Recent Spending includes Income categories

simpli_struggle

The Recent Spending widget on mobile app and similar Spent widget on Desktop Dashboard is including Income categories as well.

After my bank transactions downloads to Simplifi, I go in and split the paycheck deposit. I enter the gross income using "Paycheck" category (which is Income) as a positive number, leading +. Then I add other splits for Federal Tax, Medicare tax, Dental & Vision insurance premiums (all these are expenses). I also have splits which are transfer like: FSA, HSA and 401(k) contributions.

The net is a positive number, its a paycheck after all and matches the bank deposit.

But SImplifi is taking this net positive number and including it in Recent Spending widget. Why? Shouldn't it ignore all Income categories, even from splits and ONLY include the expenses to calculate this section?

simpli_struggle

Hi @SRC54 I just noticed you had the same issue reported more than a year back. Did you ever find a good solution for it?

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/4560/spent-dashboard-card-shows-recent-expenses-but-also-incomes-edited

SRC54

@simplifi_struggle

But SImplifi is taking this net positive number and including it in Recent Spending widget. Why? Shouldn't it ignore all Income categories, even from splits and ONLY include the expenses to calculate this section?

Exactly, and it needs to be fixed. In effect, the card isn't recent spending but total Recent Transactions, but it should ignore income (and transfers) splits to count only expenses. Quicken Classic had the same kind of thing in one of its cards, which I pointed out, and it got fixed.

The problem here is a reluctance (if not downright refusal) on Simplifi's part to fix split transactions when you have income and expenses in the same transactions, and sometimes a transfer. With paychecks this is of course not only common but customary!

Do you have a transfer to a Retirement Account in your paycheck, because if you do, the Spending Plan will count the paycheck net amount as Transfer Income thereby doubling your net income for the month. The workaround for that is to add a custom transfer amount to the Spending Plan. But 0.00 won't work. There are a couple of us who have pointed that out too.

Good luck!

Coach Natalie

@simpli_struggle, thanks for posting to the Community!

When testing this in my own Quicken Simplifi, I only see the expense portion of the split transaction in the 'Spent' tile on my Dashboard. I split a paycheck transaction with some bogus amounts for State and Federal Tax to replicate the outline you provided above, and I only see the $130 expense portion on the Dashboard card:

This Dashboard card appears to be Category-driven, as I also see positive transactions using an Expense Category included here, which I would expect:

Is this what you're seeing as well? Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie I just created a 5000 paycheck with 6000 in income and 1000 in withholdings, and my card now read Spending Since Friday: +4743.42!

So I am confused as to why yours is different.

ajbopp

I wonder if there's a difference depending on whether you create this as a transaction or a spending plan item? It shouldn't matter, just trying to narrow down the issue.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, I'm not sure either, but I just tested with a manual transaction instead of a downloaded one and it's still working as expected. Have you tried from a different browser or anything along those lines?

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie

Yes, it is the same everywhere including app. Makes no difference if downloaded then split or manually entered. It is this way every single month for 4 days.

Are we talking about the same thing. It's always been this way, and I was told it was designed this way. This is on a Mac and an iPhone.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, you can see in my screenshots above how my splits look and how my dashboard card looks. Does your transaction look more or less the same where you have expense categories in an income (positive) transaction?

I know we discussed this prior, but I don't see any screenshots in the old thread to know what the 'Spent' dashboard card looked like at that time. I'd say we could most likely escalate what you're seeing now as a dataset-specific bug since I can't reproduce it. Can you send a screenshot of the Transaction Detail view for the transaction itself that includes the splits so we can see it first, though, please?

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie

I sent it plus the one I already posted. Is your income category and income category or an expense category? I've been with this program for 3 years, and it has always been like this. Every month for almost 36 mos.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, the income portion of my transaction is using an income category (Paycheck), and the splits are using expense categories. Is your "Wages" category an expense or income under Settings?

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie

Yes, That is correct. Wages is an income category and the others are expense categories.

