Australian Real Estate Chart of Accounts for QuickBooks (Commission + Vehicle)

A real estate agency on QuickBooks Online has a focused ledger: commission in, marketing and vehicle costs out, and a recovered-marketing line that confuses people because it is income. This is an Australian real estate chart of accounts built for QuickBooks Online, mapped to the right GST codes for each. It comes as a readable reference (CSV) and a QuickBooks import CSV.

Import the structure, then map the codes

QuickBooks Online imports accounts with no tax column, so you import first and bulk-assign GST codes second from the mapping. For an agency the codes worth attention are on commission, recovered marketing, property marketing, and the vehicle, and the readable CSV gives each.

Commission and recovered marketing

The revenue side has two accounts that must stay apart. Commission income maps to the sales code GST, because a registered agent charges 10% GST on commission and registers at the A$75,000 turnover threshold. Recovered marketing income maps to GST in its own account, because marketing recharged to a vendor is income rather than a reduction of the expense. Separating the recovery from the spend keeps both the gross marketing cost and the amount passed on visible, with correct GST on each.

Property marketing and styling

Property marketing and advertising (portal listings, photography, signage) and styling and staging map to GST on non-capital in cost of sales. These are the costs the recovered-marketing income is recharged against, so the pair works together: cost in cost of sales, recovery in income.

The vehicle line and FBT

The car is central for a busy agent. Motor vehicle running costs map to GST on non-capital and carry a note on the method choice: cents-per-kilometre pays 88 cents per kilometre for 2025-26, capped at 5,000 business kilometres per car, above which the logbook method claims the business-use percentage of all costs. The note also flags that an agency-provided car available for private use can attract fringe benefits tax, a cost on the agency. The chart gives the question a home but does not keep the logbook.

Licences and statutory fees

Agent licensing and registration is a recurring cost, but government licence fees are commonly GST-free or outside scope, so the agent licences account maps to Out of Scope with GST on non-capital as the alternative. The account does not assume a claimable credit, with a note to check each invoice. Because the statutory fees differ by state and between the agency licence and an individual agent’s registration, coding each one from the actual invoice is safer than a single default that would misstate the input credits.

How to use it

1. Open the CSV: each account is mapped to its QuickBooks GST code, with alternatives and a note.
2. In QuickBooks Online, go to Settings, then Import data, then Chart of Accounts, and upload the CSV for the structure.
3. After import, use Batch actions, then Set default GST code, to apply the mapping.
4. Brief whoever codes income that commission and recovered marketing are separate, and set up the vehicle method before the first car claim.

Capture removes the receipt pile that builds in a car over a busy quarter:

• Dext extracts marketing and fuel receipts from photos.
• ExpenseFlow captures each receipt and tax invoice from a phone photo or forwarded email, attaches the source, and posts it into QuickBooks Online, while keeping the marketing and running-cost receipts with the transaction and flagging vehicle costs as needing a business-use apportionment and a possible FBT question.
• Hubdoc pulls recurring portal and software invoices in.

Choosing the vehicle method, keeping the logbook, and calculating FBT stay with you or your accountant. For the full picture, see the Australian real estate expenses guide. On Xero instead? See the Australian real estate chart of accounts for Xero.