If you've ever wanted to slice and dice your financial data in QuickBooks® Online without modifying your chart of accounts or adding new classes or locations, you're in luck. QuickBooks® Online's Tags feature provides a straightforward and versatile way to manage transactions across any category you select, including clients, events, sales channels, campaigns, and even employee projects. And by 2025, Tags will be more powerful (and user-friendly) than ever.
What Are Tags in QuickBooks® Online?
Tags are customisable labels that can be applied to transactions such as invoices, expenses, bills, or bank transfers to help you keep track of the most critical information for your organization. Unlike Classes or Locations, Tags have no effect on how your books are classified for tax purposes. Instead, they give a fully customizable reporting layer.
Consider them as digital sticky notes that may be sorted, filtered, and analyzed. How much did you spend on your summer marketing campaign? Tag all connected transactions with "Summer 2025."
Why Use Tags?
QuickBooks® Online's Tags are especially useful for small business owners, consultants, creatives, and organizations that don't want to complicate their general ledger but still require relevant insights. Here are only a few benefits:
- Custom tracking that doesn't clutter your chart of accounts.
- There are no limitations on creativity.
You can categorize by project, client, department, job description, or marketing funnel—whatever is relevant to your organization.
- Detailed insights with Tag Group reports.
- Improved visibility of business drivers
Identify trends, compare performance across tags, and use the results to make better decisions.
What’s New in 2025?
This year, QuickBooks® updated the user interface for Tags, making it easier to apply and filter them in real-time reporting. You can now add tags straight from the Banking tab during transaction review, and Tag Group reports are more extensive, with filter options and exportable views that can be readily shared with your team or accountant.
How to Set Up and Use Tags
1. Navigate to the Banking or Transactions menus on your QuickBooks® Online dashboard.
2. Select the Tags tab.
3.To create a group, click New Tag Group (for example, "Events" or "Clients").
4.In the group, provide individual tags such as "Tradeshow 2025" or "Client X."
5. Simply apply the appropriate tag or tag group to a new transaction (expense, invoice, etc.).
Multiple tags can be used across transactions, however each transaction is limited to one tag per group.
Real-Life Examples of Tagging in Action
- A boutique marketing agency tracks profitability across many projects using tag categories such as "Campaigns" and "Clients" rather of creating sub-customers or additional income accounts.
- A tiny construction company tracks spending per job site, allowing them to determine which projects are the most cost-effective.
- A solo entrepreneur that sells on Etsy, Shopify, and in-person at markets utilizes tags to track sales by channel, allowing for better planning and pricing.
Tags are an elegant method to keep track of what's essential to you without reengineering your books. They give you more control and information without complicating your accounting procedures.
If you haven't used Tags in QuickBooks® Online before, now is the time to start. With a little preparation, you'll gain visibility into the KPIs that matter and be able to make better business decisions.
