Industries
Real estate and property management
Finbryn keeps property-level books for Saudi owners and managers, tracking rent per property, RETT at 5% on disposals, VAT treatment on commercial leasing, and Zakat base calculation for real estate assets held on the balance sheet. We work inside Xero alongside your property management platform and close monthly.
Management report
Illustrative client · August 2026
SAR
| Line | Aug | Jul | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 142,380 | 131,904 | +10,476 |
| Cost of sales | (51,260) | (48,115) | (3,145) |
| Gross profit | 91,120 | 83,789 | +7,331 |
| Payroll | (46,300) | (45,900) | (400) |
| SoftwareNoted | (6,480) | (5,490) | (990) |
| Rent | (8,000) | (8,000) | 0 |
| Other operating | (9,215) | (9,870) | +655 |
| Net income | 21,125 | 14,529 | +6,596 |
Reviewer's note
Software is up on last month after two seats were added mid-month. Revenue includes one milestone invoice that will not repeat next month.
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Exceptions report
Where the books usually hurt
Rent roll data from a property management system does not line up with what actually hit the bank
Security deposits, owner distributions and reserve accounts get mixed into operating cash
Each property needs its own profit and loss, but the books are kept as one blended pool
Capital improvements get expensed instead of tracked separately from routine repairs
A blended portfolio hides the property losing money
An owner running ten units as one pooled account cannot see which unit is carrying the group and which one is dragging it down behind a healthy-looking average. Rent roll data from a property platform does not always match what actually lands in the bank once a tenant pays late or a cheque bounces, and that gap widens the longer it goes unreconciled.
Finbryn sets up books so each property, or each entity where a portfolio holds units under separate structures, carries its own profit and loss, reconciled against the property management platform's rent roll rather than assumed to match it.
RETT, VAT and the Zakat base
Selling a property in Saudi Arabia triggers Real Estate Transaction Tax at 5% of the disposal value, a cost that needs to be modelled into a sale before it happens, not discovered after. Residential leasing generally sits outside standard VAT, while commercial leasing and related services can carry the 15% standard rate depending on the arrangement, so we track lease type by property rather than applying one VAT treatment across a mixed portfolio.
Real estate held on the balance sheet feeds directly into the Zakat base for a Saudi or GCC-owned holding entity, which is why we keep asset values, depreciation and any revaluation current rather than stale, and why capital improvements to a property get tracked as additions to that asset rather than expensed against the month they were paid for.
Commercial Registration and mixed foreign ownership
A holding company needs its Commercial Registration current with the Ministry of Commerce before it can register for Zakat or tax, and a structure with foreign shareholders alongside Saudi or GCC ones splits Zakat at 2.5% on the local share and corporate income tax at 20% on the non-Saudi share, filed as two calculations within the same 120-day window after year end.
Working with Finbryn
Our delivery team reconciles each property weekly and closes the portfolio report on a fixed monthly cycle, with figures reviewed by a senior reviewer and a corporate CFO. Zakat and tax returns are prepared by our team and filed by the taxpayer or a licensed tax agent. Pricing is published on our pricing page, and portfolios coming onto proper property-level books after years of blended tracking start with a scoped catch-up project ahead of ongoing monthly bookkeeping.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Real estate and property management
How does RETT affect a property sale?
Real Estate Transaction Tax applies at 5% of the disposal value on most transactions, and we model that cost into the numbers before a sale closes so the net proceeds are not a surprise.
Do you produce a separate profit and loss for each property?
Yes. Each property, or each entity if the portfolio uses separate structures, gets its own profit and loss alongside a consolidated portfolio view.
Does real estate held on the balance sheet affect our Zakat base?
Yes, property assets feed into the Zakat base calculation for a Saudi or GCC-owned holding entity, which is why we keep asset values and depreciation current rather than reviewed only once a year.
Can you handle a portfolio with both Saudi and foreign ownership?
Yes. The Saudi and GCC-owned share is computed for Zakat at 2.5% and the non-Saudi share for corporate income tax at 20%, prepared as separate calculations within the same filing window.
Can you keep books at the individual property level?
Yes, each property or entity can be tracked as its own set of books or as a class within one file, depending on structure.
Do you reconcile security deposit and trust accounts separately?
Yes, those balances are reconciled apart from operating funds each month.
What are the common bookkeeping challenges for a real estate and property management business?
Beyond the basics, each property needs its own profit and loss, but the books are kept as one blended pool and capital improvements get expensed instead of tracked separately from routine repairs come up often in this industry. We build the chart of accounts and reconciliation process around those specific patterns rather than a generic template that ignores how the business actually operates.
What software do you support for real estate and property management?
We work inside QuickBooks Online and AppFolio, along with the other tools listed on this page that are common in the real estate and property management industry. If you have no file yet, we set one up in your name so you own it from day one.
Related services
- BookkeepingMonthly bookkeepingOngoing monthly bookkeeping: transactions sorted into categories, accounts reconciled and month-end reports delivered in the software you already use.
- BookkeepingCatch-up and cleanup bookkeepingMonths or years of books brought up to date and reconciled, with a written record of every adjustment, so monthly bookkeeping can start from a clean base.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.