Using GnuCash for Rental Properties

[RobCaldwell.net]

No problem.  Much appreciated.

 

From: Russell Mercer [mailto:rmercer206 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 4:08 PM
To: RobCaldwell.net
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org
Subject: Re: Using GnuCash for Rental Properties

 

Rob,

I can't honestly say, as I do not use Schedule K-1 in my tax prep.  I also
use tax prep software, so it is a matter of punching in the numbers in the
correct areas.  That being said, as I mentioned before, I have structured my
accounts and expense accounts to easily recreate the numbers that I have to
enter related to rental real estate.  If you need expenses and other values
in a certain structure to provide you with end of year data, GnuCash is
flexible enough that you should be able to create the appropriate account
tree.
I would recommend sitting down with your tax documentation to figure out
what totals you need to be able to enter.  Also make sure to look through
both the help files and the concepts guide for GnuCash, as there are many
examples which, though not directly related, will give you a much better
understanding of how the software works.

Sorry I couldn't be more specific, but I hope this helps.

Russell

On Thu, Jul 7, 2011 at 12:52 PM, RobCaldwell.net <Rob at robcaldwell.net>
wrote:

Russell,

 

With this configuration are able to create K-1's at the end of the year?

 

Thanks,

 

Rob Caldwell

 

From: Russell Mercer [mailto:rmercer206 at gmail.com] 

Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 12:40 PM
To: highred
Cc: gnucash-user at gnucash.org

Subject: Re: Using GnuCash for Rental Properties

 

Rob,

There are many different ways to set up GnuCash.  When you create a new
file, any of the account options that you check, simply create a standard
list of accounts.  You can then modify these as necessary.  When I set up
GnuCash, I found that it was easier to simply create my own accounts in the
account tree, under each of the major types, Income, Expense, Asset,
Liability.

I use GnuCash to manage all of my financial transactions, including rental
properties.  I have the real estate broken out into it's own set of account
groups, as I want to be able to track them separately.  Here is a sample
account tree that is similar to what I have set up.

Assets
  Bank Accounts
    Checking - Property 1
    Checking - Property 2
    Savings
  Investment Property
    Property 1
      Initial Purchase
      Escrow Account
      Gain/Loss
    Property 2
      Initial Purchase
      Escrow Account
      Gain/Loss

Expense
  HOA Fees
  Insurance
  Maintenance
  Management
  Repairs
  Taxes

Income
  Late Fees
  Non-refundable Deposit
  Rent
    Property 1
    Property 2

Liability
  Credit Card
    Business Visa
  Mortgages
    Property 1
    Property 2

I use something like this to track my real estate.  I have a few more
categories, and obviously that is specific to each person's needs.  You
could also have an Equity Account, which you would use if you are closing
your books at the end of each year.  Also, if you are starting to track your
expenses midway along, you use Equity as the source for your opening
balances.

I try to keep expenses separate between properties, as it is easier to total
up that way, the same with income.  The best way has been to either have a
separate checking account for each property.  If that is not feasible, then
under Expenses, have a set of expenses for each property, thus giving you an
easy way to report on them separately, or get a total for all expenses.

I go into some detail with mortgages and escrow accounts.  This again allows
me to break out taxes and insurance paid, if it is escrowed.  I also
separated out the initial value into a separate sub-account from any gains
or losses, as I like to be able to see both bits of information without
opening up an account register to look.

Thinking about it now, I am pretty sure I tried to match my Expense account
entries to the entries for the Rental Real Estate Tax forms for the USA.
Not sure where you are, so these may not apply, though they are pretty
generic.

Hope this helps.

Russell

On Wed, Jul 6, 2011 at 9:08 AM, highred <rob at robcaldwell.net> wrote:

Anyone?

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