I have a real estate agent client who has recently moved from being under a franchise broker and is now their own, independent brokerage.   When my client was under the franchise, the % of commission the franchise retained was booked as an expense.   Now that they are operating independently, I can't figure out how to best record the % of commission they are retaining on their agents without duplicating income.

The total commission made by the selling the home is recorded as commission income for the firm, the portion paid to the selling agent is COGS but there is a further % of commission the selling agent pays into the brokerage until a cap is reached.  Once the cap is reached, the selling agent retains more of their commission.

So for example:  A home is sold and there is $7,249 of commission.  The brokerage retains $3,594 for its split of the commission and the selling agent gets $3,655 (COGS).   

Of the $3,594 the brokerage, $1,449 is the portion that goes towards the agent's cap and $75 is a transaction fee that is charged to the selling agent.  I'm currently treating the $1,449 as a contra-expense (credit entry), since we collect that amount (up to the specified cap) to help offset administrative costs of the brokerage.  The $75 transaction fee, I'm recording as income (credit entry) for the brokerage, since I assume we want to know how much the firm is earning in transaction fees from its agents... but then I'm left with a $1,524 debit entry I need to make and for the life of me, I can't think what sort of account this debit should be.

Am I overthinking & trying to record too much detail on the transaction or anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance!