QuickBooks Online · Feature
QuickBooks Online classes: how class tracking works & how to use it well.
Class tracking is the segment-tagging feature in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced: you tag each transaction to a class — a location, department, program, property, or product line — so you can run a profit-and-loss report by class and see how each segment of the business is really doing. It is powerful for multi-segment businesses, but only if it’s applied consistently: a file where some transactions are tagged and some aren’t produces segment reports that quietly mislead. Below: what the feature does, how to use it well, and when a ProAdvisor should design the class structure or back-tag a file for clean reporting. Independent firm, not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
QuickBooks Online class tracking lets you tag each transaction to a class — a segment of the business such as a location, department, program, property, or product line — so your reports can split results by segment instead of showing only one company-wide total. With classes turned on, you can run a profit-and-loss by class and see which segment is actually profitable. It’s available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced (not in Simple Start or Essentials). The one thing that makes or breaks it is consistency: a class is only as useful as the percentage of transactions that carry it. A half-tagged file produces misleading segment reports, because untagged amounts fall outside the segments and the numbers don’t add up to the story. Note: Locations is a related but separate tag — classes and locations are different fields.
Reference maintained by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., an independent firm — not Intuit, and not Intuit’s official software support. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
QuickBooks Online class tracking, in five questions.
What does class tracking do in QuickBooks Online?
It lets you tag each transaction to a class — a segment of the business such as a location, department, program, property, or product line. Once classes are applied, you can run a profit-and-loss by class that splits income and expenses by segment, so you can see which part of the business is actually profitable instead of seeing only one company-wide total.
Which QuickBooks Online plans include class tracking?
Class tracking is available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced — it is not in Simple Start or Essentials. If you’re on a lower tier and need it, that’s a plan upgrade, which is an Intuit subscription matter. Once it’s available, you turn classes on in the account’s settings, and a Class field then appears on your transactions.
Why does class tracking only work if it’s used consistently?
Because a class report is only as complete as the share of transactions that carry a class. If half the file is tagged and half isn’t, the untagged amounts fall outside the segments, so the profit-and-loss by class looks authoritative but doesn’t add up to the real story. The discipline that makes classes useful is tagging every transaction — a half-tagged file produces misleading segment reports.
What is the difference between classes and locations in QuickBooks Online?
They are two different tags. A class typically marks a segment like a department, program, or product line; a location typically marks where the activity happened. They’re separate fields, and a business can use one, the other, or both — for example classes for departments and locations for physical sites. They’re often confused, but choosing which dimension each represents is a setup decision worth making deliberately.
Do I need an accountant to use class tracking in QuickBooks Online?
Not for a simple, well-defined setup — many owners turn classes on and tag as they go. A Certified ProAdvisor earns their fee designing a class structure that actually answers the owner’s questions, back-tagging a file so the segment history is clean, or fixing a half-tagged file whose reports don’t add up. We design and back-tag classes inside your own QuickBooks file; an independent firm can’t touch your Intuit account or change your plan.
What QuickBooks Online class tracking is, plainly.
A class is a label you attach to a transaction to mark which segment of the business it belongs to. Once class tracking is turned on, an extra Class field appears on invoices, expenses, bills, and other transactions, and you choose a class for each one — a location, a department, a program, a property, a product line, whatever segments you care about. The classes themselves don’t change the accounting; they sit alongside it as a second way to slice the same numbers.
The payoff is reporting. With classes applied, you can run a profit-and-loss by class that breaks income and expenses out by segment, so instead of one company-wide bottom line you can see which location, program, or product line is actually carrying the business and which is quietly losing money. That visibility is the whole reason multi-segment businesses turn classes on — it answers questions a single P&L can’t.
It’s worth being precise about the limits. Class tracking is available in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced — not Simple Start or Essentials — so it may require a plan upgrade. Locations is a related but separate tag: classes and locations are different fields, and a business can use one, the other, or both. And classes are only as good as how consistently they’re applied: a file where half the transactions are tagged and half aren’t produces segment reports that look authoritative but don’t add up. We describe QuickBooks Online’s behavior as it actually works — we don’t claim capabilities the feature doesn’t have.
What QuickBooks Online classes do.
The moving parts of the feature, in the order you meet them — from turning it on through the segment report that makes it worth the effort.
Part 01 · Turn class tracking on (Plus and Advanced)
Class tracking lives in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced — it isn’t in Simple Start or Essentials, so getting it may mean a plan upgrade. Once you’re on a tier that includes it, you switch it on in the account’s settings. From that point a Class field becomes available on your transactions; turning it on changes nothing about the accounting itself, it just opens the segment dimension.
Part 02 · Define a class list of business segments
You create the classes you want to track — a location, a department, a program, a property, a product line. These are the segments the business is run by, and they’re yours to define. The list can be flat or use sub-classes for a little structure, but the point is to name the few segments whose performance you actually want to see separately, not to model every possible split.
Part 03 · Tag each transaction with a class
With class tracking on, a Class field appears on invoices, expenses, bills, and other transactions, and you assign the right class as you enter each one. This is the daily discipline the whole feature rests on: a transaction without a class simply isn’t counted in any segment, so the value of the reports tracks directly with how completely transactions are tagged.
Part 04 · Run a profit-and-loss by class
The payoff is the profit-and-loss by class report, which breaks income and expenses out by segment so you see each one’s bottom line side by side. Instead of one company-wide total, you can tell which location, program, or product line is carrying the business and which is losing money — the question a single P&L can’t answer, which is the whole reason multi-segment businesses turn classes on.
