# Switch from Xero to QuickBooks Online

- Author: SimpleBankConvert (https://www.simplebankconvert.com)
- Published: 2026-06-07
- Updated: 2026-06-07
- Category: Switching accounting software
- Canonical: https://www.simplebankconvert.com/blog/switch-from-xero-to-quickbooks-online

> How to switch from Xero to QuickBooks Online: export your lists and balances, set the start date, then import bank history and connect bank feeds.
To switch from Xero to QuickBooks Online, first decide between Intuit's conversion partner and a manual rebuild. Then export your Xero lists and reports, pick a start date and enter balances as of that date. Finish by loading the bank history you need and connecting bank feeds from the day after the last imported line.

## Dataswitcher or a manual rebuild when leaving Xero

Leaving Xero gives you two routes. Intuit partners with a conversion service called Dataswitcher, which copies lists and up to two fiscal years of transactions into a blank QuickBooks Online company. The other route is a manual rebuild: you import lists, enter opening balances on a start date and bring bank lines in from files.

[Intuit's page on converting from Xero to QuickBooks Online](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/accounting-bookkeeping/convert-xero-quickbooks-online/L9gVqsNT4_US_en_US) sets out the conditions for the Dataswitcher route. Both accounts must be US accounts. You need standard or advisor access in Xero and company admin access in a paid QuickBooks Online subscription. The QuickBooks company must also be blank, so the conversion comes before any setup work, not after it.

The choice usually comes down to how much history you want inside QuickBooks:

- **Pick the conversion** when you want past invoices, bills and payments searchable in QuickBooks, or when you have many open invoices to carry across.
- **Pick a manual rebuild** when you only need balances and a few months of bank lines, when your QuickBooks company already holds data, or when your Xero organisation is not a US one.

A manual rebuild takes longer per account but gives you full control over what goes in. It is also the route every other switch uses, so the steps for [moving from Quicken to QuickBooks Online](/blog/switch-from-quicken-to-quickbooks-online) and [moving from Wave to QuickBooks Online](/blog/switch-from-wave-to-quickbooks-online) look much the same.

## What does the Dataswitcher conversion carry over from Xero?

The Dataswitcher conversion carries over lists, opening balances and the main transaction types for up to two fiscal years at no charge, according to Intuit. More years and some extras cost a fee quoted before you start. Several things never move, including bank reconciliation history, attachments, payroll and budgets.

Here is that split as Intuit's page describes it:

| Carried over | Extra fee | Left in Xero |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chart of accounts, customers, vendors | Years beyond the first two | Bank reconciliation history |
| Opening balances | Inventory items | File attachments |
| Invoices, credits and matched payments | Tracking categories and options | Budgets |
| Spend money, receive money and transfers | Company information | Payroll and the employees list |
| Journal entries, bills and checks | | Templates, drafts, deleted items |

Intuit's page adds three limits worth knowing before you choose. Sales tax amounts come across as line items, but the sales tax settings do not, so you turn sales tax on again in QuickBooks. Multi-currency lines come across in the home currency at Xero's rates. Tracking options on a single transaction may be simplified, because QuickBooks allows one location per transaction.

The loss of reconciliation history matters more than it looks. QuickBooks will hold the bank lines, but it will not know which ones you already ticked off against statements. Intuit's steps tell you to reconcile the migrated bank transactions afterwards, and to check a suspense account for lines the conversion could not place.

## Xero reports and lists to export before you cancel

Before you cancel Xero, export a full set of reports and lists, whichever route you take. Xero's own guide to [exporting data out of Xero](https://central.xero.com/s/article/Export-data-out-of-Xero-GL) recommends the chart of accounts, contacts, invoices, bills and fixed assets. It also lists yearly balance sheets and profit and loss reports, a trial balance and the Account Transactions report.

Save these for each year you keep in Xero:

1. **Trial balance** at your start date. This is the source for opening balances in a manual rebuild.
2. **Balance sheet and profit and loss** for each financial year.
3. **Account Transactions report** for every transaction, with all columns if you use more than one currency.
4. **Receivable and payable invoice detail**, which list what customers and suppliers still owe or are owed.
5. **Bank reconciliation report** for each bank account, as proof of what was reconciled.
6. **Contacts, invoices and bills** as CSV files from their own screens.

Intuit's conversion page makes some of these mandatory for the Dataswitcher route. It requires reconciled bank accounts, audit reports for all periods and validation reports for the conversion date. Doing the export before the conversion also gives you something to compare against afterwards.

