How to record buying and selling of vehicle

It's not that complex but it's very important to know if your husband uses cash or accrual based accounting. This will slightly change how you record the transactions... 

He uses cash accounting

We're pleased to have you here in the Community, Jlink2.

Let me share some steps to record a transaction for an item you've bought and sold.

In QuickBooks Online, you can create a non-inventory item for the vehicle. You can enter an expense for the purchase and a sales receipt for the income. Please also ensure to select the exact date when the transaction happens.

To begin with, here's how to add products or services:

1. Head to Sales, then Product & Services.
2. Click on +New and choose Non-inventory.
3. Key in the Name of the product. You can also add SKU if you want to track them.
4. Choose the best category for the product from the Category dropdown.
5. Check the box for I sell this product/service to my customers, then provide short product details in the Description on sales forms field.
6. Enter a figure in the Sales price/rate field and choose the account you want to use to track the sale in the Income account dropdown.
7. Either track sales tax based on location or click Edit sales tax from the Sales tax section.
8. Select Save and Close.

You can also scroll down to Step 2 in this article if you prefer to add a service or purchasing information: Add product and service items to QuickBooks Online.

Once you've set up your vehicle, you can create an expense transaction to record the purchase. Here's how:

1. Click on the + New button, then Expense.
2. Select the Vendor in the Payee field.
3. Choose the account used for paying the item from the Payment account field, then enter the date from the Payment date field.
4. Determine how the transaction was paid in the Payment method field.
5. You can provide further information from the remaining fields for detailed tracking.
6. Either select the expense account used to track the transaction in the Category details section or the specific item from the Item details section.
7. Review or update the Amount if necessary, then select the Tax checkbox if it's taxable.
8. Click on Save and close.

After that, you can visit this material for guidance in recording the sales transaction: Create sales receipts in QuickBooks Online.

On the other hand, if you want to collect valuable insights from your business finances, consider running and customizing a report that best suits your business needs.

Notify us in the Community if you have additional questions when recording business income and expenses or other related concerns in QuickBooks Online. We're always around to lend a hand.

@Jlink2 

"He uses cash accounting"

Have you consulted with your CPA on this?  I just bring this up to make sure you have your bases covered and have discussed it with your CPA/tax accountant so you feel confident.  Cash accounting for that type of inventory is questionable from the IRS's perspective.  Cash accounting does not carry inventory so the vehicles would be expensed as of the day of purchase (3-15) and you would create a sales receipt or invoice to record the income as of 3-17. 

However, the IRS generally requires businesses that carry inventory for resale to be on accrual basis.  You mentioned he "immediately has it sold", but there were 2 days between the purchase and sale.  No big deal in March, but if he bought $150K of vehicles the last week of December and didn't sell them until January, he would recognize $150K in expenses in one year and $175K in income the next year, thereby saving potentially between $18,000 and  $33,000+ in income tax in the year of purchase.  The IRS frowns on that.  There is some interpretation as to whether businesses that carry inventory can be on cash basis but most CPAs I know still advise their clients to use accrual basis accounting.