Part 05 · Classes and Locations are separate tags
QuickBooks Online also offers a Locations tag, and it’s easy to confuse the two. Classes and locations are different fields: a business can use one, the other, or both — for instance classes for departments and locations for physical sites. Deciding which real-world dimension each field represents is a setup choice; using both well gives a two-way view, using them interchangeably just creates confusion.
The limit · What classes can’t fix: an inconsistent file
Class tracking reports faithfully on whatever is tagged — and only on what is tagged. It can’t infer the class of a transaction nobody labeled. So a file that’s half-tagged produces a profit-and-loss by class that looks precise but quietly leaves amounts out of the segments. The feature doesn’t enforce consistency for you; that discipline, or a back-tagging cleanup, is what makes the segment reports trustworthy.
How to use class tracking well.
Six steps, in order. The first three set the structure up; the rest are the habits that keep the segment reports true instead of letting a half-tagged file mislead you.
Confirm you’re on Plus or Advanced
Class tracking is only in QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced, so first confirm your plan includes it; if you’re on Simple Start or Essentials you’ll need to upgrade, which is an Intuit subscription matter. Once you’re on a tier that has it, turn class tracking on in the account’s settings so the Class field becomes available on transactions.
Design a small, clear class list
Define the few segments you actually want to see separately — locations, departments, programs, properties, product lines — and keep the list short. A handful of well-chosen classes you’ll tag consistently beats a sprawling list nobody maintains. Name them plainly, and if you need structure, use a shallow set of sub-classes rather than many overlapping ones that blur the segments.
Decide classes vs. locations deliberately
If you’ll use both class and location tags, decide upfront which real-world dimension each represents — for example classes for departments and locations for physical sites — and document it. Treating the two fields as interchangeable is how files end up with the same split recorded two ways and reports that contradict each other. One clear convention, applied the same way every time.
Tag every transaction, every time
This is the step the whole feature lives or dies on. Assign a class to each transaction as you enter it — invoices, expenses, bills, journal entries — so nothing slips through untagged. The value of the segment reports tracks one-to-one with how completely the file is tagged; a habit of tagging everything is worth more than any amount of report formatting later.
Review the unclassified amounts regularly
Run the profit-and-loss by class periodically and look specifically at anything sitting in an unspecified or untagged bucket. That figure is your consistency gauge: if it’s large, the segment reports aren’t trustworthy yet. Catching and tagging strays as they appear keeps the file clean and stops a small gap from growing into a back-tagging project.
Run the P&L by class at every close
Make the profit-and-loss by class part of your month-end close, not a once-a-year curiosity. Reviewing it each period confirms the segments add up to the company total, surfaces tagging gaps while they’re small, and turns class tracking into a real management report rather than a field people fill in and never look at. Consistency in, insight out.
Want a class structure designed, or a half-tagged file back-tagged?
A Certified ProAdvisor reviews the file free, then designs a clean class list, turns class tracking on, and back-tags history so the profit-and-loss by class is true — a focused scope is typically a $1,200–$3,000 fixed fee; a broader cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+ if the books are behind. Independent firm.
When a ProAdvisor should help.
Designing the class structure
Choosing the right classes — few enough to maintain, meaningful enough to manage by, and mapped cleanly against locations if both are used — takes judgment about how the business actually runs. Getting the structure right at the start is far cheaper than re-tagging a whole file after the segments turn out wrong, and it’s exactly the design work a ProAdvisor does before the first transaction is tagged.
Back-tagging a half-tagged file
When class tracking was turned on late, or applied inconsistently, the history is full of untagged transactions and the profit-and-loss by class doesn’t add up. Working back through that file — assigning the right class to past transactions without disturbing the accounting — is real cleanup work, and it’s what makes the segment reports trustworthy. This is where a ProAdvisor saves the most time and rescues the most reporting value.
When segment reporting drives decisions
If you’re using the profit-and-loss by class to decide which program to fund, which location to keep, or how to price a product line, the numbers have to be complete and correct — a half-tagged file leading a real decision is worse than no class tracking at all. That’s a file review and a fixed-fee scope to get the structure and the history clean, after which the reports can be trusted to steer the business.
A Certified ProAdvisor designs class tracking inside your own books.
Turning classes on takes a minute; designing a class structure that actually answers the owner’s questions — and getting every transaction to carry the right class — is the real work. A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor defines a small, clear class list that maps to the real segments of the business, sets the file up so new transactions are tagged as they’re entered, and back-tags the history that matters so the profit-and-loss by class reads true from the start. Where a file has been half-tagged and the segment reports don’t add up, we reconcile the structure and fill the gaps — against a written scope, inside your own QuickBooks Online file. Independent firm — not Intuit, and not Intuit’s software support; an Intuit account, plan, or billing matter stays with Intuit.
Free
file review first — we look before we scope
$1,200–$3,000
typical fixed-fee scope to design classes and back-tag
Independent
Certified ProAdvisor firm — not Intuit, not Intuit’s software support
What people ask about QuickBooks Online classes.
Is this Intuit’s official QuickBooks support?
How does class tracking work in QuickBooks Online?
Which QuickBooks Online plans have class tracking?
What is the difference between classes and locations?
Why are my profit-and-loss-by-class numbers wrong or incomplete?
Can you set up class tracking in my QuickBooks Online file?
Should I use classes, or just create separate accounts for each segment?
Want a class structure designed, or a half-tagged file back-tagged for clean reporting?
We design class tracking inside your own QuickBooks file.
Turning classes on, designing a class list that fits the business, and back-tagging history so the segment reports are true is operational bookkeeping — the work an independent ProAdvisor firm does inside your books. Start with a free file review; a focused class-structure design or back-tagging scope is typically a $1,200–$3,000 fixed-fee project, and if the file needs a broader cleanup before segment reporting will work, a full cleanup runs $1,500–$15,000+. Written scope before any work begins.