Skip to main content

Get 50% OFF QuickBooks for 3 months*

Buy now
Switch to QuickBooks and 70% off for 3 Months
October 14, 2025
Question

Can not delete old employees that were part of migration from desk top version.

  • October 14, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 6 views

get this message Business Validation Error: This employee cannot be deleted because it is used in unbilled charges.

2 replies

QuickBooks Team
October 14, 2025

Hello there, Kim.

 

The error you received is due to an unbilled transaction or a billable expense that is linked to your employee.

To delete an old employee, the only thing we can consider is to clear the unbilled charges by unchecking the Billable option on the Check or Bill you've created for your employee.

 

First, we need to run the Unbilled Charges report to find the specific transactions that cause the error. Here's how:

 

  1. Go to Reports
  2. In the Search bar, type Unbilled Charges report. 
  3. Set the Date and Filter it by Employee. 
  4. Click the Unbilled Charges amount in your report.
  5. Uncheck the box in the Billable column.

 

Once done, you can go back and try to delete your old employee again. But before that, I want you to know that un-billing the charges will impact your financial position. If you really want to delete your old employee, I recommend reaching out to an accountant for guidance on how to do this without impacting your financial position.

 

However, if your employee has payroll history, QBO will only allow you to make them inactive, not completely delete them, to ensure legal compliance and data integrity.

 

It's completely normal to have follow-up questions. Let us know if you require any further assistance with managing your employees in QuickBooks by clicking the Reply button.

SIAB
Level 2
October 14, 2025

@kimowen35 

You can purchase a 3rd party condense service to remove any inactive List data before converting your data to QB Online.