Hi there, @jennsears5.
Allow me to share some details on how to record the customer's transaction about leasing your equipment.
You can create a service fee item for the equipment that is leased by your customer. Regarding your other concern about creating a liability account, it is not applicable in the scenario that you've mentioned.
Also, note that the Fixed Asset is entered from the purchase date of your equipment, while the Lease Income is used when your customer is renting equipment.
Now, you can proceed to create a service item for the lease transaction of your customer. I'd be happy to show you how to do that:
However, if you are referring to create a Capital Lease, I'd recommend contacting your accountant to help you get to the bottom of it.
I've added an article you can review about products and services in QuickBooks Desktop: Add, edit, and delete items.
I'll be around if you have other questions. Click the Reply button below to let me know. Take care.