Remove Blank Line Entry in 401(k) Registry for No Employer Match Contribution from Paycheck Entry

shidden

When entering a paycheck in Quicken and there is no employer match contribution, Quicken needlessly enters a mostly blank line entry in the associated 401(k) registry for the employer match contribution. This line is not needed if there is no match and Quicken use to not do this until approximately early 2019. There is no way to delete the transaction. If I try, it says "This transaction was created as a transfer from a split transaction. In order to change it, you must go to the source transaction by using 'Go To matching transfer' from the edit button." But that does not help, the amount showing in the paycheck for employer match is already zero. Please fix this to the way it was before so this useless line entry does not show up.

Sherlock

You should be aware the transfer transaction may be deleted from the paycheck.   Saying it is not possible does not help your argument.  I suggest you review: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20056814#Comment_20056814

shidden

So the only way to remove the useless line entry in the 401(k) registry is to edit the transaction as a split? So I guess when the reminder comes up for the paycheck and I make any adjustments and then enter it, I have to manually go back and do this. That is really annoying.

Sherlock

shidden said:

So the only way to remove the useless line entry in the 401(k) registry is to edit the transaction as a split? So I guess when the reminder comes up for the paycheck and I make any adjustments and then enter it, I have to manually go back and do this. That is really annoying.

That's one approach.  Another would be to use the desired version of the transaction to produce the reminder (right-click and select Add reminder). 

The point is, if you would like Quicken to make the employer contribution optional in their Paycheck wizard because you don't like the empty entries in the 401(k) register, you should not say it is impossible to remove the entry.

Boatnmaniac

@Sherlock - I agree that the workaround that you mention is possible but at best that is nothing more than a band-aid to cover for something that shouldn't exist to begin with.  The root cause of the issue is that Paycheck Wizard enters $0 employer match contribution transactions into the 401K register when if there is no employer match contribution it shouldn't be doing that.  Quicken should be making our lives a little bit easier, not more complex.  I agree that Paycheck Wizard should be modified to not enter useless $0 transactions into 401K registers when there is no employer match contribution.

@shidden - When posting an idea here the person posting it should be voting up the idea.  You might want to do that here.

shidden

Ok, its not "impossible" but maybe they will put it back the way it was in one of their updates.

Sherlock

@Boatnmaniac - I'm glad you agree with me.  Until the paycheck wizard is enhanced to make the employer contribution optional someday, replacing the paycheck with the desired split transaction reliably resolves the issue.

Note: The 401(k) account provides a setting to allow us to indicate whether there is an employer matching contribution but it doesn't appear to have an impact.

Boatnmaniac

BTW, @shidden informed me that in the past Paycheck Wizard would not enter $0 employer contribution transactions into the 401K account.  I don't have that historical knowledge about this but assuming it's true then this requested change is simply asking for Quicken to do what it used to not do.

Sherlock

Boatnmaniac said:

BTW, @shidden informed me that in the past Paycheck Wizard would not enter $0 employer contribution transactions into the 401K account.  I don't have that historical knowledge about this but assuming it's true then this requested change is simply asking for Quicken to do what it used to not do.

@Boatnmaniac -  I don't think it is true that $0 employer contributions transaction would not appear in the 401(k).  It's more likely we were able to indicate whether there was an employer contribution in the paycheck.  

Based on the various upgrade issues I've seen posted here, I suspect there have been a few fixes applied to paychecks in the past few years.  

Boatnmaniac

Sherlock said:

Boatnmaniac said:

BTW, @shidden informed me that in the past Paycheck Wizard would not enter $0 employer contribution transactions into the 401K account.  I don't have that historical knowledge about this but assuming it's true then this requested change is simply asking for Quicken to do what it used to not do.

@Boatnmaniac -  I don't think it is true that $0 employer contributions transaction would not appear in the 401(k).  It's more likely we were able to indicate whether there was an employer contribution in the paycheck.  

Based on the various upgrade issues I've seen posted here, I suspect there have been a few fixes applied to paychecks in the past few years.  

I've seen 3 different posts about this issue all saying something changed because Quicken did not used to enter $0 transactions in their 401Ks...2 of them said it started in Feb 2019.  If I were still drawing paychecks I know I would not be pleased with the current situation.  I don't think users will really care so much if Quicken will by default not enter these no contribution transactions or if they need to simply check a box to stop it.  I agree with them that some sort of solution should be put in place. 

Boatnmaniac

Tammy Van Buren , @GeoDosch - If this is still a concern of yours, click on the vote button above to cast your vote.  The more people who vote for a suggested change/improvement the more likely Quicken will put it into their development plan.

JoeSch

> @Sherlock said:
> That's one approach.  Another would be to use the desired version of the transaction to produce the reminder (right-click and select Add reminder). 

This is great. The blank employer match can be removed and transactions can be entered in the order that they appear on the pay statement. Also, "Edit this instance and all future instances" is easier because I can see all my transactions without having to scroll. Thanks!

Mark T Weinberg

Agreed. Quicken automatically entering $0 employer match contributions is worthless/annoying and should be fixed. We should be able to use the paycheck functionality instead of entering a desired version of the transaction in reminders. I added my vote above.