QuickBooks Online Retires Tags and Moves Users to Custom Fields
QuickBooks Online is phasing out tags through 2028; we explain the retirement timeline, the move to custom fields, and plan limits.
Tags in QuickBooks Online are on a fixed exit schedule. Intuit opened the custom field replacement in March 2025 and will erase remaining tags, history included, in 2028. Users who built tracking habits around tags now face a migration, with limits that shift by subscription tier.
The signs users notice first
The change surfaces in small ways. Accounts that never used tags no longer show the option at all, since that choice disappeared by May 19, 2025. Since May 16, 2025, the ability to create new tags for reporting has been gone everywhere. In its place sits a prompt to migrate tags into a custom field, which now handles tracking and reporting on every plan.
The retirement timeline
Custom fields arrived first. On March 17, 2025, they gained support for sales and expense forms on most plans, along with more data types and higher value limits. That groundwork set up the tag removal that followed.
Existing tag users get a long runway. Active use continues until May 19, 2028. Between May 16, 2025 and May 15, 2028, you can still view tags and run reports on past transactions. The vendor’s final dates sit a few days apart. Viewing and reporting stop on May 15, 2028. After that, tags are deleted from QuickBooks Online and vanish from transaction history.
Custom fields take over
Tags were always a light-touch tool. They let you watch specific corners of the business without touching the general ledger. Classes and locations feed formal financial reports, while tags left the profit and loss and the balance sheet alone. The one exception was a profit and loss report deliberately grouped by tag.
The replacement carries the same job with firmer structure. Each field accepts up to 100 values, and a single dropdown field can hold as many as 60 of your existing tags. Field formats include dropdown lists, plain text entries, and flexible tag-style values. Dropdowns work on every plan, though field counts and formats still vary by tier.
One caution deserves attention. A tag group report could slice profit and loss in ways a plain dropdown does not reproduce exactly. Test the rebuilt report against the old numbers before you rely on it.
What does each plan allow?
The March 2025 change raised the ceiling on several tiers. The table below shows the shift.
| Plan | Fields before | Fields now |
|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Ledger | Not available | Not available |
| Simple Start | None | 1 per transaction |
| Essentials | 3 in total | 4 per transaction |
| Plus | 3 in total | 4 per transaction |
| Advanced | 12 per transaction | 12 per transaction |
Where does Ledger fit?
The retirement does not reach QuickBooks Ledger. That tier has no custom fields, so the migration path simply is not there. Ledger users who want the feature must move up to a full QuickBooks Online plan. Tags used in Ledger do not migrate, so export that history by hand if you want to keep it.
What should you do before 2028?
A few steps make sense while both systems coexist. Run the migration early, then confirm that every important tag appears as a value in its new field. Rebuild any report that grouped profit and loss by tag while the old data is still visible. Export copies of historical tag reports and store them outside QuickBooks, because the history is deleted along with the feature.
Then match your plan to your workload. Simple Start allows a single field per transaction, which is tight if you tracked several tag groups. Essentials and Plus allow four per transaction, and Advanced allows twelve. Classes and locations also remain available, and they suit anything that must stay inside formal financial reporting. Rebuilding that tracking now costs far less effort than reconstructing it after 2028.
We will keep following the rollout as the 2028 deadlines approach.