Using splits (multiple categories) in Recurring Transactions (4 Merged Votes)

SRC54

I do the gross amount for the paycheck and keep up with the taxes and health insurance as planned category expenses.

DryHeat

@DannyB "I don't think you need to change the recurring deposit series amount from net to gross."

If I create the recurring paycheck deposit using the net amount it seems to throw off the "available" and "per day" amounts in the Spending Plan. Here's what I mean:

For simplicity, assume that the only transaction in the month is the deposit on the 15th of a paycheck with gross=10,000, withholding=1,500, and net amount=8,500.

Using the net amount, I would create a recurring transaction for the 15th of the month called "Paycheck" for a deposit of 8,500 and a planned spending expense called "Withholding" of 1,500 (as you suggested earlier). Prior to downloading the transaction on the 15th, the "available" amount will show 7,000 (reflecting the 8,500 minus the 1,500). But after the deposit comes in and I split it to show gross income of 10,000 and withholding of 1,500, the "available" amount will suddenly change to the true amount of 8,500.

And when I look at the spending plan for any future month, the "available" amount will again be off by the same 1,500 for the same reason. Which makes things look bleaker than they are.

@SRC54 "I do the gross amount for the paycheck…"

Does that cause any problem with automatically matching the recurring transaction to the downloaded transaction from your bank? (I'm planning to do the same as you and want to know what to look out for.)

SRC54

@DryHeat I am glad you asked this because I probably should clarify what I do.

My wife's recurring retirement check is for the gross pay. Let's say it is $5000 dollars. The net ends up around $4300. When the transaction comes in, Simplifi connects it (I had to manually link it a few times but with some fiddling, it now matches). I then do a split where I change the $4300 Income back to $5000 and subtract Health Insurance and Federal Tax. She doesn't have to pay FICA or State Income tax any longer.

The deductions will end up as Other Spending unless you do what I do and have Planned Spending categories for withholdings and another for Health Insurance, which I have set in advance to take the $700 into account.

For my Social Security, it is simple, I have a reminder for the gross and only have to split it for Medicare payment, which is in a Planned Spending category for Health Insurance.

Oh and BTW, I do "limited range" matching in the recurring and it seems to work ok.

DryHeat

@SRC54

I tried your method (recurring paycheck at gross amount, Planned Spending for deductions). But the deposit transactions always fai;ed to match the recurring transactions. (Perhaps because the gross and net are over $1000 apart.) So I end up having to manually link the transactions and then — like you — split them to match what is in Planned Spending.

So I fell back to making the recurring transaction for the net amount (which always matches the download). After the match, I split the transaction — setting the income to the gross and adding sub-transactions for the deductions (which then show up in Other Spending in stead of Planned Spending).

Either way, the Spending Plan status both before and after the transaction downloads correctly reflects how much I have available to spend. But this way I don't have to maintain Planned Spending amounts matching the deductions or manually match the transaction. And I'm lazy.

This whole issue would go away if we could have recurring split transactions, but that's another story…

SRC54

This whole issue would go away if we could have recurring split transactions, but that's another story…

Yep. Don't give up on their matching. Mine do now, but didn't at first. Make sure that you have a rule for the Payee. And it's only once or twice a month. @DryHeat

Jaiden

I have two different bills (home insurance and auto insurance) coming out in the same payment. I'd like to be able to categorize them separately somehow? I want the site to recognize when my payment of say $200 comes in from that specific payee, that $150 of it is categorized to my home insurance category and $50 is auto insurance for example. Or a way to split the bill category so it recognizes it and splits it automatically

D.S.

I have moved back to "Quicken Classic Business & Personal", because it is NOT the same product, and not the same processes being used by the online "Quicken Business & Personal"

It would be better called "Simplifi for Business & Personal", that alone would have saved me 100+ hours of labor.