Guide
How to Track Equipment Rental Costs in QuickBooks
In QuickBooks, equipment rental costs are tracked as expenses: each rental company is a vendor, each rental invoice is a bill, and the cost posts to a rental expense account and, if you job cost, to a customer or project. That records what you were billed. It doesn’t tell you what is still on rent or whether the bill is right — that part happens before the accounting entry.
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The accounting side
Where equipment rental costs go in QuickBooks
A rental expense account
Keep rented equipment and jobsite services in their own expense or job-cost account, so rental spend isn’t mixed in with owned equipment or materials. Where it sits in the chart of accounts is your accountant’s call.
A vendor for each rental company
One vendor record per rental company, spelled one way, so every bill and payment for that company is in one place.
A bill for each rental invoice
Enter each invoice as a bill with the vendor’s invoice number and invoice date, so it can be found, paid and not entered twice.
A customer or project for job costing
If you track costs by job, assign the bill’s expense line to the customer or project. Whether that is available depends on your QuickBooks subscription and settings.
This guide covers the general mechanics. It isn’t accounting advice, and QuickBooks products and plans differ, so follow the setup your accountant recommends.
What accounting can’t see
What QuickBooks doesn’t know about a rental
A bill records what you were charged. By the time it exists, the decisions that set the amount have already been made — or missed.
- What is still on rent today. A bill shows up after the vendor invoices, and the equipment has been billing for weeks by then.
- When the next billing cycle starts — the date that decides whether you pay for another week or another 28 days.
- Whether anyone asked for the pickup, and whether the vendor actually came.
- Whether the invoice matches the agreement — the rate, the billing period and the dates billed.
- Which rentals on a job are still needed.
QuickBooks handles the accounting. The rental workflow — on rent, kept, called off, returned, invoice checked — happens before and around the accounting entry, and it needs its own record.
Step by step
A rental cost workflow that ends in QuickBooks
Record the rental
Vendor, job, PO, rate, billing period and start date, taken from the rental agreement on day one.
Watch the billing cycle
Know each rental’s next rollover date before it arrives, not after.
Decide and call it off
Keep it on purpose, or request off-rent and contact the rental company.
Confirm the return
Record the day the vendor actually picked it up.
Check the invoice
Compare the rate, the periods billed and the dates with what you recorded.
Enter the bill
Vendor, invoice number, invoice date, rental expense account and the job.
Review job cost
Rental cost by job and by vendor, in your accounting reports and your rental reports.
Keep the paperwork
The agreement and the invoice stay with the rental they belong to.
Each of the first five steps has its own page: rental agreement tracking, rental billing cycle tracking, off-rent and return tracking, and rental invoice reconciliation. For cost by job and vendor before the invoice arrives, see construction rental cost tracking.
With Rental Leak
How Rental Leak works with QuickBooks Online
Rental Leak doesn’t replace QuickBooks. It tracks the rental — the agreement, the billing cycle, the off-rent request, the return and the invoice check — and on the Contractor and Pro plans it hands the reviewed invoice to QuickBooks Online as a Bill.
- Connect once, on the web. The company Owner connects your QuickBooks Online company from Rental Leak.
- Choose the rental expense account that rental bills should post to.
- Match vendors and projects. Each Rental Leak vendor is matched to the same vendor in QuickBooks, and each project to a QuickBooks customer, job or project. If your QuickBooks company doesn’t track expenses by customer, bills are sent without one.
- Send a reviewed invoice. Rental Leak creates one bill for the invoice total, dated with the invoice date and numbered with the invoice number, and shows the QuickBooks Bill ID once it is sent.
- No second bill. Sending the same invoice again does not create another bill.
- Nothing else is touched. Rental Leak never creates vendors, customers or accounts in QuickBooks, and never changes a bill after sending.
Not on QuickBooks Online? On the Contractor and Pro plans, the Accounting & Job Cost file gives your bookkeeper one row per vendor invoice — vendor, job, PO, dates, confirmed rate, invoice number and any discrepancy — as CSV or Excel, and the rental list can be saved as PDF, CSV or Excel. Setup steps are in Help. Rental Leak is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit.
Common questions
What account should equipment rentals go to in QuickBooks?
Most contractors keep rented equipment in its own rental expense or job-cost account, separate from owned equipment and materials. Where it sits in your chart of accounts is a decision for your accountant.
Can QuickBooks show which equipment is still on rent?
Not on its own. QuickBooks records bills and payments. What is on rent, when it bills next and whether it went back have to be tracked before the invoice arrives, in a rental list or in rental tracking software.
Does Rental Leak replace QuickBooks?
No. QuickBooks handles the accounting. Rental Leak handles the rental workflow before and around the accounting entry, and on the Contractor and Pro plans sends a reviewed rental invoice to QuickBooks Online as a Bill.
Which plan includes the QuickBooks Online integration?
The Contractor plan, at $99/month for up to 10 users, and the Pro plan, at $149/month for up to 25 users. New 30-day trials include Pro features.
Does it work with QuickBooks Desktop?
The integration is with QuickBooks Online. For other accounting systems, the accounting and job-cost file on the Contractor and Pro plans is a CSV or Excel sheet your bookkeeper can work from.
Keep reading
Related
Rental invoice reconciliation
Compare each vendor invoice with the rate, cycle and return date on record.
Reconcile rental invoices →Construction rental cost tracking
Current rental cost, upcoming charges and rental cost reports by job and vendor.
Track rental costs →Construction rental management software
Everything Rental Leak does for contractors, from the agreement to the invoice.
See the overview →Track the rental before it becomes a bill
30 days free, no credit card required. New trials include Pro features for the full 30 days. Plans start at $59/month after that.