A vehicle was totaled, the insurance Company paid for it. it was entered in as a credit to the ins. company and now they have a credit...how do I correct this? QB online

That is very helpful - thanks for the reply.  Question, if the insurance check is greater than the amount remaining on the asset, how is the additional income reported.  Do I credit the asset for the entire amount of the insurance check, or only up to the amount of remaining depreciation account? How do i record the other?

thanks again

As I said, deposit the check and use the gain/loss account as the source (from) account for the deposit.

I have done what you said for the journal entries except that I did not make a journal entry to debit the accumulated depreciation because there was not a balance in that account. We just purchased this vehicle this year and so there is no depreciation as of yet. I deposited the insurance payout into the Gain/Loss account. The insurance also paid off the balance that was owed for this vehicle separately. I made another journal entry for this payoff and debited the Note payable and credited the Gain/loss account. Is this correct? Now my Gain/Loss account shows a debit of $14,000 for the fixed asset, a credit of $23,465.17 for the insurance payout, and a credit of $13,213.92 that they paid off the loan with. So the total on the Gain/loss account shows $22,679.09.

Easier way:

Liability account Enter money received  Debit $xx,xxx

Accumulated depreciation - amount for that vehicle only that has already been taken Credit $x,xxx

Asset Account for Vehicle (starting cost) credit $xx,xxx

Gain/loss on asset (income account) (if loss debit) if gain credit

EXAMPLE:

Ally - GMC Truck (liability)       $20,000

Accumulated Depreciation     $5,000

Gain/Loss on Asset (Loss)        $5,000  

GMC Truck (Asset)                                       $30,000

-OR- for Gain

Ally - GMC Truck (liability)       $30,000

Accumulated Depreciation     $5,000

Gain/Loss on Asset (Gain)                          $5,000  

GMC Truck (Asset)                                       $30,000

I have a different scenario.

Vehicle shown as asset 114,316.00

Accum Depreciation ? I don't know what has been taken

no liability on vehicle 0.00

insurance paid check to my personally not business 51,236.00 (deposited into personal account)

I assume I show the money that went into my personal account as a distribution but don't know how to show it - is there a sale involved to insurance company?  

this is what I did: 

fixed asset totaled vehicle: credit 51,236.00

distributions debit 51,236.00

accumulated depreciation debit 51,236.00

sales of vehicle credit 51,236.00

accumulated depreciation debit 63,080.00

vehicle asset account credit 63,080.00 to bring it to zero.

We received an insurance check for total loss of vehicle, but we still plan to drive it.  Do we still remove from assets or just post income to gain/loss and keep the asset on the books?  It is already fully depreciated. 

Thank you very much!  

We received an insurance check for total loss of vehicle, but we still plan to drive it.  Do we still remove from assets or just post income to gain/loss and keep the asset on the books?  It is already fully depreciated. 

Thank you very much!  

@masterofdisaster 

Great question.  From my understanding, the insurance proceeds should be posted as other income and the vehicle should stay on your books - fully depreciated - because, when you sell it to another party or for scrap at some point in the future, then you would remove it from your books and post the gain on the disposal.  If the asset is still being used in the business, it should be on your balance sheet.