Managing Retainers in QBO

You have the option to create retainer requests and submit them to your clients for payments. You can also apply a credit to a retainer, which you can in turn use against a future invoice for that client.

If you have integrated your QBO account with DesignFiles, you also have the option to sync retainers as well as invoices.

However, Retainers are treated as a liability in QBO because... although your business is holding the money from a credit or retainer, it technically isn't handed over to you until it's used to pay for a product or service.
Therefore, when you invoice the customer and this invoice is now paid from the retainer, this is when that liability will become an income.
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​Customize Your Retainer Account Mapping

You can now choose which liability account in QBO your retainer payments sync to! A default account is already set up in DesignFiles (DesignFiles Liability Suspense Account), but you’re free to assign a different one that better suits your bookkeeping needs.

Where to set this up:
​Go to DesignFiles QuickBooks Sync Settings
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​How Synced Retainers Work in QBO
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​Step 1: Create an Invoice in DesignFiles
Create your client invoice.
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Step 2: Set Up a Retainer in DesignFiles
Create a retainer and submit it to your client to be paid.
Once paid, you can sync this invoice to QBO manually or automatically depending on your sync settings.
​Go to: https://qbo.intuit.com/app/invoices
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​ - What you will see in QBO:
You’ll see the paid retainer reflected in (DesignFiles Liability Suspense Account) or your selected liability account.
​Check in Chart of Accounts
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​Step 3: Apply the Retainer to the Invoice
As usual, you would apply the retainer to the invoice.
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Step 4: Review the Synced Invoice in QBO
You’ll now see a line item with a negative amount on the invoice in QBO, showing the retainer was applied.
​Go to: https://qbo.intuit.com/app/invoices

Step 5: Confirm It’s Paid and Deposited
If the invoice was fully covered by the retainer, the invoice balance will show as $0 and marked as “Deposited” in QBO.
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​Step 6: Check Liability Updates
Once the retainer is applied to the invoice, the corresponding amount will be subtracted from the selected liability account.
​Check in Chart of Accounts
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​Additional things to note:-