QuickBooks for Churches: Setup, Funds and 2026 Prices

QuickBooks Online works for most churches of 100 to 300 people when the person keeping the books learns one rule. An account says what kind of money it is, such as tithes, utilities or salary, and a class says which fund the money belongs to. Every example below uses Riverside Community Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a sample church with a general fund and four restricted funds.

Primary sources and professional review

Source check: October 23, 2026. IRS Publication 1828. Federal church recordkeeping. A CPA should check fund reports and the treatment of restricted gifts.

Can a church use QuickBooks?

Yes. QuickBooks Online Plus tracks funds with classes, produces the Statement of Activity a finance committee expects, and costs a church $80 a year through TechSoup. It fits a church where one trained person enters the books and nobody outside the church audits the fund balances.

	QuickBooks Plus fits	Look at fund accounting software
Who enters transactions	One or two trained people	Several volunteers on rotation
Restricted funds	Five to eight funds	Dozens of funds or grants with reporting rules
Who reads the statements	Your elders, deacons or finance team	A lender, a denomination or an auditor
A fund going negative	Caught by a monthly review	Must be blocked by the software
Giving statements	Made in your church software or a statement tool	Made in the same system as the ledger

QuickBooks keeps one general ledger and lets a fund go below zero without a warning, so a monthly review by a second person is the control.

If the right-hand column describes your church, read church accounting software for the systems built around funds, with their prices.

Which QuickBooks plan does a church need?

Plus. Simple Start and Essentials have no class tracking, so they cannot keep the building fund apart from the general fund. Advanced is for a church with more than five people entering transactions or more than 40 funds and locations.

	Simple Start	Essentials	Plus Most churches	Advanced
List price a month	$38	$85	$140	$340
Through TechSoup	Not offered	Not offered	$80 a year	$170 a year
People who enter transactions	1	3	5	25
Reports-only users	None	None	Unlimited, free	Unlimited, free
Classes and locations	None	None	40 combined	Unlimited
Accounts in the chart	250	250	250	Unlimited
Tracks funds	No	No	Yes	Yes

List prices from quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing and limits from Intuit's usage limits article, both read 22 October 2026. Intuit takes 50% off the list price for the first three months. TechSoup prices from TechSoup's Intuit page, read the same day.

Reports-only users are the detail that keeps most churches on Plus. The treasurer and the bookkeeper use two of the five paid seats, and the pastor, the finance chair and every elder can read the reports from reports-only logins at no charge.

How much does QuickBooks cost for a church?

Through TechSoup, Plus costs $80 a year and Advanced costs $170 a year. At Intuit’s list price, Plus costs $1,680 a year and Advanced costs $4,080 a year, with a discount for the first three months only.

1. Plus through TechSoup Admin fee, renews yearly $80
2. Advanced through TechSoup Admin fee, renews yearly $170
3. Plus at list price $140 a month; $1,470 in the first year $1,680
4. Advanced at list price $340 a month; $3,570 in the first year $4,080

First-year figures assume three months at 50% off, then nine at list. Prices read on quickbooks.intuit.com and page.techsoup.org on 22 October 2026.

TechSoup’s program has three conditions worth knowing before you apply. The church registers with TechSoup and proves it is a nonprofit, Intuit allows one donated subscription per organization for its lifetime, and the donation cannot be applied to a QuickBooks file you already pay for. A church already paying list price opens a new donated file and moves its data across, which TechSoup says is allowed.

How do I track restricted funds in QuickBooks?

Give every restricted fund a class and put that class on every line that touches the fund, the gift, the bill and the deposit. The balance sheet by class then shows what is left in each fund.

1. 1 The gift $2,000 A check with “roof” on the memo line. Once the church accepts it, the money is for the roof.
2. 2 The deposit line $2,000 4100 Restricted giftsClass: Building One line carries both the account and the class.
3. 3 The roofer’s bill $1,400 7110 RepairsClass: Building Same class on the expense.
4. 4 Building fund balance $600 The balance sheet by class shows it without a spreadsheet.
5. 5 If the bill has no class $2,000 7110 RepairsClass: blank The fund still shows $2,000 and the board hears there is $2,000 for the roof.

The last card is the most common mistake in church QuickBooks files. Every total still matches the bank, so nothing looks wrong until someone asks what is left for the roof.

The fifth card is why the warning setting matters. With “Warn me when a transaction isn’t assigned a class” turned on, QuickBooks stops the bookkeeper before a bill saves without a fund.

Accepting a restricted gift binds the church to the giver’s purpose. The ECFA’s Standard 7.2 says a giver’s intent covers what the appeal asked for and any instructions that came with the gift, if the church accepted it. A board vote cannot move that money to payroll.

How do I set up QuickBooks Online for a church?

Change the settings before you enter a single transaction, because a setting changed later means going back through every line. The whole setup takes one sitting.

