BoldTrail BackOffice handles the full financial lifecycle of your real estate transactions - from commission calculation through trust management to QuickBooks sync. This guide walks you through what's available for Canadian brokerages and where to find everything.
Processing a transaction in BoldTrail BackOffice
Walk through the complete financial lifecycle of a Canadian residential real estate transaction - from entering the deal and configuring commissions with GST/HST, to posting income and expenses to the General Ledger, generating lawyer letters and trade record sheets, processing trust deposits and payments, and syncing everything to QuickBooks.
What's in the video
This video uses a sample transaction to demonstrate each step of the financial workflow:
The scenario: Linda, an agent at Test Realty Canada Limited, represents the seller in a $1,000,000 residential sale in Ontario. The deal includes a 5% total commission (split equally with a cooperating brokerage), a 90/10 agent-broker split, and 13% HST.
You'll learn how to:
Enter a transaction with property details, price, dates, and contacts (including seller's and buyer's lawyers)
Configure commissions with co-op splits, agent commission plans, and deductions (franchise fees, charity donations, broker fees)
Confirm and adjust GST/HST rates by province, mark exempt items, and use the system's tax memory feature
Record and receive trust deposits
Post prior agent receivables (such as outstanding desk fees) and deduct them from proceeds via balance netting
Post income and expense to the General Ledger using the 3-point check: GL account, tax rate, and tax amount
Update the payer to the seller's lawyer (the standard payer in Canadian transactions)
Generate and send lawyer letters using built-in or custom templates
Apply trust deposits to open invoices, receive remaining funds, and process all outgoing payments from commission trust
Transfer the brokerage's portion of proceeds to the operating account
Generate broker and agent versions of the trade record sheet, and send for signature via e-sign or checklist workflow
Review journal entries and trial balance to confirm all accounts are balanced
Verify the QuickBooks sync, including GL account and service item name matching
Set up and review GST/HST in QuickBooks, including collected tax, input tax credits, and filing period totals
Your transaction workflow
Here's the typical flow for a Canadian real estate transaction in BackOffice:
Set up your accounts — Chart of accounts, QuickBooks connection, bank accounts (including trust and commission trust)
Enter the transaction — Property details, price, dates, and contacts (including seller's and buyer's lawyers)
Set up commissions — Commission plans, agent splits, deductions, and co-op brokerage payments
Confirm sales tax — GST/HST is calculated automatically based on the property's province; review and adjust on the Finances tab
Record trust deposits — Track buyer deposits on the Trust deposit page
Post to the general ledger — Finalize income and expense, confirm GL accounts and tax rates, and sync to QuickBooks
Generate the lawyer letter — Send closing instructions and the amount due to the seller's lawyer
Process payments — Apply trust deposits, receive remaining funds from the lawyer, pay out all bills from commission trust, and transfer broker profit to your operating account
Generate trade records — Broker and agent versions for compliance and sign-off
Where things live
Within any transaction, open the Finances tab under ASSETS in the left sidebar. From here you'll find:
Commissions — Agent splits, deductions, and commission plans
Trust deposit — Record and manage trust deposits, apply deposits, pay bills, and make transfers
Ledger — Journal entries and general ledger activity for the transaction
The Actions button (top-right on the Finances page) gives you access to:
Finalize commissions
Post to general ledger
Broker trade record / Agent trade record
Lawyer letter
Sales Tax (GST/HST)
BackOffice calculates provincial tax rates automatically based on the property address. Tax amounts appear on the Finances tab and carry forward when you post to the general ledger. The system remembers your tax selections for future transactions. Everything syncs to QuickBooks for your CRA filing.
Trust Deposits
Record expected deposits, confirm receipt with payment and deposit dates, and manage trust funds through apply deposit, pay bill, and make transfer actions — all from the Trust deposit page.
Lawyer Letters
Generate closing instruction documents for the seller's lawyer directly from the Finances tab. The system comes with templates out of the box, and you can upload your own through the library.
Trade Records
Generate broker and agent versions of the trade record for regulatory compliance and internal review. Send for e-signature or add to a checklist for batch broker review.
Commission Trust Accounts
If your brokerage uses a commission trust account as an intermediate step between trust and operating, BackOffice supports this through its standard payment and transfer tools. Commission trust is simply a bank account you create — no special setup required.
Chart of Accounts Setup
BackOffice supports account numbers and custom COA configuration to match your franchise requirements.