Overview
An Accountable Plan allows S Corp owners to receive reimbursement from the company for their home office expenses, auto mileage, and per diem expenses. It is only for mixed-use expenses that are paid from the owner's personal checking/credit accounts. 100% business expenses must always be paid directly from a business checking/credit account that is connected to QBO. For a more detailed explanation please see this article.
Action
- Complete this pdf once every year.
- 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.
- Save the spreadsheet, along with backup receipts and any documentation associated with the expenses.
- 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 worksheet amount "Total Employee Reimbursement". Save a copy of the check or a print-to-pdf of the online transfer as documentation of payment.
- In QBO, when the transaction appears on the banking screen, categorize it as "Employee Reimbursement".
- Save all documentation for three years.
- It is a main feature of the accountable plan that the worksheet and the funds transfer occurs consistently every month. You may repeat steps 1-6 for a one-time only transaction that covers prior months. Go only far back as your S Corp effective date but not beyond the first of this year. You can find your S Corp effective date on your form 2553 that is in the documents section at app.collective.com. If you don't find it there please slack @karmen on your main slack channel.