Why do transfers show as income???

kwimmer

Pretty much as the title says, why do transfers show up as income? I move money regularly between accounts and most of the time they show up as income even though both accounts are in Simplify and the transactions themselves are linked together.

I get that if it was a transfer from an external, non synced account, that it would be classified as income, but once the transaction is either linked to another transaction as a transfer or the category is set to transfer then it shouldn't show up as income.

DannyB

Hi @kwimmer

I have the same question.  One of my transfers shows up in Simplifi as "personal income" but it's not. Like you it's a transfer between accounts both of which are connected to Simplifi. The only thing I've tried to remedy this is to delete and and then set up a new recurring transfer for this one but that didn't work.

I bookmarked you post to keep an eye on any other responses.

At some point in the next day or two one of the coaches will chime in I'm sure.

Coach Natalie

Hello @kwimmer & @DannyB,

Thanks for posting your inquiry to the Community!

Would you mind clarifying where you're seeing the "income" in Simplifi, please? Are these transfers set up as Recurring Transfers in Simplifi? If so, are you referring to the Income Reminder that shows in the receiving account? Or are the transactions displayed as Income in the Spending Plan? If so, are they greyed out as ignored transactions? If not, have you tried ignoring them to see if doing so helps to clear things up?

Or are we talking about the transfer transactions being categorized as "Personal Income"? If the transfers are 'Linked Transfers', the Category of the transactions should be the name of the other account. More details on using Transfers in Simplifi can be found here.

Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

kwimmer

@Coach Natalie

Please see the attached image with two transaction examples from the income tab of the spend plan, as well as one transaction's details.

Both transactions shown are transfers between two accounts which are synced to Simplifi. The categories of the transactions are the account they were moved from/to and are linked together. They are not recurring transactions, instead are just one time transfers. 

I have set them to be ignored which does resolve the spending plan issue, but it doesnt always do it by default and I still dont think transfers between two accounts should even be included as "income" 



Thanks for the help. 

DannyB

@Coach Natalie

I reviewed the past 7 months and discovered that my monthly recurring transfers no longer show up in the income section of my Spending Plan, except for the month of June.  Of the 3 greyed out transfers one shows as categorized "Personal Income."  I dug into that particular transaction and was able to identify the problem and made some changes in how that transaction should have been handled.  After these changes I now have only 2 transfers showing in my Income section for June and both are categorized properly.

All other months, January - May and July don't show any of my recurring ignored transfers in the Income section of my Spending Plan even though there are actually 3 recurring transfers from our checking accounts to our savings accounts every month.  I take this to mean that Simplifi is NOT seeing my transfers as income any longer.

So it appears this is no longer a problem for me.  However, do you have any idea why I'm seeing some of my ignored transfers in my June Spending Plan Income section and not the others?  I have the option at the top of the income section to hide ignored income but why are ignored transfers showing up in the frist place.  And why only 2 of the 5 transfers for June.  In all other months there is now no sign of any of my transfers.

Here is a screen shot of my Income section for June:

Coach Natalie

Hello @kwimmer & @DannyB,

Thanks for posting back!

It is my understanding that Recurring Linked Transfers are displayed in the 'Bills' section of the Spending Plan. Before the Reminder gets linked to the transaction, you'll see both the positive and negative sides of the Transfers. However, once the "payment" transaction gets linked to the Reminder, you'll just see the one payment side in the 'Bills' section. 



And if the Recurring Transfer is ignored from the Spending Plan, it'll be greyed out in the 'Bills' section, but you'll still be able to see it here. I never saw the Recurring Reminders or the transactions themselves listed in 'Income'. 


When it comes to a Linked Transfer transaction, I am seeing these appear in Other Spending: 


I know that Simplifi is designed to include additional income received throughout the month in the 'Income' section of the Spending Plan, however, I have always seen "included" Transfers show up in Other Spending, including Linked Transfers. 

Ultimately, none of my testing resulted in any Linked Transfer, whether recurring or one-time, and whether ignored or included, showing up in the Income section of the Spending Plan. With that said, please review the information above on how this is supposed to work to see if you can get a clearer understanding of what's going on.

Please also take a look at our Support Article here on how Credit Card Payments are handled in the Spending Plan, as this discusses how both Recurring Linked Transfers and Linked Transfer transactions are handled. 

If, after doing so, you determine that a bug is most likely present, please post back with the details and I'll see what further info we may need from you at that time.

-Coach Natalie

kwimmer

Thanks @Coach Natalie I'll pay more attention to how the transfers is handled at the end of this month and see if I can pinpoint any unique behavior. I am wondering if it has to do with the lag between when a transfer shows up as being debited from one account and it showing up as pending in another? Some of my banks make those funds available before they have actually cleared on both sides.

kwimmer

@Coach Natalie This happened again..... I transferred money from one account to another account (both are synced in Simplifi). The receiving account showed the transfer having been received before the sending account showed the funds had been sent. As a result the transaction in the receiving account saw it as income and showed it in the spend plan as income. However the next day the sending account showed the transaction and they are now properly categorized as transfers between the accounts, but it still show up in the spending plan as income. I have the spend plan set to ignore the transaction so that it will not mess up my spend plan, but I still think when a transaction has been categorized as a transfer it shouldn't be showing up in the income portion of the spend plan. 

Coach Natalie

Hello @kwimmer,

Thanks for posting back, although I'm sorry to hear that the trouble persists.

Would you mind providing details of this specific example, please? We would need the Date, Payee, and Amount of the transaction in question, as well as a screenshot of the transfer transaction showing in the Income section of the Spending Plan.

Please also provide a screenshot of the "Ignore from Spending Plan" status. Although Transfers shouldn't be included in Income regardless, they definitely shouldn't be showing if they're being ignored. 

Thanks in advance!

-Coach Natalie