Owner's Contributions

by Lex
(Toronto)

Where to record your monetary contributions to the business

Where to record your monetary contributions to the business

I am too little to have retained earnings as defined in Wikipedia, but I saved up money to "keep" in the business. Where do I record this? At the moment it's sitting in my income tax liability account, but it shouldn't stay there.



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Hey Lex,


Your question made me smile :0) ... I like people who are "savers".

You are correct about retained earnings ... only corporations have retained earnings accounts. Sole proprietors have owner's equity.

You want to create an account in your equity section called Owner's Contributions. Any money you contribute to the business that you don't expect to be repaid should be booked to this account.

You should also have an Owner's Draws account in the equity section to record any cash you withdraw from the business.

Generally small business owners have three ways that personal cash is used in the business:

  1. funds you contribute or invest in the business;

  2. loans to your business; and

  3. business expenses purchased with your personal funds.

You can find how to record the journal entries for all three of these types of transactions in my article on Common Bookkeeping Entries.

Hope this helps you out.

Comments for Owner's Contributions

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Oct 08, 2011
Journal Entries
by: Nikki

If Heather deposits $1,000 of her own money into her business's checking account, what would the correct journal entry be?

Oct 08, 2011
Owner's Contribution
by: Lake

Nikki,

Check out the article on "Common Bookkeeping Enties".

It shows you how to record owner's contributions.

Apr 03, 2017
Corporate contribution
by: Anonymous

What account do I credit when the owner of a corporation contributes funds?

Apr 05, 2017
Corporate Contributions
by: Lake

Credit Shareholder's Loan.

Read more about the rules for this account here:

https://www.bookkeeping-essentials.com/loans-to-shareholders.html#shloan

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Owner Contribution

Investor Contributions

Investor Contributions

We are a real estate investment company that buys properties, renovates and rents them to tenants.

This time, one of our owners paid for this particular property on his own and in cash directly from his personal account but the property belongs to our company to rent it out.

How do I record this property on our books, in relation to his contribution?



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Real estate record keeping is not my area of expertise but ...

First thought is ... you don't want to encourage your owners/investors to do that.

Second thought is ... I assume the company is incorporated.

Third thought is ... if you are incorporated and the owner purchased the property in his own name, then the property does NOT "belong" to the corporation ... sorry ... and there is no contribution. Corporations have their own unique legal identity separate from its owners.

Fourth thought is ... if that is the case, you will have to enter into a contract of some kind to manage the property. He would also have to hire you to do the renovations.

Fifth thought is ... you need to be concerned about money laundering rules.

Sixth thought is ... visit a tax accountant or lawyer to sort the whole mess out.




P.S. I would like to remind you there is a difference between information and advice. The general information provided in this post or on my site should not be construed as advice. You should not act or rely on this information without engaging professional advice specific to your situation prior to using this site content for any reason whatsoever.

Comments for Owner Contribution

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Sep 20, 2015
Is Owner's Investment Recorded As Income
by: Louise, Guelph ON

I found this site through a friend's referral. My question is:

How do I process the entry to receive funds from an investment partner for the purchase of an asset? Should this be declared as income?

Sep 20, 2015
Louise
by: Lake

The first thing you need to know about this site is that I ask all visitors to use the customized search box before they ask questions. The site is 700 + or - pages and your question has likely been asked and answered already.

If you were to input "Investor Contribution" or "Investment Contribution" various chats on the site come up including a reference to four common bookkeeping errors (one of which is recording owner contributions as income) as well as the journal entry for owner contributions.

You might also find the index page that links most of the journal entries found on the site to be useful in the future as well as the site map.

I hope you enjoy the site and find it useful.

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