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January 23, 2019
Solved

Tenant security deposits

  • January 23, 2019
  • 23 replies
  • 78 views

I received a check for a tenant security deposit and 1st month rent. How do I deposit this so that the tenant doesn't show a credit.

Thank you,

Best answer by KhimG

Thanks for visiting the Community, @oldnotdead.


I’m here to walk you through the steps in recording the security deposit and 1st-month rent you received from your tenant.


First, let’s create an item for the security deposit and 1st-month rent, then link them to a Liability account. Here’s how:
1.    Go to List from the top menu and select Item List.
2.    On the Item List window, click Item, then New.
3.    Select Service on the Type drop-down.
4.    Enter the Item name and fill in other necessary fields.
5.    On the Account drop-down, select a Liability account.
6.    Hit OK to save the item.
7.    Follow the same steps to create an item for 1st-month rent.

 

 

 


Check out this article for more information: Add, Edit, and Delete items.


Once done creating the items, record the payment by using a sales receipt. Here’s how:
1.    Go to Customers menu and select Enter Sales Receipts.
2.    Select the tenant on the Customer: Job drop-down. 
3.    Fill in the relevant information at the top of the form like the Date and Sale No.
4.    On the first and second line item, choose the security deposit and the 1st-month rent items respectively.
5.    Enter the amounts on each item.
6.    Hit Save & Close.

 

 


You may take a look at this article for reference: Create sales receipts.


That should answer your question for today. Please let me know if you need anything else, I’m always here to help. Take care and have a great day!
 

23 replies

January 23, 2019

I need to add that I have the Tenant set up as a job and the security deposits as "security deposits held by other", other current asset.

KhimGAnswer
Level 7
January 23, 2019

Thanks for visiting the Community, @oldnotdead.


I’m here to walk you through the steps in recording the security deposit and 1st-month rent you received from your tenant.


First, let’s create an item for the security deposit and 1st-month rent, then link them to a Liability account. Here’s how:
1.    Go to List from the top menu and select Item List.
2.    On the Item List window, click Item, then New.
3.    Select Service on the Type drop-down.
4.    Enter the Item name and fill in other necessary fields.
5.    On the Account drop-down, select a Liability account.
6.    Hit OK to save the item.
7.    Follow the same steps to create an item for 1st-month rent.

 

 

 


Check out this article for more information: Add, Edit, and Delete items.


Once done creating the items, record the payment by using a sales receipt. Here’s how:
1.    Go to Customers menu and select Enter Sales Receipts.
2.    Select the tenant on the Customer: Job drop-down. 
3.    Fill in the relevant information at the top of the form like the Date and Sale No.
4.    On the first and second line item, choose the security deposit and the 1st-month rent items respectively.
5.    Enter the amounts on each item.
6.    Hit Save & Close.

 

 


You may take a look at this article for reference: Create sales receipts.


That should answer your question for today. Please let me know if you need anything else, I’m always here to help. Take care and have a great day!
 

July 22, 2021

This is exactly how it SHOULD work, and always has in both prior desktop versions of QuickBooks and in QBO.   I recently had a client upgrade to desktop 2021 though, and this feature is ALL MESSED UP.  It seems that when you create an item that uses A/R as it's source and targets a Balance Sheet account (like the security deposits payable account we use to collect/track security deposits for short term vacation rentals) it insists on treating those items on the Accrual Basis (and only those items, any item set up to target a P&L account is fine.)  So, if I create an invoice on May 1st because a vacationer arriving July 4th owes $2400 for their week's rent and a $500 security deposit, it posts the $2,400 rent on the cash basis (posts the date the invoice gets paid) but posts the security deposit on May 1st (Crediting the liability and debiting A/R).  It doesn't matter if you run your Balance Sheet on the Cash or Accrual Basis, this is how it handles it.  Which makes it really hard to design controls so that we don't accidentally return a security deposit that was BILLED but never received from the customer!