How to Create and Manage Recurring Transactions in Clearing

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In Short-Term Rental (STR) property management, financial transactions are rarely one-time events. From owner payouts and property maintenance fees to subscription services and recurring utility costs, managing repetitive transactions manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. Without a system in place to automate these payments, property managers may find themselves caught in a cycle of manual data entry, delayed reconciliations, and financial discrepancies—impacting both efficiency and financial accuracy.

With recurring transaction management functionality, you’ll be able to automate your financial processes and save time when it comes to handling expenses and tracking income for your Short-Term Rentals. Whether you're tracking rental income, managing owner expenses, handling trust accounting, or reconciling subscription payments, Clearing’s intuitive platform streamlines your workflow. With bank and credit card syncing, expense management functionality, and customizable transaction rules, you can eliminate manual data entry and ensure accurate financial reporting.

This guide will walk you through how to create, manage, and edit recurring transactions in Clearing. This saves time, reduces errors, and allows property managers to maintain seamless transaction management for their vacation rental properties.

Start by logging into your Clearing account.

Once logged in, head over to the “Transactions” option on the left-hand menu and select “Recurring Transactions”** at the top right of the transactions list.

Select “Add New” to begin.

First, you’ll classify each transaction as either an expense or income. For example, a Hulu subscription is an expense, while fees collected outside a booking, like an upsell, can be considered an income.

Fill the “Date” field with the appropriate start date for the recurring transaction. The start date is the day the transaction will be documented in your ledger and the recurrence will be based on the frequency and length settings.

Now you can begin entering in the remaining details.

The amount will be related to the recurring charge or transaction and is a required field. To begin, enter the amount and define if the transaction is a pass-through or not (it is a pass-through if it won’t show up in your bank account or credit card transaction feeds).

If the recurring charge is tied to specific merchant, such as Amazon or other vendors, select the appropriate merchant via the dropdown menu or create a new one.

You can add markups for recurring expense transactions if you're charging the owner an additional amount beyond the expenses you’ve incurred.

If you need to tie the recurring transaction to a bank account, you can select the relevant account directly through the dropdown menu. If this is left blank, a Journal Entry will be created.

Select the relevant value for the trust accounting field.

Choose a category for the recurring transaction entry (e.g., credit card charges, utilities, etc).

If you don’t find an appropriate category, you can quickly add it without leaving the page by clicking the “+” icon.

You will need to add the details for the new category into the following form when you click the “+” icon (new category form shown below). This includes the “Category name” and the “Category group” (follow a similar process to create a new “Category group”).

For recurring charges tied to a specific asset, you can select that asset and link the transaction for proper allocation purposes.

You can also duplicate the transaction for multiple assets if needed.

You can also assign homeowners to specific transactions and duplicate the transaction for multiple homeowners if needed.

This is where Clearing becomes your bookkeeper’s new best friend. By providing additional documentation on the recurring transaction, your bookkeeper or accountant won’t need to spend as much time finding the information they need to close your books!

A memo can be added for enhanced details related to the transaction. A memo is added to a financial transactions to provide additional context or details about the payment.

Add any other relevant “Note” to the transaction. This could include details like who approved the transaction, or specific instructions related to that recurring transaction. These notes can be updated at anytime.

Next, you can add a “Description to owner” to provide more clarity to homeowners regarding this transaction. This will pull through to the owner statement’s description for this transaction (if the transaction is billed “To owner”). It provides clear information to the owner about what the transaction was for, and can be edited later if needed.

Additionally, if you have already uploaded a receipt for this transaction you can select it using the dropdown shown below. If you haven’t uploaded the receipt to Clearing, you can also click “Upload” and add it now.

Now for the most important step…

Check the box for “Make it recurring?” and name the transaction accordingly.

Next, set the schedule for which it should occur—daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also define an end date if you only want the recurrence to only last for a specific period of time.

Once you’ve entered all necessary details, click “Create.”

Your new recurring transaction will now appear in the recurring transactions list 😀

Don’t be afraid to make any mistakes along the way!

You can always come back and make adjustments. To do this, open the recurring transaction list and click “Edit” alongside the transaction you wish to edit.

From the recurring transaction modal, you can edit the schedule at any time. Further, you can update the “Status” to change the recurrence from “On going” to “Paused” or “Cancelled” whenever you’d like.

You can also update the amount, adjust the type of transaction, adjust allocation details, add markups, or change tax details related to this recurring transaction at any time.

Remember to click “Save changes” to update the recurrence.

You can manage tax allocations on a recurring transaction directly within that transaction’s details. Taxes can be added when creating the charge, or after the fact, giving you flexibility in handling these complex transactions. To do this, click “Manage taxes”.

Once clicked, you will notice the different tax rates that have been previously created. Use one of these, or click the “+” icon to add a new tax rate if none of these formulas make sense for this type of transaction.

This will open a new line item to establish a new tax rate - be sure to select a default category and the default accounting field associated with this new tax.

For enhanced automation, ensure your bank accounts and credit cards are linked to Clearing and leverage Clearing’s “Rules” for categorizing and allocating recurring transactions. This can be done for any recurring transaction set up to be handled by an automated withdrawal from a bank account, or an automated credit card charge.

You made it!

By following these steps, you’ll be able to easily manage manual recurring transactions in Clearing.

Whether you’re handling subscription payments or merchant transactions Clearing offers the flexibility and tools you need to automate and simplify your financial processes.

Start leveraging these features today for better financial reporting and more efficient Short-Term Rental operations!

Contact us for a personalized demo and learn how to manage recurring transactions in Clearing.

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Clearing is a Financial Technology Company, not a bank.

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