STR Bookkeeping

Trust to Operating Transfer


Have questions about the Trust to Operating account transfer?

Start here with our FAQ’s and informational video. Still have questions? Please reach out to your client manager for additional information

  • After owner reports are approved, we have a few more steps to complete before we can finalize your management financials. Once those are finished, your client manager will email you with a PDF of your financials as wall as the transfer amount and taxes owed (if any). This is typically 1-2 business days after owner reports are approved (assuming you checked off the Karbon task - otherwise we won’t know owner reports were approved!).

  • We will never tell you that you can’t make a transfer. We are here to let you know how much to transfer while still keeping the trust account in balance. If you need to transfer funds, please do so but keep in mind we have reserved a certain amount in the account for future liabilities. If you let us know you made a transfer, we can reduce your final transfer amount by any funds you have already moved.

    Funds should only be transferred to your Operating account. If you need to withdraw funds from the company to a personal account, those should always come from the Operating account. Additionally, you should only pay credit cards from the Operating account.

  • There are many things that go into the transfer amount than either increase or decrease the transfer amount. While those are typically the main items, it’s affected by other things as well.

    Transfer amount will be increased by:

    • Management commission
    • Tech fees
    • Cleaning fees (if the management company keeps them)
    • Owner expenses that are paid from either the operating account or a credit card
    • Damage waivers collected from guests
    • Other fees kept by the management company (booking fees, resolutions, early check in, cancellations, etc.)

    Transfer amount will be decreased by:

    • Management expenses paid from the trust account
    • Transfers above and beyond the amount provided in the prior month

    Transfer amount is unaffected by:

    • Owner expenses paid from the trust account
    • Management expenses paid from the operating account or credit cards

  • The following month will include the prior month and the current month in one combined amount. For example, say January’s transfer amount was $5,000 and February’s was $7,500. If you forget to make the $5,000 transfer, the amount we will provide for February is $12,500.

  • In a perfect world, funds coming out of the trust account would either go to the management company (the monthly transfer) or to owners for their payouts. in that world, all expenses would be paid by the management company and reimbursed as necessary from the trust account. Of course, due to a variety of reasons, that may not be possible, which is why we attach a Location in QBO to every transaction so we can always balance your trust account, regardless of who you are paying or where the funds come from.

  • We take the cash in the Trust bank account and subtract:

    • Deposits held for future reservations (this will typically show up on the balance sheet as negative Accounts Receivable)
    • Accounts Payable from the Trust account (this is typically owner payments but can also include vendors)
    • Taxes Payable (if the management company pays taxes, we will reserve the funds in the Trust account so they can be paid on behalf of owners)
    • Security Deposits

    Once these amounts are subtracted, you are left with the remaining funds available in the Trust account - this is your transfer amount.

    Another way to think of this is to pretend you shut down your company at the end of the month. You would pay out the owners, refund guests for future reservations, return security deposits, and pay taxes. The money left in the Trust account after all those obligations were settled would belong to the management company. This is your transfer amount.

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