real value accounting professionals provide goes far beyond basic bookkeeping. These QuickBooks enhancements free up time to focus on the advisory work that truly transforms client businesses.

For more detailed insights on these updates and implementation strategies for your practice, listen to the full episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

Hidden QuickBooks Updates in March 2025 That Will Change Your Accounting Workflow

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Keeping up with the changes in QuickBooks can feel like a full-time job. Thankfully, Alicia Katz Pollock and Margie Remmers-Davis are here to help you out!

In this episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast, they dive into what they’ve discovered in March 2025. They cover everything from minor tweaks to major updates that will change the way accounting professionals use QuickBooks.

“What Margie and I do is we have a Google Doc that every time we notice something is different, we go ahead and take a screenshot and drop it in the doc,” explains Alicia. This method helps them keep an eye on both official updates and those cool experimental features that might disappear before you know it.

Let’s dive into the most notable QuickBooks changes they uncovered this month.

Menu Improvements 

Several interface enhancements make QuickBooks more user-friendly and efficient for daily tasks. One of the most notable improvements is the addition of a submenu for Reports in the left navigation bar.

“Every item that you hover over has a submenu that takes you to the tabs for that thing. For years, reports never had that dropdown,” Margie explained with obvious relief. “Thank heavens… hallelujah that they did this!”

The bookmarks feature has also been enhanced. Users can now edit bookmark names, which Alicia appreciates for fixing formatting issues: “When I bookmark the Reminders list, it always comes in in all caps, which triggers my OCD. I like being able to edit the bookmark and get it into regular case.” However, Margie expressed concern that custom bookmark names might create confusion during support situations.

For accountants working with clients considering Intuit Enterprise Suite, there’s now a quick link under the Accountant Tools briefcase labeled “Intuit Enterprise Suite referral.” This makes it easier to schedule meetings with Intuit sales representatives to evaluate if the suite is right for your clients.

Financial Tracking Enhancements

A much-missed feature has returned to fixed asset management. When creating a fixed asset, users can now check a box labeled “create a category to keep track of depreciation,” which automatically creates two subaccounts – one for the original value and one for depreciation.

“This lets you see the net book value for that one fixed asset on the chart of accounts,” Alicia explained. “For my small business owners who might just have a couple fixed assets, it’s really great.”

The split transactions interface has also received a significant upgrade. “It used to be a tiny little window. Now it fills up your screen,” noted Alicia. The redesigned interface allows users to split transactions between different chart of accounts categories and map to different product and service lines simultaneously.

For businesses using payroll, there’s a new section for employer tax expenses in the payroll settings. “Now you have the ability to create micro expense accounts for literally any one of your employer taxes,” Alicia shared. This feature is particularly valuable for larger companies that want detailed expense tracking without relying on external spreadsheets.

Perhaps most helpful is a new warning system in the banking feed that prevents duplicate revenue entries. When users attempt to categorize a deposit for a customer with open invoices, QuickBooks now displays a warning message: “This client has open invoices. If this deposit is for that invoice, record the payment and receive payment first.”

Payment Processing Innovations

GoPayment, QuickBooks’ mobile payment solution, now offers Tap to Pay for iPhone users. This eliminates the need for the $50 Bluetooth card reader previously required for accepting payments in the field.

“You can hold your phone in your hand, log into GoPayment, dial up an order, and then they can just tap their credit card or tap their phone to your phone,” Alicia explained. This feature is particularly valuable for businesses that take payments on the go.

For businesses concerned about merchant fees, there’s a clever workaround. “If you turn off your merchant services, your customer still can pay using merchant services, but they pay the fees,” Alicia explained. This option is found under the “Manage” and then “Payments” button on the right side of an invoice.

The Business Network is also enabling easier payment information sharing between QuickBooks users. “Find your business network settings and put in your ACH information. Then that will just make it easier on everybody and you’ll get paid faster,” suggested Alicia.

