When a company’s books are in QuickBooks Online, Tax Optimiser syncs its trial balance straight from QuickBooks. If that permission lapses or is taken away, a sync can’t reach QuickBooks until someone reconnects. Reconnecting takes a couple of minutes, and nothing you have already done in Tax Optimiser is lost.
Why you need to reconnect
You’ll need to reconnect when:
- QuickBooks’ permission expired. The access QuickBooks grants runs out if it goes unused for a long time, for example between one year end and the next.
- Access was removed in QuickBooks. Someone disconnected Tax Optimiser from the apps list in QuickBooks, or the QuickBooks user who made the connection was removed from the company.
- The QuickBooks sign-in changed. A password reset or a change of the account’s owner can end existing app connections.
How you’ll know
Opening the Trial Balance for a period that hasn’t been synced shows this warning: “We couldn’t connect to QuickBooks. The connection may have expired or been removed”. It has a Reconnect to QuickBooks button beside it. A sync started from the Trial Balance’s Actions menu shows the same message.
If QuickBooks was disconnected altogether, the Trial Balance start screen offers the Connect button again, as it did the first time. Any figures you synced before are still there.
Reconnect to QuickBooks
Use whichever of these is in front of you. They all start the same sign-in:
- the Reconnect to QuickBooks button in the warning, or the QuickBooks Connect button on the Trial Balance start screen
- on a Trial Balance that already has figures: Actions → Connect to QuickBooks
- from the sidebar, Organisation (accountants: the organisation’s Details): the System & Defaults tab, then Connect to Accounting System → Connect to QuickBooks
Then:
- Sign in to QuickBooks. You’re taken to Intuit’s own sign-in page. Sign in with a QuickBooks login that can see the company. That’s usually the company’s admin or the accountant’s, and Intuit may send you a verification code.
- Choose the company. If your login can see more than one QuickBooks company, pick this one. Check the name carefully, because it’s easy to pick a similarly named business.
- Connect. Click Connect to give Tax Optimiser access.
That’s it. Tax Optimiser refreshes the company name and books close date from QuickBooks and syncs the first period that isn’t complete, then returns you to the organisation’s page. The System & Defaults tab now shows the QuickBooks company and its Period Lock Date.
After reconnecting
Open the Trial Balance for the period you’re working on. A period with nothing synced yet pulls its balances in automatically. For one that already has figures, use Actions → Sync with QuickBooks to bring in anything that has changed. Actions → Sync Date Range syncs different dates from the period’s own, for example a short first period.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my figures or journals if the connection lapses?
No. A lapsed connection only stops new syncs. The trial balance you already synced, your journals, the accounts and the Corporation Tax computation all stay as they are until you sync again.
Who has to sign in to QuickBooks, me or my accountant?
Anyone with a QuickBooks login that can see the company. If your accountant prepares your accounts in Tax Optimiser, they can usually reconnect with their own QuickBooks Online Accountant login.
I connected the wrong QuickBooks company. How do I fix it?
Reconnect and choose the right company when QuickBooks asks. Then sync the Trial Balance again so the figures come from the right books.
Does Tax Optimiser work with QuickBooks Desktop?
No. The connection is to QuickBooks Online. For QuickBooks Desktop, export a trial balance to a spreadsheet and use Import from a spreadsheet instead.
Can I switch from QuickBooks to Xero?
Yes. Choose Connect to Xero from the same menus and sign in to Xero. The organisation then syncs from Xero instead. See Reconnect Tax Optimiser to Xero.
Related: Getting your figures in: Simple Entry, import, connect or manual entry.