Tax Guru – Ker$tetter Letter

Q:

Subject: Quickbooks Classes

 

Hi!

 

After reading your page on the web on classes we are playing with combining our 12 QB data files into one. The question that we have is about sub-classes. We have 10 properties that are under the owner’s Tax ID and two other properties that we manage that have 2 different Tax IDs. Is it possible to have the first 10 as subclasses with our owner as the class and have the other 2 under their own separate classes?  Or, do we need separate data files for each Tax ID number? What is the best way for both ease of use and, more importantly, tax purposes?

 

Thanks, 

A:

I guess it would depend on what the purpose of your bookkeeping is.  If you are acting as a property manager, you could have one master data file and have a class for each owner, with subclasses for each property.  You could then print out separate P&Ls for each owner. 

This would work well for P&L purposes, but wouldn’t do the job properly if you are keeping track of all of the assets and liabilities and each owner needs a balance sheet, which can’t be separated by class.  In that case, a separate data file for each owner would make the most sense because you could prepare all of the different financial statements required for each owner’s income tax return, as well as 1099s.

I hope this helps.  If you have more details on what accounting services you provide for the other property owners, I might be able to provide more setup advice.

Kerry Kerstetter