Pay dividend in quicken home and business

James120

How do I enter a divided payment from the company to the owner in Quicken home and business?

Tom Young

Only C-Corps pay "dividends" although a S-Corp that used to be a C-Corp might also pay a "dividend".  (The word dividends is in quotation marks here as it has a specific LEGAL meaning.  Not all money passed out by a business to owners is, legally, a dividend.)

Be that as it may, TurboTax Home & Business really is designed only to track a non-corporate business, i.e., a business whose activity is included on Schedule C of the owners own Form 1040. If that's your situation then the company pays no dividend.  All that happens is that you move some of your money out of the business checking account to your own checking account.  Other that noting the transfer in Quicken there's no other entry necessary.

James120

I am a Canadian Quicken user. Your answer seems to be regarding a US user?

Tom Young

Yes.  I assumed the answer should be in the context of a US user.

James120

Thx, maybe a Canadian user will respond.

Tom Young

I know nothing about the Canadian version of Quicken, but I'd be surprised if it really is all that much different than the US versions.  Quicken is strictly a "personal" accounting program and everything within the file is your activity no matter how you slice and dice it. 

In the US program if I wanted to somehow treat a transfer from the business's checking Account to my personal checking Account as income then the closest I could come to that is to expense the transfer out as a Category like "Dividend paid" and then create an income for the transfer in as "Dividend received".  The net within the file is $0 of course and a true dividend isn't an expense for a business, it's a reduction of cash and a reduction of some capital account.  But Quicken - at least the US version - doesn't allow for a capital Account within the file.

James120

Thank you for your additional comments.
You are correct regarding Capital Accounts.
A dividend paid will show as an expense which will reduce the equity in the company and show as divided income on the personal income side. Quickbooks is the more useful program for an incorporated individual.