In TurboTenant Accounting, you will typically record your rents as revenue if you manage the property yourself, or as a net income transaction if you have a property manager.
đĄ TurboTip: When rent payments are processed through TurboTenant, we automatically recognize revenue to the appropriate property and unit. In your bank's import feed, these transactions should always be booked as TurboTenant Deposits.
To Book a Rent Transaction
Payments from TurboTenant, whether electronically collected or manually marked as paid via an offline payment, are automatically imported to TurboTenant Accounting and are recognized as revenue or security deposits to the appropriate property and unit.
Since payments are imported already associated with the appropriate property and unit, as well as any included fees or other line items, this means everything needed to accurately report on the payment and any associated expenses for taxes is present in your TurboTenant Accounting account. You will immediately be able to see rent payments reflected in TurboTenant Accounting's reports, including the Net Income by Property and Schedule E.
If the deposits in your bank account's import feed from TurboTenant are not automatically booked for any reason, use the 'TurboTenant Deposit' transaction type. These deposits should NOT be booked as revenue or security deposits to avoid overstating those accounts.
To Book a Net Income Transaction
If the deposit represents both rent and expense(s), select the Net Income transaction type. Net Income reports both revenue and expense lines as part of the same transaction.
So, if the deposit is from a property manager who collected rent, charged you management fees, and then disbursed the net amount to you, you should use the 'Net Income' transaction type.
For example, if a property manager collects rents of $1,500 on your behalf and charges you management fees of $150, they would only send you the net amount after withholding their fee, or $1,350. Most property managers will also cover the cost of repairs or maintenance and deduct it from the amount they send you. In the example below, there was $100 maintenance expense as well.
To book the $1,250 deposit in your import feed, you would:
Click Book and select the Net Income transaction type.
Select the appropriate property/unit.
In the Revenues box, select the Rent account and enter $1,500 as the amount.
In the Expenses box, select the Management Fees account and enter $150 as the amount, then add a line to select the Repairs expense account and enter $100 as the amount.
Optionally attach your property management statement by clicking the Add Attachment button.
Click 'Save' at the bottom.
This will record your gross revenues ($1,500) and gross expenses ($250) in one transaction without having to split it. The IRS prefers that you report your gross revenues and expenses, not just the net.
The TurboTenant Accounting system will not automatically determine the gross rent and gross expenses reflected in the net depositâyou will need to enter the appropriate accounts and amounts in the Revenues and Expenses boxes.