Hi thanks for all your input! I was thinking if I should change retention to income. I just think if I apply a $9k payment then the p&l should show $9k received it's just weird to me. So what if the whole invoice was $10k no retention line and I logged a $9k payment would the p&l still show $10k received when only a partial payment was received. So odd to me.

Aside from doing it as an income account or a manual entry I don't see a way around this, I think QB should fix in cash basis to show the real figure that was actually received in income but I've had 0 help from QB on this issue. It seems like most ppl at QB support don't even know what retention is