Accounts Receivables

Let me help you properly apply the retainer in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac, MM623.

When providing the product or service for which you accepted a retainer, and it's time to collect a payment, just apply it as payment on the invoice. This moves the deposit from the liability account to your income account. This way, we properly record the retainer transaction. There are two ways to do this:

• Enter the upfront deposit or retainer as a line item on the invoice
• Apply the upfront deposit or retainer as a credit

In your case, since we apply the retainer as a credit, just apply it to a customer's invoice by entering the amount as a credit to pay the invoice. Here's how:

1. From the Customers menu, click Create Credit Memos/Refunds.
2. From the Customer:Job drop-down list, select the customer or job.
3. In the Detail section, choose the Upfront Deposit item you created from the Item drop-down list.
4. In the Amount field, enter the amount of the deposit or retainer.
5. Press Save and close.
6. In the Available Credit pop-up dialog that appears, tap Apply to an invoice and select OK.
7. In the Apply Credit to Invoice dialog that appears, choose the invoice to which to apply the upfront deposit or retainer and select Done.

The upfront deposit or retainer is applied to the selected invoice.

Here's an article you can refer to for more details about managing upfront deposits or retainers. Allow me to share this article to help you be more familiar with the features and functions available in QuickBooks Desktop for Mac: QuickBooks Desktop Resources.

I'd like to know how you get on after trying the steps as I want to ensure this is resolved for you. Just reply to this post and I'll get back to you. Take care always.

Thank you. I will follow these steps next week when I do the billing and let you know how it turned out. I appreciate your assistance.

Thank you for your help in how to record retainers. In order to record the retainers, I created a new line item called Upfront Retainer and applied the discount directly on the invoice. I think this will work however, I do have a funds in trust account that I have been using to record the retainers and then when I would apply the discount from the payment window using the funds in trust account. When I receive retainers now, should I deposit the funds into the Upfront Retainer account I created or still use the Funds in Trust account?

Thank you 

MM623