What would the journal entry be for a vehicle purchased in December but not received until January with a calendar year-end? When you first purchase new equipment, you need to debit the specific equipment (ie, asset) account.And, credit the account you pay for the asset from. The tradein value will not be part of the final journal entry but needs to be entered as a credit to balance the entry based on the limited info you provided. In the "Capital Outlay" line, enter the amount of any new fixed asset purchases in 2018, as a negative number. Consider all costs at time of acquisition or construction.