1. Settings
2. Account and settings
3. Advanced

Company type

• Tax form Renames the reports and turns invoices into pledges Nonprofit organization (Form 990)

Categories

• Track classes On
• Warn me when a transaction isn’t assigned a class On
• Assign classes Lets one deposit split across several funds One to each row in transaction
• Track locations Only if you report functional expenses On

Chart of accounts

• Enable account numbers On

Other preferences

• Customer label Donors

Labels as Intuit's help articles name them, read 22 October 2026. Sign out and back in after changing the company type so every screen picks it up.

1. Buy Plus. Apply through TechSoup first. TechSoup checks that the church is a nonprofit before it releases the subscription, so register the church there first.
2. Set the company type to Nonprofit organization (Form 990). The Profit and Loss becomes the Statement of Activity and the Balance Sheet becomes the Statement of Financial Position. Some labels, such as the Profit and Loss tile on the dashboard, keep their old names.
3. Turn on class tracking with the warning and “One to each row in transaction,” so one Sunday deposit can split between the general fund and the building fund.
4. Turn on account numbers, then import the chart of accounts below.
5. Create the classes from the class list (Settings, then All lists, then Classes). There is no import for classes, so type each one.
6. Enter opening balances by fund. Post one journal entry dated the day before you start, with each bank balance split by class. Then move whatever lands in Opening Balance Equity into the two net asset accounts, so Opening Balance Equity ends at zero.
7. Connect the bank and card feeds, and give the finance team reports-only logins.

What classes should a church create?

One class for the general fund, one for each fund a giver restricted, and one for each fund the board set aside. Riverside Community Church needs seven.

Class	What it holds	Who restricted it	Net asset line
General fund	Tithes, offerings and everything given without a purpose	Nobody	Without donor restrictions
Building	Gifts for the roof, the parking lot and the building	The giver	With donor restrictions
Benevolence	Gifts to help families with rent, food and bills	The giver	With donor restrictions
Missions	Gifts for the missionaries the church supports	The giver	With donor restrictions
Memorial	Gifts given in memory of a member	The giver	With donor restrictions
Operating reserve	Three months of expenses the board set aside	The board	Without donor restrictions
Capital replacement	Board savings for the furnace and the van	The board	Without donor restrictions

Seven classes use 7 of the 40 slots on Plus. A board can undo its own designation at the next meeting; it cannot undo a giver's.

Keep board-designated money apart from donor-restricted money. Both feel restricted, and they report differently. Since FASB’s 2016 update to nonprofit reporting (ASU 2016-14), a church reports two kinds of net assets, with donor restrictions and without them, and board-designated money sits in the second.

QuickBooks has three more tools, and each has its own job.

Tool	Use it for	Riverside example
Class	Funds that last for years	Building
Location	Functional expenses: program, management and general, fundraising	Program services
Project	Anything with an end date	2027 youth mission trip
Tag	A label for searching, with no balance	Easter offering 2026

One line holds one class, so a church that reports by fund and by function puts the function in locations.

What chart of accounts should a church use in QuickBooks?

A four-digit chart with income and expense accounts for the kind of money, and no account for any fund. The file below holds 95 accounts in nine blocks, which leaves 155 of Plus’s 250 accounts free.

Numbers	Block	Accounts	Examples
1000s	Assets	16	Operating checking, Undeposited funds, Buildings
2000s	Liabilities	11	Payroll taxes payable, Gifts held for others, Mortgage
3000s	Net assets	2	Without donor restrictions, With donor restrictions
4000s	Income	15	Tithes and general offerings, Restricted and designated gifts
5000s	Personnel	14	Pastoral salary, Housing allowance, Employer payroll taxes
6000s	Ministry	11	Worship supplies, Children’s ministry, Vacation Bible school
7000s	Facilities	11	Utilities, Repairs and maintenance, Property insurance
8000s	Administration	8	Software, Bank and card processing fees, Audit and legal
9000s	Missions and transfers	7	Missions support, Benevolence assistance, Fund transfers

To import it, open the Chart of accounts, choose the arrow beside New, then Import. Pick the file and map Number, Account Name, Account Type, Detail Type and Description. QuickBooks shows every row in a grid before it saves, so fix any Detail Type it flags right there. Delete the rows your church will never use before you import, such as Vehicles or Pledges receivable, because empty accounts clutter every report. QuickBooks creates Retained Earnings and Opening Balance Equity itself, so the file leaves them out.

Many church charts you will find online give every fund its own income account, such as 4020 Missions Offering and 4070 Benevolent Fund. That setup can total what came in for missions this year, and it can never tell you what is left.

What reports should a church treasurer run each month?

Two reports, both by class. The Statement of Activity shows what came in and went out of each fund, and the balance sheet by class shows what each fund holds.

