Скачать или смотреть Direct Bill vs Agency Bill - Which One Are You Doing Wrong?

The primary accounting challenge in bail bonds is distinguishing between your money (premiums/fees) and other people's money (collateral).

Collateral Management (The Liability Trap): A common mistake is recording collateral received as "Income." In QuickBooks, collateral (cash, titles, jewelry) must be recorded as a Current Liability. It is money you owe back to the client once the case is resolved. If you record it as income, you will be taxed on money that isn't yours.

Build-Up Funds (BUF) Tracking: A portion of your premium is often withheld by the surety company in a "Build-Up Fund." This is legally your money (a Restricted Asset), not an expense. You must create a specific Asset account in QuickBooks to track this growing balance, or you may face audit issues for under-reporting assets.

Execution Costs vs. Expenses: You can use "Class Tracking" to assign specific recovery agent fees or court costs to individual bonds (Customers), allowing you to see exactly which bonds were profitable and which lost money.

2. For Solo Insurance Agents
The setup for an insurance agent depends entirely on how you bill: Direct Bill vs. Agency Bill.

Direct Bill (Simpler): The carrier bills the client, and you receive a commission check.

QuickBooks Workflow: You simply connect your bank feed and categorize these deposits as "Commission Income."

Pro-Tip: Don't just rely on bank feeds. Create Sales Receipts for every commission statement. This allows you to tag the "Carrier" as the customer, giving you a report at year-end showing exactly how much you earned from State Farm vs. Progressive.

Agency Bill (Complex): You collect the full premium from the client, take your cut, and send the rest to the carrier.

Trust Accounting: You must not commingle these funds. In QuickBooks, you need a separate Trust Bank Account and a corresponding Insurance Payable (Liability) account. When a client pays you $1,000, only your $150 commission hits your "Income" account; the remaining $850 sits in the Liability account until you pay the carrier.

Renewal Tracking: Solo agents can use the Projects feature in QuickBooks Online Plus to treat each policy renewal as a "project," helping you track retention rates and the lifetime value of a client.