Rental Properties - Consolidate Bank Accounts

You can create separate accounts for the different units, Matthew. 

You can set up a bank or credit card account with multiple sub-accounts to easily connect it to your bank and reconcile downloaded transactions. Before connecting to Online Banking, you need to know how your bank sends the downloaded transactions. If the transactions download to one account, connect only the parent account. If the transactions download to the individual accounts, connect the sub-accounts and not the parent account. This is to avoid overlapping of transactions. 

Here's how to create an account first within QuickBooks: 

1. Log in to QuickBooks. 
2. From the Accounting menu, select Chart of Accounts. 
3. Click New at the upper-right. 
4. Enter the correct bank account information.
5. Click Save and Close.

Do the same steps to the other bank accounts you'll want to create and connect. After creating them, you can connect it to Online Banking. Still within the Chart of Accounts page, click the drop-down arrow beside View register and click Connect bank. 

Here are helpful references that can walk you through the detailed steps I mention above: 

• About bank or credit card subaccount setup
• Connect bank and credit card accounts to QuickBooks Online

You can always get back to me if there's anything else you need help with. You take care always and have a great day!

@mcf747 

I'm a little confused in your explanation

are you a management company, or an owner of 10 properties?

You have several partners who have invested in certain properties - how are they set up in QB? Partner equity accounts or liability accounts?

are you taxed as a partnership?

As a thought, in an audit the "spirit of ease of management" is not valid.

@Rustler 

are you a management company, or an owner of 10 properties?

I guess a bit of both, I personally (and legally) own 6 of the 10, the other 4 are owned between by 3 brothers. I take care of the books for everyone however. Each property is owned by a single owner. We each file our own taxes with our own Schedule E's covering our respective properties.

You have several partners who have invested in certain properties - how are they set up in QB? Partner equity accounts or liability accounts?   

They are set up in QBO as a "Customers". Right now I have a single Owners Equity Account that I use to book incoming equity or "buy in" and tag these by CLASS (property). I am open to suggestions on how I can do this better.

are you taxed as a partnership?

No, each property is legally owned by a single person and taxed against that single person's income. I have been thinking about rolling everything into an LLC or a series of LLC's owned by a partnership(s) but I have not chartered a path forward on this yet. I need to talk to an accountant before I do probably.  Right now the "partners" own an interest in the properties gains or losses but not in the property itself (legally). 

As a thought, in an audit the "spirit of ease of management" is not valid.

Very fair point and one that I am well aware of. I help my brothers with their Schedule E's to make sure everything is correct. Our portfolio grew very quickly and organically at the same time. I am confident in my ability to provide clear records and backup for everything today and want to make sure I can continue to do that going forward. Hence this question. Before we grow much larger I aim to sort out the LLC / partnership issue. Right now we are just a group of brothers helping each other out in the areas we are most comfortable with, I know that model does not scale much farther. 

LLC is a state registration which isolates your personal assets from a judgement that goes against your company (being a landlord basically). I would create an LLC for each property in the name of the owner. Additional cost but you never know what the future holds. If you do that you become basically a management company, again as an LLC

You say your brothers own 4 properties and later you say those same brothers own an interest in the gain and loss but not the property itself - confuses me.

Each brother, for each property would be set up as a vendor, you pay vendors, customers pay you.

Using a single equity account is a recipe for disaster. A non owner can not have an equity account, so either y'all form a partnership or you continue as a sole proprietor manager.

In order to form a partnership and roll everything in the LLC(s) owned by the partnership, that is what has to happen legally. Title must be changed to the partnership, and that may cause issues with the mortgage companies, taxes, etc. I would not go this route without some in depth investigation.