Important Account Limitations to Watch

Recent changes to the QuickBooks Checking deposit account agreement introduce several transaction limits that could impact business operations:

  • ATM withdrawals limited to 10 per day
  • Daily purchase and withdrawal limit of $10,000
  • Funding transaction limit of $5,000 per day
  • Limits on instant transfers: “Up to five instant transfer transactions per day and per week, and up to ten instant transfer transactions per month”
  • A new 3% foreign transaction fee

“I’m definitely checking in with them myself because I don’t know what this means for me,” Alicia noted, particularly concerned about the instant transfer limits. “Are they going to start charging me or are they going to just slow down everything after the first five for the week?”

For those concerned about these limitations, Alicia mentioned alternatives like Anchor (flat $5 per transaction) and Forwardly (free transfers), which Margie confirmed her company recently switched to with positive results.

QuickBooks Payroll is also changing how it handles tax payments. “They’re going to start withdrawing your taxes when you run your payroll. So you have to have your payroll and your taxes funding available in the checking account when you run payroll,” Alicia explained.

Glimpses of Future Developments

The hosts spotted several experimental features that briefly appeared before disappearing again, offering clues about future QuickBooks developments:

  1. A column labeled “approval status” temporarily appeared in transaction lists, even in QuickBooks Online Plus accounts (typically an Advanced feature).
  1. A dedicated column showing which rule applied to banking transactions briefly appeared in the banking feed.
  1. For a moment, some users could create profit and loss reports with columns for custom fields, possibly related to the upcoming migration away from legacy tags.

Alicia also revealed she’s beta testing a completely redesigned banking feed experience expected to launch later this year. “I’ve been beta testing it and I like it,” she shared, noting that the upgraded split transactions interface seems to be a precursor to this larger overhaul.

Staying Current with QuickBooks Changes

These ongoing improvements and experiments show how crucial it is to stay updated with the latest QuickBooks changes. This way, you can better serve your clients and avoid surprises when logging into their QuickBooks accounts.

If you want to hear more about these updates and what’s on the horizon for QuickBooks, check out the full episode of The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!

Intuit’s Stockholders Meeting: What Accountants Need to Know

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Intuit recently held its annual stockholders meeting. Even if you spend your day working hands-on in QuickBooks, it’s important to understand the bigger picture behind this publicly traded company. 

In a recent episode of “The Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast,” hosts Alicia Katz Pollock and Matthew “Spot” Fulton analyzed the meeting and shared insights that can help accounting professionals plan for changes coming to the QuickBooks ecosystem.

Why This Meeting Matters

Intuit’s fiscal year ends on July 31, which means their annual meeting doesn’t line up with the usual calendar year or fiscal year. At each meeting, Intuit’s CEO, Sasan Goodarzi, and other leaders present the company’s strategy and financial results. Matthew explains he listens to these meetings because it reveals how Intuit’s plans match what accountants are seeing on the ground.

An AI-Focused Vision

Intuit decided in 2018 to become an “AI-driven expert platform.” Goodarzi calls AI the greatest technology shift since electricity and the internet. Whether you agree or not, Intuit is already seeing major results:

  • 8x faster development velocity (roughly 30% quicker feature delivery)
  • 11% fewer direct customer support calls thanks to AI-powered self-service

Intuit also applies AI inside its own operations. Matthew describes it as an “eat your own dog food” strategy: They’re not just releasing AI tools for customers; they’re using the same tools internally to reduce workload and speed up development. For accountants, this means QuickBooks may change more quickly, making it vital to stay informed about new features.

Five Big Bets for Growth

During the meeting, Intuit repeated its “five big bets” for driving innovation:

  1. Revolutionize speed to benefit
  2. Connect people to experts
  3. Unlock smart money decisions
  4. Be the center of small business growth
  5. Disrupt the mid-market

The “connect people to experts” bet includes both Intuit’s own experts and independent accounting professionals. While some accountants worry about QuickBooks Live as competition, Alicia points out that the QuickBooks Live Expert Assist model can allow ProAdvisors to focus on higher-level services while routine questions go elsewhere. In many cases, accountants can also sign clients up for QuickBooks Live and share revenue.

