Add and manage fixed assets

Learn how to add, manage, dispose, and delete Fixed assets (Take me there) in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

Fixed assets are physical assets a business owns and uses to generate income. Fixed assets have a "useful life" of one year or more. Examples of fixed assets include buildings, machinery, vehicles, and furniture. Products you sell aren’t fixed assets.

QuickBooks Online Advanced automates how you manage and track your fixed assets, calculate book depreciation, and generate reports.

Here’s how to add and manage fixed assets:

To watch more how-to videos, visit our video section.

In this article, you'll learn how to:

• Add a single fixed asset
• Add multiple fixed assets
• View the depreciation schedule and posted transactions
• Accumulated depreciation for assets with prior depreciation
• Disposal and delete options for fixed assets
• View fixed asset reports

Add a single fixed asset

1. Go to Advanced accounting, then select Fixed assets (Take me there).
2. Select Add an asset.
3. Fill out the details for your fixed asset:
   • Asset name
   • Purchase price
   • Useful life
   • Depreciation method
   • Depreciation start date
   • Accumulated depreciation amount if you’re adding a fixed asset that has already started depreciating. You can manually add the accumulated depreciation amount, or check the box for Use auto-generated depreciation if you want QuickBooks to calculate the accumulated amount for you since the starting depreciation date. In either case, make sure this amount matches the manual entries you have already made to account for depreciation.
   • Asset account
   • Depreciation expense account
   • Accumulated depreciation account
4. If you're adding a fixed asset that has already started depreciating, select Calculate so QuickBooks can calculate the accumulated depreciation for the parameters you've chosen.
5. Select Save.

QuickBooks automatically creates the depreciation schedule and the depreciation entries automatically post on the 1st day of each month. (For example: The depreciation entries for April post on May 1st)

Add multiple fixed assets

1. Go to Advanced accounting, then select Fixed assets (Take me there).
2. Select Add multiple assets.
3. Select any of the fields on line 1 to start. This is your first fixed asset.
4. Enter the details for the asset in the fields or copy from an existing spreadsheet:
   • Asset name
   • Purchase price
   • Purchase date
   • Useful life
   • Depreciation method
   • Depreciation start date 
   • Accumulated depreciation amount if you’re adding a fixed asset that has already started depreciating. QuickBooks calculates the depreciation schedule based on this amount.
   • Asset account
   • Depreciation expense account
   • Accumulated depreciation account
5. Repeat step 4 to enter as many fixed assets as you need in separate lines.
6. When you're finished, select Save. QuickBooks will import your assets to the fixed assets page.

Note: Keep the fixed assets page open while QuickBooks uploads all your assets.

View the depreciation schedule and posted transactions

We'll automatically create the depreciation schedule and the depreciation entries automatically post on the 1st day of each month. (For example: The depreciation entries for April will be posted on May 1st)

1. Go to Advanced accounting, then select Fixed assets (Take me there).
2. Find the asset you want to see the schedule and transactions for and select View.
3. Go to Schedule and select the arrow for each year to view the schedule in detail.
4. Select the month to view any posted transactions. 

Accumulated depreciation for assets with prior depreciation

QuickBooks uses the purchase date, useful life, and depreciation method to calculate the accumulated depreciation amount. It uses the mid-month convention for both the year when a fixed asset is acquired and the year when the asset is disposed of.

For example:

• Depreciation begins on the first day of the same month for assets with a depreciation start date in the first half of the month (days 1 through 15).
• Depreciation starts on the first day of the following month for assets with a depreciation start date in the second half of the month (day 16 through the end of the month).

Note: It’s important to cross-verify this calculated amount with your existing records. If there’s a discrepancy, you’ll need to make an adjusting entry to help ensure your books align with the calculated depreciation.

Dispose and delete options for fixed assets

In addition to adding and managing fixed assets, QuickBooks Online Advanced lets you dispose of and delete fixed assets that are no longer in use.

Disposal option

This option allows you to record the disposal of a fixed asset and calculate any gain or loss on the sale of the asset. When you dispose of a fixed asset, it means that the asset is no longer being used for generating income and has either been sold or scrapped.

Note: Once a fixed asset is disposed of, you can't edit or restore it.

To use the disposal option:

1. Go to Advanced accounting, then select Fixed assets (Take me there).
2. Find the asset you want to dispose of and select the Action dropdown ▼.
3. Select Dispose.
4. Enter the disposal date, selling price, and selling fee. Select Show summary.
5. Check all the calculations including the Profit/loss and confirm that you want to dispose of the asset.
6. Manually post the required journal entries to record the disposal of your asset, including:
   • Clearing out the asset and its accumulated depreciation from your balance sheet
   • Recording any proceeds from the sale of the asset
   • Recording any gain or loss in your income statement

Note: QuickBooks uses the mid-month convention when a fixed asset is disposed of (depreciation for the full month will be recorded if the asset is disposed of after the 15th and no depreciation will be recorded if an asset is disposed of before the 15th).

Delete option

Be aware, the delete option is different from the disposal option. When you delete a fixed asset, you've completely removed it from the fixed assets list, as well as all related transactions. This is useful if you accidentally add an asset.

Note: Once you delete a fixed asset, you can't retrieve it. Therefore, we recommend you use the delete option with caution and only when necessary.

To use the delete option:

1. Go to Advanced accounting, then select Fixed assets (Take me there).
2. Find the asset you want to dispose of and select the Action dropdown ▼.
3. Select Delete.
4. Confirm that you want to permanently delete the asset and all related transactions in the prompt.

View fixed asset reports

You or another user, such as a finance lead, can review fixed asset reports to better plan for capital expenditures in the future, or for tax filing.

1. Go to Reports (Take me there).
2. In the search bar, search for and open either the Fixed Asset List or Fixed Asset Depreciation Detail report.

Customize or filter the report as needed.