Contents
Overview
Quick Tip: The heart of this article is this worksheet. It's mentioned down below as well. It'll take you 1 miute each month to fill out the worksheet. For your first pass, set aside 15 minutes to read this article, watch the video, and attempt your first worksheet.
This video will walk you through the steps below.
Mixed purchases benefit both your business and personal life. Rent for your home and gas for your car are common examples. An Accountable Plan allows S Corp owners to pay for mixed purchases with personal funds and reimburse themselves for the business portion. This makes it appear as an expense on your Profit and Loss report. The general steps are:
pay for mixed purchases with personal money
calculate the business portion
transferring money from your business checking to your personal checking
we categorize it in QuickBooks Online as "Employee Reimbursement"
Common Examples
Home Renters
Divide the square footage of your home office by the total square footage of your home. Multiply that percentage by home renting expenses: rent, utilities, renter's insurance, etc.
Home Owners
Divide the square footage of your home office by the total square footage of your home. Multiply that percentage by home owner expenses: property tax, HOA dues, utilities, homeowner's insurance, etc. A mortgage is not an expense, it's paying off a loan, so it can't be included in this process.
Auto Expenses
Don't track gas, maintenance, repair, lease, and loan expenses for your car. Instead, track your business miles driven and multiply by the annual IRS mileage reimbursement rate. Options to track miles are:
Odometer readings on a paper log
QuickBooks online built-in module
Third-party software like Timeero, TripLog Beacon, etc.
Action
These detailed steps and the spreadsheet will walk you through the entire process.
Complete this spreadsheet of expenses every month. Click the link and download a copy to your computer. If you are a google user, click "open with" and select "google sheets". Please don't request edit access.
Complete this pdf once every year.
Save the spreadsheet, along with backup receipts and any documentation associated with the expenses.
Email the spreadsheet to [email protected]
Transfer funds from your business checking account to your personal checking account with a check or an online transfer. The transferred amount must match the green box in the worksheet titled "Total Employee Reimbursement Expense". Save a copy of the check or a print-to-pdf of the online transfer as documentation of payment.
Save all documentation for three years.
The IRS wants this process repeated consistently once a month.
Optional Action (Onboarding Only)
Follow steps 1-4 above for a one-time only "catch-up" amount that covers prior months. Do not go beyond the fiirst of the month of your Form 2553 Box E date. Ask [email protected] if you are unsure of that date or form. Instead of inputting a single month in the "Month" field of the spreadsheet linked above, you will input a range of months instead. For example, if the current month is August, you will input "January - July" in the "Month" field. Since in this case the spreadsheet covers multiple months, the amount may be so high such that you do not have the funds to reimburse yourself. In this case, speak with your accounting advisor who can make a journal entry in QBO to record the "catch-up" amount. Disregard step 5 above in this case.