Paycheck Transaction Wrong in Recent Transactions Dashboard Card

SRC54

We received a pension deposit this morning, and I split it as usual with the insurance and federal tax withholding. I noticed immediately that the amount was wrong in the Dashboard card, which threw off the recent spending by $500 or so. It was right everywhere else: Spending Plan, Reports, Register, etc. Also, disconcertingly it was correct in the iPhone app dashboard. I don't yet have access to the updated dashboard.

It was wrong just in the web app, and it was wrong both in Safari and Chrome. I have the latest 4.85 version in MacOS 26.1. Looking at the transaction carefully, I saw that the Dashboard card wasn't subtracting the federal tax. So I undid the splits and did them again in a different order. This time it didn't subtract the insurance either.

Something in the back of my mind suspected corruption in the categories. I went to settings:categories and found some phantom but unused tax categories, which I deleted. That made no difference.

This was my setup for the categories in question.

Taxes:Federal Tax:Payments

Taxes:Federal Tax:Pension Withheld.

I recreated the Pension Withheld category and moved the transactions to the newly created category, but that didn't work. After some trial and error, I ended up moving the federal tax child categories into the parent Taxes category, and that fixed it. So I deleted the second tier category of Federal Tax, recreated it and then moved the Payments and Tax Withheld child categories into the newly recreated Federal Tax.

Now it's right. And things seem fixed. I initially stayed away from creating grandchild categories because they didn't work right at first, but over time, I have added some.

I have found in the past that categories do get slightly corrupted, and the best thing for me to try first is re-create them. I wanted to do this before sending a bug report.

I post this hoping it may help others who sometimes run into similar problems. Databases are prone to this. I used to have to do the same thing at times in my grade book programs when the averages didn't look right. And the really complicated database I used at the law firm could be maddening.

DryHeat

@SRC54

Which Dashboard card is this happening in?

SRC54

@DryHeat This was in the Recent Transactions card. It used to be called Recent Spending but since it includes those with income categories, this is a better name. It still isn't quite right because a pure income such as an interest payment won't show up there nor will transfers. Just transactions that include a spending category show up.

It was strange because it was ignoring my federal tax category in this transaction though it wasn't ignored anywhere else, which is why I suspected some sort of glitch in the category.

DryHeat

@SRC54

I created a test transaction with a "grandchild" category, like this:

The Dashboard shows the correct value for the expenses in the splits in that transaction:

So I'm not sure it's a problem with "grandchild" categories. Might be something else.

SRC54

@DryHeat It was some glitch in my category; once I recreated the categories, it was fixed. It wasn't a bug generally with the program. I've had this happen from time to time. Who knows what happens.

It might be a bug in how the categories are created. But running it down would be difficult.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, is this the same issue that we already escalated for you? It sounds similar, though I do see you mentioned the issue in this thread is fixed now.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/8892/recent-spending-includes-income-categories

Let us know!

SRC54

@Coach Natalie No, the issue here was a glitch with a mis-totaled transaction in the Dashboard Card. For some reason, it didn't correctly take into account a split. Re-creating the category fixed it.

The escalated issue had to do with income categories being counted in the "Recent Spending" card that is now renamed "Recent Transactions". While the new name works better, it is still a misnomer because recent Income transactions and Transfers aren't included. It only includes transactions that have a spending category in them even if they are mostly income.

Perhaps we should close this bug report and start a new one? Because the name change makes a difference if you see what I mean.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, I'm glad to hear that you were able to resolve this issue by recreating the category!

The ticket for the other issue is still open and being worked on. We wouldn't want to file a new bug report or anything along those lines, as our product team will take the renaming into account as they work on things. I just wanted to make sure the two issues weren't related.

Please be sure to continue following along with the other thread for updates on that issue!