Expanding the Ecosystem: Mailchimp and Credit Karma

Intuit’s acquisitions of Mailchimp and Credit Karma once puzzled some users. Now, the strategy is clear: create a complete platform. A business might start small in QuickBooks, then grow and need Mailchimp for marketing, or use Credit Karma to secure funding. Intuit reported:

  • 22% more customers using both Mailchimp and QuickBooks Online
  • 5x increase in Credit Karma users who finish taxes in TurboTax

This cross-platform synergy is part of Intuit’s plan to keep business owners on their products for every financial need. Meanwhile, the company continues to see massive usage overall:

  • $2 trillion in invoices managed across the platform
  • $124 billion in total payment volume
  • $10.4 trillion in consumer debt visibility via Credit Karma

QuickBooks Online Growth and Payroll

QuickBooks Online’s U.S. customer base grew by 11%, and QuickBooks Online Advanced saw a 28% rise in subscriptions with an 84% retention rate. QuickBooks Online Payroll revenue climbed by 23%, with 18 million workers paid through Intuit’s payroll systems each year.

These numbers highlight Intuit’s growing influence. Matthew believes the trifecta of QuickBooks Online Advanced, QuickBooks Time, and QuickBooks Payroll offers more advanced project tracking, streamlined payroll, and faster reporting. Alicia adds that the new features—like revenue recognition and updated reporting—make QuickBooks Online Advanced more compelling than ever.

New Mid-Market Focus: Intuit Enterprise Suite

To “disrupt the mid-market,” Intuit introduced Intuit Enterprise Suite. They estimate the average revenue per customer (ARPC) at about $20,000 a year—or roughly $1,600 a month. While still in early phases, it could give companies that have outgrown QuickBooks Online Advanced or Enterprise more reasons to stay with Intuit. Additional API features and custom fields may arrive soon, which could benefit app developers and clients with more complex needs.

What About Mint?

A shareholder asked if Mint, Intuit’s personal finance tool, might see a refresh. Goodarzi gave a brief response suggesting no big revival is planned. This indicates Intuit remains focused on other core products, including QuickBooks, TurboTax, Mailchimp, and Credit Karma.

CEO Compensation and Long-Term Vision

About 7% of Goodarzi’s pay is salary, while 93% is in stock options. This structure links his earnings to the company’s success. Alicia sees this as a sign that Intuit’s leaders believe in their long-term strategy enough to connect most of their personal income to stock performance.

What It All Means for Accountants

Despite the rapid pace of AI and big-company acquisitions, Alicia and Matthew see opportunities for accounting professionals who adapt. QuickBooks Live might handle everyday questions, but accountants can build advisory relationships, train clients on best practices, and provide higher-level analysis. As Alicia notes, even though Intuit automates routine tasks, the human element remains vital for nuanced financial guidance.

Stay Informed and Keep Learning

To hear all the details—and pick up more practical tips—check out Episode 78 of the Unofficial QuickBooks Accountants Podcast. You’ll learn:

  • How Intuit’s “five big bets” connect to real-world QuickBooks features
  • Deeper insights into QuickBooks Online Advanced
  • Opportunities in QuickBooks Live Expert Assist
  • Ways to keep pace with AI and other tech shifts

By understanding Intuit’s direction, you can better guide your clients and spot new ways to grow your business. AI and automation are here to stay, but accountants who use these tools strategically can deliver even greater value.

Alicia Katz Pollock’s Royalwise OWLS (On-Demand Web-based Learning Solutions) is the industry’s premier portal for top-notch QuickBooks Online training with CPE for accounting firms, bookkeepers, and small business owners. Visit Royalwise OWLS, where learning QBO is a HOOT!