Solved

How to record personal expenses paid from S-Corp's business checking account?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
December 11, 2018
3 replies
0 views

More detail: I am a sole Shareholder in an S-Corp and since I've had no sales yet, all of the expenses have been paid indirectly from personal funds, specifically, my retirement account. What I mean by indirectly, is that I've taken large sums from my retirement fund and deposited those into the S-Corp checking account to be used for S-Corp's start-up expenses. If that were the end of the story, it would be simple. :(

However, what's making me sweat is the fact that I have paid for legit personal expenses from this S-Corp's checking account. The funds in the S-Corp's checking account are in reality my own personal funds, however, the first time they're deposited into S-Corp's checking account, I've increased "Paid-In Capital". Would it have been better if I had recorded these deposits as liability into Loan from Shareholder?

But now I've used these funds, from the S-Corp's checking account, to pay personal expenses. Do I just record "Shareholder Distribution" which would decrease my "Paid-In Capital" or decrease my liability account "Loan to Shareholder"?

How do i record this mess? I want to start fresh in 2015, and do things right, but I need to untangle all this for 2014 first.

And in terms of bank reconciliation, should I just disregard personal transactions? Or, ALL transactions going through the S-Corp's bank NEED to be recorded in QB, and then journal entries made to fix the mixing of personal and business?

Thank you so much!

QuickBooks Desktop

Best answer by Rustler

I would not have used contributed the funds and used a liability account due to [name]

then when you use corp funds to pay personal expenses, use that same liability account, and it will "pay down" the liability - and try to avoid doing that after you have the liability paid off

if you want you can edit the original transaction and change the account from additional paid in capital to a liability account you create, and also edit the personal use transactions to hit that same account - make a back up first in case something goes wrong.

yes every transaction should be reflected in the QB bank account otherwise you will not be able to reconcile the bank statement which will have them

RustlerAnswer

I would not have used contributed the funds and used a liability account due to [name]

then when you use corp funds to pay personal expenses, use that same liability account, and it will "pay down" the liability - and try to avoid doing that after you have the liability paid off

if you want you can edit the original transaction and change the account from additional paid in capital to a liability account you create, and also edit the personal use transactions to hit that same account - make a back up first in case something goes wrong.

yes every transaction should be reflected in the QB bank account otherwise you will not be able to reconcile the bank statement which will have them

A

arkvalleyinfoAuthor

Thank you Rustler for that fast response.  I really appreciate it.

I just noticed, though, that I wrote S-Corp, although it's a C-Corp.  Typo mistake.  Does it make a difference in your answer?

If I may, to ask you another question?

This C-Corp is actually for a new client of mine, and I'm just starting out and very unsure how to deal with this properly.

How far does our (bookkeeper/accountant) liability go in terms of client's tax returns and reporting?  I've advised this client not to include all these personal expenses as "business deductions" for the C-Corp, even though they're relatively low (compared to total expenses).  However, they don't want to get into the detail of it and want to "risk it" just so that they can get it over with for this calendar year...  And then starting from next year, they want to do things properly and not mix personal and business.  If the company were to be audited, could I be in any trouble?  I've advised them, but they don't listen.

Rustler

c- or s- corp the concept is the same

In a corp, distributions are not a way of just taking funds from the company the way equity draws are in a partnership or sole proprietor. Distributions should be after salary and are usually an end of year thing, and as I understand it there should be corp records where the board approves a per share amount and the date.

Corporation accounting is or can be very complicated, especially where shares and distributions are concerned.  You really need to get with a corp type tax accountant, misusing distributions can lead to significant IRS penalties.

Using a bank account is a work around some use to make data entry easy, since you use write checks on that account.  A negative balance in a bank account is a debt, a liability to the company, just as a liability account would be.

So an entry in  a bank account for say fuel expense, would show the expense paid on the P&L, and a debt (negative bank balance) on the balance sheet.  Then at some point you pay back the shareholder, paying the debit in other words, and you use the dummy bank account as the account you are paying, just as you would for a liability account for a loan.

regardless of the type of business formation, sole-P or corp, or .., personal expenses should never show on the company P&L, ideally they should not be in the books at all.

I do not know what the legal ramifications would be for an outside bookkeeper if the IRS were to levy fines and penalties, you might ask a tax accountant to weigh in on that.

As a bookkeeper you should be working hand in hand with a corp tax accountant, I strongly suggest you establish that relationship on behalf of your client if they do not have one.

T

Teri11_2

Small piece of the whole big bad picture here, but fuel is also not a reimbursable expense unless it is for a rental car. Fuel is not reimbursable on company vehicle where the calculation for business expense is based on IRS formula and personal portion of mileage must be added to W-2 as taxable income. Use of personal vehicle requires tracking miles and can be reimbursed at IRS mileage rate. ALL of my clients are S Corp or C Corp.

T

Teri11_2

Retirement account funds add a whole new issue to this. Are these funds that were withdrawn so they paid penalties and interest on them? If not, then this person may have personal tax issues too.

qbteachmt

This isn't the case, either: "It should be that she's crediting a liability account because it's a credit card. I don't understand what can be a valid reason to treat a credit card as a bank/asset type of account."

It's Not a Credit Card Account for the Business; you told us this is Personal Spending. You don't track a Personal Card in the corporate bookkeeping. What happens is, this Employee submits the receipts to be reimbursed for business expenses, under the terms of An Accountable Plan, per the IRS.

Fuel is Personal when the vehicle is not a Corporate-owned vehicle. Then, again, the Employee submits a Mileage report and gets paid for Business Mileage, under the terms of An Accountable Plan and per the IRS mileage rates.

Unfortunately, the TCJA of Dec 2017 changed many of these laws for 2018 taxes. You cannot take Unreimbursed Employee business expenses as part of the 1040 taxes.

It really seems that both you and this person need to get with a CPA to review all activities, what they are called under the Rules, how to treat them in the accounting, and what Is and is Not business and what is Not Run through the business.

Look, it's nearly Mid-Jan. Do Not Stall.

T

Teri11_2

Definitely a mixed bag of issues with IRS for sure. Probably a few red flags. Not good client to me.

Sign up

Login with SSO

Login to the community

Login with SSO