Business vehicle purchase

It's an honor to share tips on how to handle your concern, Aaronc5150.

You can use the Journal Entry (JE) feature to record down payments and vehicle assets in QuickBooks Online (QBO). Before doing so, make sure to set up the following:

• Set up a loan in QuickBooks Online 
• Set up an asset account in QuickBooks Online

Also, it would best to seek an expert's advice from an accountant to ensure you're using the correct accounts so your books will be accurate.

Here's how to create a JE:
 

1. Go to the +New button.
2. Under Other, select Journal entry.
3. Set the Asset's purchase date as the Date of the entry.
4. On the first line select the Asset account then record the item and enter the purchased value as a Debit.
5. For the second line, use the same amount.
6. Click Save and close.

For additional information on this, I recommend checking the following article about creating Journal Entry: Create a journal entry in QuickBooks Online.

In case you want to review the entries made, you can pull up or print a report for JE's: Report for Journal Entries. 

As always, you can find me here if you need more help with the process above. It's my pleasure to assist you. Have a good one.

Thanks for the information! I have a couple follow up questions:

• When setting up the liability account, do I just include the total principal amount of the loan, or the entire amount including interest for the 5 year loan term?
• We setup the loan and made the down payment last week on 3/29.  If I am just setting up the liability account today, it does not let me use a past date for the date to "start tracking".  If I choose today, it asks me the total amount owed as of today.  If I put the amount minus the down payment, will it throw anything off since its not the total loan amount prior to down payment?
• When recording loan payments, do I need to record the principal and interest paid separately for each payment for tax purposes?  If yes, does interest need its own account?

Thank you very much!
Aaron

Hello.  Just wanted to follow up to my response above to see if you can assist? Thanks!

Thanks for getting back here, @Aaronc5150.

Let me go over and discuss further details about your concern.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), here's an article that provides you with the general way how you can record loans: Set up a loan in QuickBooks Online. It includes steps on how you can set up a liability account and instructions on how you can record the payment. 

Also, to answer specific questions about recording the loan amount and how you can account for the interest, I highly recommend reaching out to an accounting professional. Your accountant can give you further accounting advice to make sure that you'll set up the loan correctly. In case you're not affiliated with one, you can use our Find an Accountant tool to look for ProAdvisors near you. 

Just in case you need handy guides in performing your QBO tasks, here's a compilation of how-to videos that you can open. 

I'm just around the corner if you have any other QuickBooks concerns. I'm always willing to lend you a hand so you can achieve your goals. Thanks for dropping by and have a good one. 

You can't just add a second line with the same amount.  You need to state the account to be used on the second line.