Tracking commissions

Hello there, Elizabeth1948. I'm here to guide you on how to track commissions.

To begin, set up an expense account for the commission. Here's how:

1. On the left navigational bar, go to the Transaction tab.
2. Select Chart of accounts and then click the New button.
3. In the Account Type section, choose Expense and complete the necessary fields. I recommend consulting an accountant for this process.
4. Once you're ready, click the Save and Close button.

If you use a bank deposit when entering the income, you can add the commission as an expense line item to it. Here's how:

1. Go to the +New icon and click Bank deposit.
2. Choose an Account
3. In the Add funds to this deposit section, enter the Income account in the first line item and add the amount as positive.
4. Add to the second line the expense account you've created and add the amount as negative.
5. Click Save and close.

To track the commission, you can run an expense report.
 

In addition, you can customize your reports and focus on the details that matter the most to you: Customize reports in QuickBooks Online.

Let me know if you have any further questions besides the expense account. The Community is here to assist you 24/7.

Thank you for your comprehensive reponse.  I will give this a try and and see how it works.  As soon as I get my first check, I'll know.  If I still have issues, I will reconnect. 

Ok, I have now looked at this carefully.  Here is my further question. 

If I add the commssions as a negative, will that reduce the amount of the deposit showing up in my checking account register?  For example, if I received a check for $5000 and the commission they took was 20% or $1000, I would want my checking account register to reflect that I deposited the full $5000 or my bank statement and my my checking register would not reconcile properly.  Can you clarify this for me.  Thanks. 

Yes, the deposit amount will be reduced once you add the commission as a negative, Elizabeth1948. I'll discuss the method below for you to complete your task.

You'll want to make a bank deposit of the full amount ($5000) to reflect in your checking register. Thereafter, record an Expense transaction to track the commission. This way, you're able to reconcile your account properly. 

To record an expense, here's how:

1. Select + New, then choose Expense.
2. In the Payment account field, select the account you used to pay for the expense.
3. In the Category details section, enter the expense information. Under the Category column, select the expense account you use to track the commission and enter a description.
4. Enter the Amount, Tax, and all other necessary details.
5. Select Save and close when you're done.

Afterward, you can reconcile your checking account to match your monthly statements.

Moreover, do you wish to obtain a summary of your account balances and a detailed list of cleared and uncleared transactions from your most recent reconciliation? To do so, you can check out this article: View, print, or export a reconciliation report.

You can always get back to this thread if you have other concerns or questions about tracking commissions and managing transactions in QBO. The Community is always ready to help you out.

Thank you; however, and this may seem like a dumb question, but... Whenever I record an expense, it is typically charged to a credit card or I write a check to cover it, so the expense gets recorded in those accounts.  Then I either pay the credit card and reconcile it, or the checking account gets reconciled.  In the case of this commission, I never outlayed the cash to cover it because it was withdrawn from the gross amount and I receive a net check the talent agent paid me.  The issue is that I am taxed on the gross amount of the money as wages, so I need to track the commission amount as an expense.  If I just record it as a expense what "account register" do I record it in, since I never pay it.  All my accounts I have listed are either bank accounts or credit card accounts.