Keep the files somewhere outside both programs. A shared drive folder named by year works well. Once a Xero subscription ends, the data is no longer at hand, and rebuilding a missing report means getting the data back first.

## Which start date suits a Xero to QuickBooks Online move?

The start date for a Xero to QuickBooks Online move should be the first day of a period that is already closed in Xero. The first day of a financial year is cleanest. The first day of a quarter or month also works when the year is too far along to wait.

A year start keeps every report for the new year inside one program. Your year-end accountant then works from QuickBooks for the whole year, with Xero holding only closed years. A mid-year start splits the year across two systems. That is workable, but the year's profit and loss has to be added together from both.

Whatever date you pick, three things must be true on it:

- Every Xero bank account is reconciled up to the day before.
- You have the closing balance from the bank statement for that day.
- You know which customer invoices and supplier bills are still open.

Write the date down and use it everywhere: the opening balance date of each account, the first day of bank imports and the first day of feeds. Most switching problems trace back to two different dates in two different places.

## Loading Xero-era bank lines into QuickBooks Online

After a manual rebuild, bank lines from the Xero period go into QuickBooks Online through the bank file upload. Download the lines from your bank or export them from Xero, and shape them into a CSV or QBO file. Then upload one file per account, starting on your start date.

[Intuit's help page on uploading transactions manually](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/import-transactions/manually-upload-transactions-quickbooks-online/L0rE9OXBz_US_en_US) sets the rules the files must meet:

- A CSV needs either 3 columns (Date, Description, Amount) or 4 columns (Date, Description, Credit, Debit).
- Each upload holds up to 1,000 lines and 350 KB.
- Dates use one format throughout the file.

A year of activity on a busy account can pass 1,000 lines, so split the file by quarter or month. Name each file with its account and dates, for example `checking-2026-01-to-2026-03.csv`, so you can tell later which ones went in.

Your bank is usually the better source than Xero for these lines, because a bank file shows exactly what cleared. When the bank's download window does not reach back far enough, the PDF statements are the record. SimpleBankConvert is being built for that gap: it aims to turn PDF bank statements into a CSV or QBO file that QuickBooks Online can upload. You can [join the early access list](/get-started) while accounts are not yet open.

## Connecting QuickBooks Online bank feeds after Xero

Connect QuickBooks Online bank feeds after the imported history is in, and choose a feed start date that begins the day after your last imported line. A feed pulls a range of recent transactions when you first connect it. If that range overlaps the months you uploaded, the overlap shows up twice for review.

Here is an example timeline, with made-up dates, for an account switched at the start of a year:

| Period | Source | In QuickBooks as |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Up to 2025-12-31 | Stays in Xero | Opening balance on 2026-01-01 |
| 2026-01-01 to 2026-08-31 | Bank CSV uploads, one per quarter | Uploaded lines, reviewed and categorised |
| 2026-09-01 onward | Bank feed | Downloaded lines |

When the feed asks how far back to go, pick the option that starts closest to September 1 without going earlier. Any lines from before that date that do come in should be excluded rather than added.

Disconnect the matching Xero bank feed once the QuickBooks one is working. Keeping both running does no harm to QuickBooks, but it leaves Xero collecting lines nobody reviews. If the new feed connects but stays empty, [why QuickBooks is not downloading bank transactions](/blog/quickbooks-not-downloading-bank-transactions) walks through the usual causes.

## Balance slips that follow a Xero to QuickBooks switch

Balance slips after a Xero to QuickBooks switch almost always come from a mismatch between the opening balance and the first imported line. Either a balance was entered as of the wrong day, or bank lines from before the start date were imported as well. Both make the QuickBooks balance disagree with the bank statement.

Check each bank account with this short test. Take the opening balance in QuickBooks, add every uploaded and downloaded line through the end of a month, and compare the result with the closing balance on that month's statement. A match means the account is right. A gap means one of the following:

- **Lines counted twice.** A month uploaded from a file and also pulled by the feed. Look for pairs of identical amounts on the same dates.
- **Opening balance on the wrong date.** A balance from the last day of the old year entered on the first day, or the reverse, shifts everything by one day's activity.
- **Old invoices entered as income again.** Customer payments in the new period that settle Xero-era invoices need the open invoices in QuickBooks to apply against. Without them, the payment is often recorded as fresh income.
- **Sales tax left unset.** After a Dataswitcher conversion, sales tax has to be turned on in QuickBooks. Until it is, new sales may post without it.

Run the test for the first month after the start date before you categorise anything else. It takes a few minutes per account and stops a small slip from spreading through a year of reports.