Hi Chantal A ,

It's great to hear from you. A Retainer is similar to a customer deposit since it's a prepayment for legal services and is considered a liability until the services are rendered. Here’s how you can handle it in Sage 50:

1. From the Home window, go to Customers & Sales, then Receipts.
2. Use the pull-down menu to select the Customer who paid the retainer.
3. Enter the retainer amount as a deposit. It will show up in red, indicating it’s a liability.
4. Once you issue an invoice for legal services against the retainer, select the invoice(s) and the deposit in the Amount Received column.
5. Click Process to apply the deposit to the invoice.

By doing so, the liability (the customer deposit or retainer) will be converted into income as the services are billed. Remember, this is in accordance with GAAP as the retainer is a liability until the service is fulfilled.

For more details and to ensure you’re following the process correctly, please check out the Sage Knowledgebase article titled "How to apply a customer deposit to invoices" here.

If this helps, please mark it as verified :)

Warm Regards,
Erzsi