QuickBooks for multiple LLCs: one login, but each company is its own subscription

QuickBooks lets several companies share one login, and each company is a separate paid subscription

Intuit's help center says you can add another company to your sign-in and switch between them without signing out. It also says each company you create requires its own separate paid subscription. An Intuit team member repeated this in the QuickBooks community on May 13, 2024: multiple companies under one account are allowed, but a separate paid subscription is needed for each.

Intuit's help article states no limit on how many companies one sign-in can hold.

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   Step 1: Open QuickBooks Online's pricing page and pick the plan for the new company.

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   Step 2: When it asks Adding a company to an existing account?, choose Sign in and use your current QuickBooks login.

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   Step 3: Under Choose your company, select Create a New Company and finish setup.

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   Step 4: To switch later, open Settings (the gear) and choose Switch company.

Three companies cost $114 to $1,020 a month on QuickBooks, before any discount

Intuit runs 50% off for the first 3 months on each plan; the table shows the price after it ends. SWK Technologies reports that Intuit raised Essentials, Plus and Advanced for renewals on or after August 1, 2026, so a guide written earlier may show lower prices. Each added company is another $140 a month on Plus, which is why the third company decides the bill.

Users, bank connections and lists stay separate in each company

Intuit's help center lists what does not carry across when companies share a sign-in.

• Users are invited to each company separately. Your bookkeeper needs an invite to every company they work in.
• Bank connections do not transfer between companies. Connect each company's own accounts and cards.
• Changes to lists, such as a new vendor or account, do not update the other companies. Keep the chart of accounts the same in each company if you plan to combine reports, so the accounts line up.

Separate data is the point when the companies are separate legal entities. The cost is repeating setup and cleanup once per company.

Class tracking puts several businesses in one file, but one file has one balance sheet

Plus includes 40 classes and locations combined, and Advanced includes unlimited ones. A class tags each transaction so you can run a profit and loss for each business line inside one company. That works for divisions of a single company, such as a consulting arm and a product arm under one LLC.

It does not split the balance sheet. One file has one set of bank accounts, one set of loans and one owner's equity. If the businesses are separate LLCs or corporations, each needs its own balance sheet, so each needs its own company. Mixing them in one file makes money moves between them look like income and expense, and your CPA has to untangle it at tax time.

Combined reports need Spreadsheet Sync on Advanced, and consolidation needs Enterprise Suite

• Spreadsheet Sync: Intuit says that in QuickBooks Online Advanced you can group your companies and run multi-company reports in a spreadsheet. Only Advanced admin users and standard all-access users can open it, and Simple Start, Essentials and Plus companies can join a group. So you need at least one Advanced subscription, at $340 a month.
• Intuit Enterprise Suite: its multi-entity feature produces consolidated profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports with eliminations applied, and lets you post intercompany journal entries from the parent company. Intuit shows no price on its page and asks you to schedule a 15 to 20 minute call.
• A spreadsheet of grouped reports is not consolidation with eliminations. It adds the numbers and leaves the amounts companies owe each other in both balance sheets.

When one company pays another's bill, you post both sides in separate files

Intuit documents intercompany journal entries and elimination accounts for Intuit Enterprise Suite. In separate QuickBooks Online companies you enter each side yourself, in each file.

See the intercompany transactions guide and loans between LLCs for the entries and the tax rules.

Stay on QuickBooks for two companies and a CPA who lives in it; move at three

• Stay if your CPA works in QuickBooks, you run two companies, and $280 a month on Plus is acceptable. Ask whether your CPA wants to log in or receive exports.
• Look elsewhere from the third company. Three companies cost $420 on Plus, against $198 on Accountable Pro, $177 on Xero Growing from October 1 and $100 to $200 on Kick Plus; see accounting software for multiple businesses for the full table.
• Moving out is free at Accountable and keeps a QuickBooks copy: see how to switch from QuickBooks. Export each company's general ledger before you cancel, because a cancelled paid plan is read-only for one year.