I sent a reply to this last week, but for some reason, it didn't get posted so sorry for late response.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, thanks for confirming!

I'd say that we can submit a dataset-specific bug ticket for what you're seeing, especially since I can't reproduce it. To do so, please provide the following data:

1. A screenshot of the "Wages" and "Withholdings" Categories under Settings > Categories & Tags so we can show that they're set up as Income and Expense.
2. The browser and browser version you're accessing the Quicken Simplifi Web App from.
3. The OS of the computer or device you're using to access the Quicken Simplifi Web App.
4. The version and build of Quicken Simplifi you're on (we need to make sure you're up-to-date).

Please also submit your logs via the 'Send Feedback' option:

1. Log into the Quicken Simplifi Web App.
2. Select Profile from the left-hand navigation bar.
3. With the Profile menu open, hold down the Option key for Mac or the Alt key for Windows, and then click Send Feedback. 
4. Leave all boxes checked, add a brief description of the issue, and then click Send.

We look forward to working on this with you!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

Alright, I will do it, but it seems like a lot of work for me. I have the latest everything MacOS 14.4.1, Safari (also Chromium), Wages is definitely income and Withholdings are definitely expense. Pretty sure I have latest version of Simplifi (4.7.1) as well. Will send this to support. You do know I am not the only one seeing this and have been seeing it for 3 years? By the way, what happened to @Simpli_struggle? I got back involved in this to confirm his report. I was just living with it.

I will also message it to @Coach Natalie .

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, I believe you — I can see your screenshots! We just need to outline the issue in a ticket, and I can't reproduce it, so we need the requested data and your logs from you. Also, since other users are seeing the issue, getting it reported and fixed for you will likely fix it for them as well. However, since you're the one responding to me here, we will have to use your data to report the issue. My goal is to get this issue fixed for everyone. 🙂

Thank you!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie OK, I have sent to support the logs that you requested. I am using Safari on MacOS 14.4.1. Simplifi updated to Version 4.8.0 this morning. I created a new dummy paycheck. Here are the screenshots of that transaction, the erroneous Recent Spending, and one verifying that Salary is Income and Federal Tax is Expense.

The good news is that version 4.8.0 seems to have fixed the Transfers Bug in the Spending Plan. I will continue testing that and post in that thread.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, thank you!

I went ahead and got this issue escalated and will let you know when we hear back.

-Coach Natalie

SIMPL-20757

SRC54

@Coach Natalie I am starting this again since my last discussion has been closed. I agreed with you that the culprit here is that Spending Card (last four days) is really Recent Transactions, but when I get paid and taxes are taken out, Simplifi still counts it as negative spending.

So if I spent $500 last four days and get paid $5000 on one of those days and I have $500 taken out for taxes, then my spending should be $1000. Instead Simplifi tells me that my Recent Spending is +4000.

I strongly suggest that this gets fixed to A) either ignore the +5000 income or B) Label the Dashboard Card as "Recent Transactions". I am fine with either solution.

Thanks.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, thanks for reaching out!

The original thread for this issue wasn't closed; we leave threads with open escalations open until after the issue is resolved. I merged your new post with this existing thread. As for an update, there is no news to provide at this time. As soon as we receive an update, we'll be sure to let you know.

Thanks for your patience!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54

@Coach Natalie Thanks.

I did a long, long search and couldn't find it. I found another one I had started and it is closed, but I'll look again.

I'll try bookmarking it.

SRC54

@Coach Natalie Is there any update on this bug of paychecks with deductions showing a negative spending amount in Recent Spending Card. I now have this happening 2x a month and it will soon be 3x a month when my wife gets on Social Security and has Medicare taken out.

The easiest thing might be for Simplifi to rename the card Recent Transactions and not sum them. But it is nice to see for people who are trying to control their spending what their actual spending has been for the week. Thanks.

Coach Natalie

@SRC54, we will post back as soon as an update becomes available. There is no update at this time.

Thanks for your continued patience!

-Coach Natalie