How do I record the purchase of a phone that is used for both business and personal?

Hello there, @Mister, E-Shopper. I'm here to guide you on how to record a purchased item and phone bill used for both personal and business purposes in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

Before everything else, just a disclaimer that I can only share the possible technical input on recording the purchase in QuickBooks Online (QBO), I encourage collaborating with your accountant for detailed guidance in recording the purchase of the phone used for business and personal use and can be considered a fixed asset. If it can, here's how to set up an asset account in your Chart of accounts for the phone:

1. Go to the Gear icon, then select Chart of Accounts.
2. Select New.
3. In the Account name field, enter the "Business Phone" or something similar.
4. In the Account type dropdown, select Fixed Assets or Other Assets.
5. In the Detail type ▼ dropdown, select the option that closely describes the asset.
6. In the Opening balance field, enter the opening balance amount. Then, select the starting date in the Date field.
7. Leave the opening balance to $0.
8. Select Save.

Next, here's how you can record the purchase of the phone:

1. Go to the +New button and select Expense.
2. Choose from the Payee drop-down list the vendor where you bought the phone from.
3. From the Payment account, choose the bank account as the source of the payment for the phone purchase.
4. From the Category column, choose the fixed asset account you created (e.g., "Business Phone").
5. Enter the purchase amount and add a description.
6. Review other details. Then, hit Save and close.

If you are using a personal account and need to get reimbursed, you can refer to this article to pay business expenses using your personal account: Pay for personal expenses from a business credit card or bank account in QuickBooks Online.

To account for the phone bill, you can consider recording it as a bill. If it's a recurring transaction, refer to this article: Create recurring transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Moreover, I've added this article to learn how to reconcile an account so it always matches your monthly statements.

If you have more concerns about recording expenses, don't hesitate to reply. I'm always here to help you out.