How Do I Handle a Reimbursement from my Employer?

The way i handle reimbursement:

I use the same exact category as the expense. One is a positive expense, the other is a negative expense, and it cancels out.

In the case of one reimbursement for multiple expense categories, you could use splits to accomplish the same.

@DannyB "I never thought of categorizing an expense as a transfer."

When I had employer reimbursable expenditures, I did it the same way as @EL1234.

Because it isn't really my expense. It's a loan I'm making to my employer. So I created an asset account ("Reimbursable Expenditures") and made the transaction a transfer to that account. That way the "Reimbursable Expenditures" asset account represented how much I had loaned my employer.

Any reimbursement from my employer showed up as a transfer from that account back to my checking — as a repayment of the loan. It gets more complicated if you aren't reimbursed 100%, but I handled that by splitting the original transactions later if need be.

This way my expenditures didn't show up as expenses and the repayments didn't show up as income — which mirrors how they should be treated in the real world.

I find these kind of "bookkeeping" problems interesting, and there is no one way to do it. I had a Payables/Receivables account in Quicken Classic that is still there but closed that I can reopen to do transfers in and out of. But that doesn't work with Simplifi.

My wife now retired would go on business trips for the Board of Education twice a year. I was lucky that BOE was fast at reimburse so I would get it the same month BUT they paid her mileage as well, so she would turn in let's say $1000 for reimbursement and they would add on $250 in mileage all in one check. So I would credit Travel and Meals for $1000 and then have another $250 that I credited to Automobile:Maintenance. This would always total more than her gasoline expense so I figured the extra was a payment for wear and tear on the car. Mileage is not taxable so I didn't want to do it as an income category.

I also take an annual tournament trip with my tennis team, and I usually get the condo at the beach. When I pay the deposit, I just do it as a transfer. Whoever ends up staying with me will pay me with check or cash when we get there. Unfortunately, the deposit is the month before we go. So I end up with something like this:

Mar 15 Credit Card $-750 Transfer (Deposit)

Apr 15 Cash $+350 Transfer Mike
Checking $+350 Transfer Al
Checking $+350 Transfer Jon

Apr 18 Credit Card. $-750 (Balance) Split: $-350 Travel & $-400 Transfer

I admit a Receivable Account is simpler. But this is fun to me.

@EL1234 Well, of course, I can use a Receivables account. It just isn't worthwhile for the once or so a year that I need it. So I jump through a couple of hoops but it works. I can also use my cash account if I want to be creative. I do suggest putting the receivables account as a cash or checking account or other banking account rather than an asset account (which I would prefer) as Simplifi cripples the asset accounts somewhat (no recurring, no refunds, if I remember correctly).