Tracking Owner distributions, Sole Proprietor S-Corp

ltbowers

Being told I need to classify owner draws using equity accounts but unable to figure out how this is done in Quicken home and business. Sole proprietor, S-Corp. Need to be able to reflect what I do on the balance sheet and P&L

NotACPA

Does the S-Corp file it's own tax return ... or does is file on Sched C of your tax return?

Because there is, in Quicken, no such thing as an "Equity Account" or "Owner Draws".  You'd need Quickbooks for those features ... but that would only apply if the S-Corp files it's own return. 

You MIGHT be able to get this to work if you set up the S-Corp in it's own Q data file ... and not part of your personal file.  Then the Net Worth in this separate file would be your "Owner Equity" and those payments would be expenses in the business file that are recorded as Income in your personal file.

IF it files on your Sched C, then you and the business are a single tax entity, and there's STILL no such thing as "Owner Draws" ... because you and the business are one and the same.

NotACPA

Does the S-Corp file it's own tax return ... or does is file on Sched C of your tax return?

Because there is, in Quicken, no such thing as an "Equity Account" or "Owner Draws".  You'd need Quickbooks for those features ... but that would only apply if the S-Corp files it's own return. 

You MIGHT be able to get this to work if you set up the S-Corp in it's own Q data file ... and not part of your personal file.  Then the Net Worth in this separate file would be your "Owner Equity" and those payments would be expenses in the business file that are recorded as Income in your personal file.

IF it files on your Sched C, then you and the business are a single tax entity, and there's STILL no such thing as "Owner Draws" ... because you and the business are one and the same.

brianholman

Ok, I have searched this top and everyone says the same thing... simply can't be done. I'm new to Quicken and like the functionality, so I'm committed to making this work for recording my personal finances and my S-Corp finances (the CPA can sort out the few nuances at tax time, if any). I've done a lot of accounting in QB, but it doesn't seem to be keeping up with the times and improving their products, in my opinion.

The main type of transaction I have throughout the year that affects Owner's Equity accounts is using personal accounts to pay for business expenses, or vice versa. Here's the work around I'm using.

SETUP
1. Create a personal "Other Asset" account. I named mine "Businesses - MY BUSINESS NAME" (with my actual business name, of course).
2. Create a business "Other Liability" account. I named it "Shareholder Draws" to be consistent with what I had in QBs. I know that using a Liability account isn't technically correct, but the basic accounting equation can be sorted out easy enough (Assets - Liabilities = Owner's Equity).

RECORDING TRANSACTIONS
1. I'll record transactions using the proper account and category (i.e. Personal Checking and Office Supplies). That takes care of the personal asset and business expense for each of those reports.
2. I'll record a transfer between the Other Asset and Other Liability accounts created during setup above. In the Office Supplies example, it would be a transfer out of my Shareholder Draws account (business) and into my Businesses account (personal).

If you co-mingle money a lot, this will be obnoxious, but you'd be recording both these transactions if you plan to track personal and business finances regardless.

Now my reports should correctly reflect my balances: Personal reports show money out of the account and into the business (which is a personal asset), and Business reports show the expense and that the business owes me money (or that I personally contributed money if you want to look at it that way instead). If money goes the other direction, then just reverse the process.

You could go further (I probably will personally) and close out Shareholder Draws into an "Owner's Equity" or "Retained Earnings" account (that you create) by recording a transfer between those two accounts.

Hopefully this helps someone else that wants to use Quicken, but isn't satisfied with the "you can't do that" response.

ltbowers

Thank you Brian. Until your message I was not receiving notifications so apologies to others that I did not respond to. I realize later that on that Quicken for Business was limited in this area and subsequently moved to Quick books which is well suited for this task. Thank you so much for the feedback.