I am not at all certain with respect to the treatment of balance sheet items in QuickBooks versus TurboTax, but there appears to be a fundamental misunderstanding of retained earnings in any event (not sure exactly how QuickBooks treats that item either).
Regardless, you start with the beginning of the year retained earnings figure, add the net income for the tax year, (if applicable), subtract the net loss for the tax year (if applicable), and subtract distributions to the shareholder(s) for the tax year, you should then wind up with an accurate figure for end of the year retained earnings.
Hopefully, that sheds some light on that balance sheet item.
