I know a way to show your transactions according to your preference in the profit and loss report, @xhandllc. Let's work on this together so we can start recording them properly.

The reasons why reports display the amounts paid to the invoices on separate months are due to the following:

• The deposit amount was posted together with the invoice transaction created in January.
• The remaining balance was recorded as payment in February.

Since the Cash basis accounting method records income at the time you receive the payment, this explains why the deposit shows in January as this is considered income upon the creation of the transaction. You mentioned that the $500 downpayment is money that isn't yours yet until completing the job. Thus, we could have created a retainer deposit instead of including this within the invoice. 

Retainer deposit increases the amount in your liability account to show that the money isn't yours yet, and to avoid treating it as income until later.

To begin, let's create the retainer deposit entry by creating a liability account first:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Chart of Accounts (COA).
2. Hit the New button to create one.
3. Enter an Account Name, and select Current Liabilities for the Account Type.
4. In the Detail Type dropdown, choose Trust Account-Liabilities.
5. Enter the Opening Balance and the as of date. Then, click Save.

Then, we'll have to create a retainer item to enter this in receiving the deposit:

1. Go back to the Gear icon and select Product & Services.
2. Click the New button, and select Service as the product type.
3. Enter a Name to easily identify it for your prepayment transactions.
4. Select Liability account under the Income account dropdown.
5. Then, select Save and Close.

If you need to separate the prepayments or deposits in a trust account, you can create a separate bank account which is a trust liability account. You can refer to Step 3: Create a trust liability bank account in this article: Record a retainer or deposit.

After that,  let's create a sales receipt for the retainer transaction amounting to $500 dated January to recognize the deposit amount. 

Then, edit the invoice you have created and remove the deposit at the bottom of the transaction. Add the retainer item as another line item in negative amounting to $500 to diminish the amount deposited by your client. I added snapshots below for your visual reference:

Lastly, receive the payment dated February to record this in QuickBooks and keep your financial data accurate.

Furthermore, you can export your reports to get a copy of them or use them outside QuickBooks. You can refer to the complete guidelines in this article: Export your reports to Excel from QuickBooks Online. 

Let me know if you need additional help managing your reports or even transactions from your company file, @xhandllc. I'm always around to lend a hand for help. Have a good one!