Remove Convenience Fees From Trust Account

The software allows you to set and charge tenants a transaction convenience fee for using an online payment option. Those fees are atop their payment amount and are deposited in the account as configured with CSG Forte. The system defaults to display those fees on the property, owner, and bank ledger in the software. 

If that deposit account is your trust account, and you've configured the software to keep those fees off the property ledger (see below to configure), to maintain proper trust accounting you will want to remove those convenience fees from the trust account. 

Keep Convenience Fees Off the Property Ledger

Although the system is designed for transparent accounting and defaults to show online tenant payment convenience fees on all appropriate ledgers, you have the option to keep those collected fees off the property. 

In your Rentec Direct account: 

1. Visit Settings
2. Click Online Payments
3. Toggle the Apply Tenant Fees to Property? to No
4. Click Save Changes when finished

Now that you've changed the default to keep the tenant fees off the property, you will want to create a new category to use when you remove those fees from your trust account ledger. 

Create Merchant Fees Expense Category

To begin removing fees from the trust account ledger, you will want to create a Merchant Fees Expense category. You only have to do this once. If you have already created this category, skip down to the next section. 

In your Rentec Direct account: 

1. Visit Settings
2. Choose Income & Expense Categories
3. Click Add Category
4. Enter the details of the new category:
   1. Add a description (example: convenience fee) 
   2. Type: Expense
   3. Class: Standard
   4. Schedule E Item: No
5. Click Save New Category when finished

Transfer Merchant Fees from Your Trust Account

Now that those fees are not being posted to the property ledger, when you transfer (payout) those fees from your trust account in real life, you will want to use the above category to remove them from the trust account ledger in the software. 

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Visit Reports
2. Choose Financial Reports and select:
   1. The trust account from the Account selector
   2. Select the appropriate Date Range
3. Choose the Category Ledger Report
4. Select the Convenience Fee Income category. This is the tenant fee income category default defined in Settings then Online Payments options. Make note of the Income total. You'll use this value in the next step.
   
   System Note: To pull a report showing both the Income and Expense Convenience Fees, hold down the CTRL key to select each category. This report should show Income, but no Expenses unless you have previously completed the steps below for that date range. 
5. Go to Accounts
6. Enter your trust bank account ledger
7. Post an Expense with the following values:
   1. Category: Use the Merchant Fees Expense category you created above
   2. Amount: enter the amount equal to the Merchant Fees Income value you got from the report you pulled in step 3

Recommendations

• Print your category ledger report with the proper date range showing both the income and expense of these convenience fees and save it in the folder with your monthly bank reconciliations and three-way worksheets.
• If you manage your company income  (company bank account) in Rentec Direct don't forget to post receiving this income.
• Do not alter/edit the income/expense after reconciliation. Best to journal entry any corrections if needed.
• Best practice is to pay out these fees on a regular basis when paying out management fees.