I bought a tractor with 5 Yearly installments. How do I record the transaction?

Hello @brahman,

Let me help walk you through the steps on how to record a transaction for the tractor you purchased. I want to ensure that you can enter it correctly so that the posting account in your books is accurate.

To start with, we'll have to create a new asset account for the tractor and liability account for the installment. To do so:

A. Create an Asset account

1. Go to Accounting.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Click New.
4. Under Account Type, select Other Assets.
5. On the Detail Type menu, select Other Long Term Assets.
6. Enter any name of your new account. Ex. Tractor.
7. Select Track depreciation of this asset.
8. Leave a blank value in the Original cost field of your asset.
9. Click Save.

B. Create a Liability account

1. Go to Accounting.
2. Select Chart of Accounts.
3. Click New.
4. Under Account Type, select Long-term Liabilities.
5. On the Detail Type menu, select Other Long Term Liabilities.
6. Enter any name of your new account. Ex. Tractor Loan.
7. Click Save.

Once done, here's how you can create the payment for every installment:

1. Go to the + New button.
2. Under OTHER, select Journal Entry.
3. Below the Account column in the first line, select your new asset account.
4. Enter the installment amount under the Debits column.
5. On the second line under the Account column, select your new liability account.
6. Enter the same installment amount under the Credits column.
7. Click Save and close.

Lastly, I've got you this helpful article for ideas about how you can get back to a transaction in your account's register and use its related functions: Find, review, and edit transactions in account registers.

If there's anything else that I can help you with, please let me know in the comments. I'll be here to lend a hand.

Thanks for this guidance. Only thing I thought to add and enquire is that the amounts to be reflected in this initial entry when debiting the asset and crediting the liability should be the present value of the total of the 5 yearly installments. Thereafter there would be depreciation booked to the asset to debit depreciation and credit the asset. And on the liability would need to book debit interest expense and credit liability and then debit liability and credit bank/cash when the instalments are paid. Does QBO offer any functionality to calculate and/or automatically post these subsequent entries once an amortisation table has been calculated?

Hello there, @Parks Accounting.

Currently, posting the subsequent entries automatically once an amortisation has been calculated is unavailable in QuickBooks Online. I'll personally take note of this idea and share it with our Development Team. They'll analyze this one and may be added to our future updates.

Since depreciation is manually calculated, you can create a journal entry to record the lost value. I'll show you how:

1. Select + New icon then click Journal entry.
2. On the first line, enter the depreciated amount in the Credits column then choose the asset account from the Account dropdown.
3. On the second line, select the Depreciation account you just created from the Account dropdown. Enter the same depreciated amount in the Debits column.
4. Hit Save.

See this article for more information: Depreciate assets in QuickBooks Online

However, it would be best to seek advice with your accountant in this process. They can guide you further and help you ensure that the accounts you're using are the appropriate ones.

In the meantime, I recommend visiting our Blog site to learn what new updates are being rolled out, as well as additional references while working with QuickBooks. 

Please know that you're always welcome to post if you have any other concerns with QuickBooks. Stay safe and have a wonderful day ahead!