This article describes how tenant deposits are refunded in Breeze.
Before processing the security deposit
Before you do the move-out accounting, you should check the following:
Make sure that the Move-out Date on the Tenant screen is correct. To review the dates for multiple tenants at a time, you can run the Tenant Activity report (Reporting > Tenant > Tenant Activity Report).
Review the deposit amount on the Tenant screen. To review the deposits given for multiple tenants, you can run the Security Deposit report (Reporting > Tenant > Security Deposit). This report shows charges, receipts, and totals for each tenant. If you do not see the amounts you expect, check the deposit setup.
Apply prepayments and credits to open charges through zero-dollar receipts. You can find prepayments on the Aging Summary report (Reporting > Accounts Receivable > AR Analytics > Aging Summary). Open credits are easiest to find on the Unpaid Charges tab of the Tenant screen or on the AR Analytics Unpaid Charges report. Click the Current Owed column twice to show credits at the top.
To process move-out accounting
Click the Refund Deposit button on the Tenant screen. The Deposit Refund screen appears, with the following items:
Open charges and prepayments: Any pre-existing open charges, credits, or prepayments on the tenant ledger will appear here.
Note: You can't edit these transactions directly from the Deposit Refund screen, so if you need to make corrections, you will need to cancel out of the screen, go to the ledger, and edit or delete the transactions before completing deposit accounting.
Tenant deposit: The tenant deposit(s) will appear in the Credits column
Move-out credits: If you have your property set to prorate scheduled charges (see property defaults proration settings), then you will see credits for the days in the month that the tenant will not be in the unit. If the prorated amounts look incorrect, check the end dates on the scheduled charges.
To add an extra charge, for example, for cleaning or damages, click Add Row. Select a charge code and enter the amount.
Make sure that the following information is correct:
Charges and Credits, and the Amount of Refund.
Cash account.
Forwarding Address.
Click Print Move-Out Statement if desired, and then click Post. If there is an amount due to the tenant, this creates a payable.
If the cash account that you selected on the Refund Deposit screen is different from the cash account that was used for the security deposit receipt, then a message will appear: “The deposit was received in a different cash account than the one you want to use for the refund. Would you like Breeze to move the money to the selected cash account?” Click Yes if you would like Breeze to make a journal entry between the cash accounts.
If you receive an error message about the deposit setup, check the Deposit Setup tab in Company Settings, and make sure that each charge code is associated to the correct GL account.
To make the payment to the tenant, go to Accounting > Accounts Payable > Make Payments.
The accounting impact of the refund deposit function
Tenant Ledger | Accounts Impacted | Net Effect |
Negative charge to deposit liability account. | Deposit Liability and Operating Cash. | Deposit Liability debited. Zero net effect on Cash. |
Move-out charges and credits. | AR and Income. | Depends. |
Positive charge to Clearing account. | AR and Clearing. | Zero. |
Payable to tenant. | Clearing and AP. | Zero net effect on Clearing. AP credited. |
Not on tenant ledger: Journal entry | Operating Cash and Escrow Cash. | Operating Cash debited. Escrow Cash credited. |