Riverside Community Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Statement of Activity by class

January 1 to September 30, 2026

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Account	General	Building	Benevolence	Missions	Memorial	Total
Revenue
4010 Tithes and general offerings	301,250	0	0	0	0	301,250
4100 Restricted and designated gifts	0	42,800	6,150	18,400	0	67,350
4110 Memorial and honor gifts	0	0	0	0	2,500	2,500
4310 Facility use and rental income	4,200	0	0	0	0	4,200
4900 Interest income	610	0	0	0	0	610
Total revenue	306,060	42,800	6,150	18,400	2,500	375,910
Expenses
5000s Salaries and housing allowance	168,300	0	0	0	0	168,300
5100s Payroll taxes and benefits	31,900	0	0	0	0	31,900
6000s Ministry and worship	22,450	0	0	0	0	22,450
7000s Facilities, including the roof	38,720	27,600	0	0	0	66,320
8000s Administration	14,380	0	0	0	0	14,380
9010 Denominational giving	9,000	0	0	0	0	9,000
9020 Missions support	0	0	0	16,000	0	16,000
9040 Benevolence assistance	0	0	5,290	0	0	5,290
Total expenses	284,750	27,600	5,290	16,000	0	333,640
Change in net assets	21,310	15,200	860	2,400	2,500	42,270

Riverside Community Church, Cedar Falls, Iowa

Fund balances, balance sheet by class

As of September 30, 2026

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

Account	General	Building	Benevolence	Missions	Memorial	Total
Balance on January 1	48,900	61,300	3,140	5,600	9,500	128,440
Change in net assets	21,310	15,200	860	2,400	2,500	42,270
Balance on September 30	70,210	76,500	4,000	8,000	12,000	170,710

The tie-out is the monthly test of the whole setup. Add the fund columns, compare the total to the reconciled bank and savings balances, and look for a Not specified column. That column collects every line someone saved without a class, and the usual causes are bank fees, interest, transfers between accounts and leftover Opening Balance Equity.

A monthly close for a church this size runs in this order:

1. Reconcile every bank and credit card account to its statement.
2. Run the balance sheet by class and clear any Not specified column.
3. Check that no restricted fund is below zero.
4. Run the Statement of Activity by class against the budget.
5. Send both reports to the finance team, and keep the reconciliation reports.

IRS Publication 1828 says churches keep the books and records that show their exempt status and support any return they file, and suggests keeping records of income and expenses for at least four years after the return they relate to. For the full monthly and yearly routine, read the church bookkeeping cycle.

Can QuickBooks do church giving statements?

Not with the wording the IRS asks for. A gift of $250 or more needs a written acknowledgment, and QuickBooks sales receipts do not carry the required statement about goods or services.

Item	Example on a Riverside statement
The church’s name	Riverside Community Church
The amount of each cash gift	$300 on March 8, 2026
A description of any non-cash gift, without a value	One upright piano
Whether the church gave anything in return	No goods or services were provided
If only religious benefits were given, a statement saying so	Only intangible religious benefits were provided

From IRS Publication 1771. One year-end statement can cover every gift of $250 or more, and the donor needs it before filing.

Keep the donor records in your church management software, or make the statements from a spreadsheet with the free giving statements tool. Post one summarized deposit per Sunday into QuickBooks, split by fund. That gives the church one system for donors and one for the ledger, and the two meet at the deposit.

If your church is still choosing software for the donor side, compare the free church management software options, and check the card fees each giving platform keeps with the giving fee calculator.

When is QuickBooks the wrong choice for a church?

When nobody can check the fund columns every month, or when someone outside the church relies on the fund balances. In those cases a fund accounting system that refuses an unbalanced fund costs more and saves the trouble.

Sign	Why it matters	What to do
A lender, denomination or auditor reads your fund balances	QuickBooks lets a restricted fund go below zero and still balances	Price fund accounting software
Volunteers enter the books a few hours a month	The class warning gets clicked past and the funds drift	Use software where the fund is a required field
More than five people enter transactions	Plus stops at five paid users; Advanced is $4,080 a year at list	Move readers to reports-only logins first
More than 40 funds, grants and locations	Plus holds 40 combined	Use projects for anything that ends, or move to Advanced

What happened to QuickBooks Desktop?

Intuit stopped selling new QuickBooks Desktop Pro Plus, Premier Plus and Mac Plus subscriptions to US customers after September 30, 2024. Churches already on Desktop can keep renewing, and Desktop Enterprise is still for sale. A church starting its books today should start in QuickBooks Online.

When you follow a setup guide, check which product it describes. Instructions that say “Edit, then Preferences” are for Desktop, and QuickBooks Online has no Preferences menu.

Who should keep a church’s QuickBooks?

One named person enters the transactions, and a second person who does not enter them reads the reports every month. At a church of 100 to 300 people that is usually a part-time bookkeeper or the treasurer, with the finance chair as the reader.

If your church is hiring, the church accountant job listings show what other churches ask for, and the church accountant salary guide shows what the work pays. For payroll, including the pastor’s housing allowance, read church payroll and the minister’s W-2.