Use separate QuickBooks Online companies for separate entities, and use classes or locations only to slice one entity. For a holding company with two clinics that means three companies sharing one chart of accounts, with the owner’s combined view built from Advanced’s multi-company reports. Intuit’s help pages do not describe automatic intercompany eliminations on Advanced, so plan to do those by hand. Sources: Intuit’s “Learn about usage limits” (updated 8/5/2026), “Combine reports from multiple companies using Spreadsheet Sync” (8/5/2026), “Create groups to run multi-company reporting in Spreadsheet Sync” (8/3/2026), the Advanced multi-company reporting article (8/4/2026) and “How intercompany eliminations work in Intuit Enterprise Suite” (8/5/2026); all read 13 October 2026.
Classes and locations slice one company. Separate companies are for separate entities. A holding company that owns two operating businesses is three entities, so it is three sets of books, with the owner’s combined view built on top. Classes inside each operating company then answer the narrower questions, such as which service line or provider earns what.
| Question | If the answer is yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| Do the entities file separate tax returns or have different owners? | Separate companies | Classes or locations can work |
| Do they have their own bank and card accounts? | Separate companies | Classes or locations can work |
| Do you need each entity’s own balance sheet? | Separate companies (classes do not give an entity its own bank accounts, equity and books) | Classes or locations can work |
| Do the entities charge each other (management fees, loans)? | Separate companies with mirrored intercompany accounts | Not needed |
| Do you only need profit by clinic, department or provider inside one entity? | Classes or locations | — |
| Does the owner need one combined view? | Advanced multi-company reporting, or a bigger system | Individual company reports |
Count your yeses honestly. Any yes in the first four rows points to separate companies, and a yes in the last row asks which plan you need.
| Plan | Classes and locations (Intuit, updated 8/5/2026) | Multi-company reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Start, Essentials | Not available | Companies can be added to an Advanced group |
| Plus | 40, classes and locations combined | Companies can be added to an Advanced group |
| Advanced | Unlimited | Spreadsheet Sync groups; Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss (multiple period) and Trial Balance |
If you were planning to run two businesses as 40 classes on Plus, the cap and the lack of separate books both argue against it. Classes tell you where income and expense belong; they do not make a separate legal entity with its own bank accounts, loans and equity.
Intuit’s Spreadsheet Sync articles (updated 8/3 to 8/5/2026) say Advanced users can group companies and run multi-company reports. Companies on Simple Start, Essentials and Plus can be added to a group, but the grouping lives in Advanced. The combinable reports are Balance Sheet (Multiple Period), Profit and Loss (Multiple Period) and Trial Balance. Intuit does not state a maximum group size on the pages we read.
The rule that decides how clean your consolidated view looks: accounts combine only when they share the same name, type and hierarchy level, capitalization ignored. Different account numbers, one account with a number and one without, or spelling variations will not combine. So build one chart of accounts, copy it into every company, and change it in all of them together.
When the holding company lends the clinics cash or charges a management fee, each side records a mirror entry: due-from in one company and due-to in the other. The combine article for Advanced does not address eliminations. Intuit Enterprise Suite does: you choose intercompany accounts and the system removes their full balances from consolidated reports, using accounts “used solely for intercompany transactions or balances.” Anything mixed needs a manual adjustment, and Intuit says manual adjustments made in the spreadsheet are not posted to QuickBooks. On Advanced, plan to eliminate by hand in the spreadsheet and keep intercompany activity in its own dedicated accounts so the elimination lines are easy to find.
Confirm in your Intuit account how each additional company is billed; we have not priced that here.
Many entities, approvals across them, or consolidation with foreign currency usually point to a different system. See Intuit Enterprise Suite vs NetSuite for a multi-entity company, or Enterprise vs Online Advanced after NetSuite if you are coming down from one.
Use separate companies when the businesses are separate entities with their own bank accounts, owners or tax returns. Use classes or locations to slice one entity, for example by service line. Classes do not create a separate set of books.
Intuit’s usage-limits article, updated 8/5/2026, lists 40 classes and locations combined on Plus, unlimited on Advanced, and none on Simple Start and Essentials.
Yes on Advanced. You group companies in Spreadsheet Sync and run Balance Sheet (Multiple Period), Profit and Loss (Multiple Period) and Trial Balance. Accounts combine only when name, type and hierarchy level match.
Intuit’s Advanced combine article does not address eliminations. Intuit Enterprise Suite has an intercompany elimination setup for accounts used solely for intercompany activity; on Advanced plan for manual eliminations.
We are not a CPA firm or tax adviser. Ask your CPA how the entities should be structured and how intercompany loans and fees should be documented. Want the three files built and tied out for you? See our bookkeeping service.
Tell us what you’re working on. We respond same business day.
Founder of Numerawise Solutions, established MMXXIV in Atlanta. Intuit ProAdvisor Gold tier. Former Intuit Technical Support engineer. Has personally led two hundred accounting software conversions for US small businesses since founding the practice. Reachable directly at [email protected].