Just when business owners and bookkeepers thought they could rely on their accounting software to remain stable, Intuit has delivered another blow to QuickBooks Online users. The company has announced the discontinuation of the beloved “Tags” feature, pushing users toward a supposedly equivalent “Custom Fields” functionality that falls far short of what businesses actually need. This move represents a classic case of corporate sleight of hand: taking away functionality while simultaneously raising prices.
The Death of Tags: More Than Just a Name Change
QuickBooks Online’s Tags feature has been a lifeline for countless businesses seeking to organize and track their financial data in meaningful ways. Unlike simple categorization, Tags allowed users to create flexible, dynamic tracking systems that could adapt to their unique business needs. The feature was intuitive, powerful, and—most importantly—it worked.
Now, Intuit claims that its version of Custom Fields will serve as a suitable replacement. According to their official migration guide, QBO Custom Fields offer dropdown functionality and can handle up to 100 values per field. On the surface, this might seem adequate, but the reality reveals a different story entirely.
When “Equivalent” Isn’t Actually Equivalent
The customer outcry has been swift and severe, and for good reason. What Intuit fails to acknowledge is that many businesses have built their entire reporting and tracking systems around Tags in ways that simply cannot be replicated with Custom Fields.
One frustrated user explains the core issue: “My organization has 4 Tags and 4 bank accounts. Every cheque and deposit we input has a Tag assigned based on the bank account. We use the Tag to be able to run P&Ls for each bank account separately which is critical for our organization.” This seemingly simple use case becomes impossible with Custom Fields because, as Intuit’s own documentation admits, “you cannot create a P&L report by custom field.”
Another business owner has spent three years building a sophisticated order tracking system using Tags to monitor shipping characteristics, carrier information, and customer-specific details. As they explain, “Even if I manage to transition some of those into their own separate custom fields, I still won’t be able to do all of them and it will never be quite as effective as the current system regardless.” The migration would force them to upgrade to a more expensive plan just to maintain inferior functionality.
The Technical Limitations That Matter
Beyond the philosophical differences between Tags and Custom Fields, there are concrete technical limitations that make the transition problematic:
Banking Integration Issues: Custom Fields cannot be added to bank transactions through feeds and rules, eliminating a crucial workflow for many businesses. One user noted, “There is no plan to add a custom field to the bank transactions page, so when Tags are phased out, I will have no other way of tracking and reporting on my transactions.”
Reduced Functionality: Unlike Tags, Custom Fields cannot generate P&L reports, severely limiting their usefulness for businesses that relied on this capability for departmental or project-based reporting.
User Interface Degradation: Custom Fields require additional steps to use, lack the intuitive dropdown-and-add functionality of Tags, and clutter the interface when multiple fields are needed.
Limited Flexibility: The 100-value limit per Custom Field, combined with the inability to truly delete old values (only edit them, which affects historical data), creates long-term data management problems.
The Price Increase Insult
What makes this situation particularly galling is the timing. Intuit continues to raise QuickBooks Online subscription prices while simultaneously removing features that businesses depend on. For companies that need the full functionality they previously had with Tags, the only solution often requires upgrading to more expensive plans—adding insult to injury.
As one user bluntly stated: “This is unreal. Intuit announces a price increase and takes away functionality at the same time.” Another noted that maintaining their current workflow would require adding 20 Class types or upgrading their subscription by over $2,500 per year.
The Broader Pattern
This isn’t an isolated incident. Intuit has repeatedly demonstrated a pattern of reducing functionality while increasing costs, leaving small businesses scrambling to maintain their workflows. The company’s focus appears to have shifted from serving small business needs to maximizing subscription revenue, often at the expense of user experience and functionality.
The migration from Tags to Custom Fields represents more than just a feature change—it’s a fundamental shift away from flexible, user-friendly tools toward rigid, monetized constraints that force businesses into higher-priced tiers.
Time to Consider Your Options
If you’re facing the disruption of reconfiguring your entire QuickBooks Online setup due to the loss of Tags functionality, this might be the perfect opportunity to reassess your accounting software altogether. Why invest time and energy rebuilding your workflows in a system that has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to pull the rug out from under its users?
The accounting software landscape offers numerous alternatives that provide comprehensive functionality without the constant threat of feature removal. Modern, all-in-one Enterprise Resource Planning solutions integrate accounting with other business functions, offering the stability and feature completeness that growing businesses need.
The question isn’t whether you can make Quickbook’s new Custom Fields work for your business—it’s whether you should continue investing in a platform that prioritizes profit margins over user needs. If you’re already facing the disruption of rebuilding your workflows, why not direct that energy toward a solution that will serve your business better in the long run?
The writing is on the wall: Intuit’s commitment to small business success has taken a backseat to shareholder profits. It’s time for business owners to vote with their wallets and find software partners who actually understand the value of reliable, feature-rich tools.