fix transaction so it's not an income or expense

Lindsaym

sorry if elementary question, but I'm a new Quicken user. I received funds into my checking account from a Venmo transfer. I will be using those funds to purchase a gift for someone else. I do not want to show the Venmo deposit/transfer as income and don't want to show purchase of gift as an expense for reporting as technically I'm not earning income or spending my money. Any tips to "hide" both transactions from any reporting. Also I have similar question for when I buy something for my office but I am reimbursed. I don't want to show the purchase as expense and the reimbursement as income. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

volvogirl

Put both sides of the transaction to the same category so they cancel each other out. You might want to set up new categories like Reimbursements.  

jacobs

@Lindsaym Building on volvogirl's comment, for isolated transactions like this which come in pairs, you can just use the same category for money in and money out so the transactions together have no impact on any reports.

But for work expenses, where you expect them to zero out, yet there may be time delays and numbers which don't match up (e.g. two expenses paid in one reimbursement), you might want to use a separate asset account for these transactions. I have one such account for me and one for my wife. Sometimes a purchase (a plane ticket for a conference… remember when we went to conferences for work?? ) may be purchased several months before it is reimbursed, and being able to quickly see if any reimbursements are outstanding is helpful.

When you make a purchase, say with a credit card, for a reimbursable work expense, you enter in the Category field "Transfer:[work expense account name]". This creates a linked transaction in the asset account, reflecting the money you are owed. When you get reimbursed, you enter it as a deposit in your checking account, and again make it a transfer to the asset account, which will reduce what you are owed. I have found this approach invaluable over the years, especially at times when I've had a lot of work expenses. It may be overkill if you have one item a couple times a year, but it's easy to set up and use; it's no extra work than you'd do to enter the spending and the reimbursement payment -- but instead of using an expense category, you're using transfers so all the related activity is automatically shown in that account. In income and expense reports, these transfers are invisible, since they are neither income nor expense, but a transfer of funds between accounts,

I have another asset account I call Exchange for miscellaneous things where I owe or am owed money. For instance, we just replaced our home's heat pump, and there was a significant rebate from the manufacturer as part of the deal. For long-term tracking, I want to record the actual (net) cost of the heat pump in my records, but I initially paid more and after a couple months will get the rebate. I entered the credit card charge to the dealer for the total amount I paid, with two split lines: one for home improvements for the net cost of the unit, and one as a transfer to my Exchange account for the amount I'll receive as a rebate. The balance in the Exchange account reminds me I'm owed money. When the rebate arrives, I deposit it in my checking account with a transfer to the Exchange account to zero out what is owed.

One more similar example: I might buy concert tickets for us and friends (remember when we went to shows? ), and not worry about collecting from them right away -- but I don't want to lose track of what I'm owed, and I want my entertainment expense to show only our pair of tickets, not the ones for our friends. So I enter the credit card purchase of the tickets as a split between entertainment expense and a transfer to the Exchange account; when the friends pay me back, it's a deposit in checking with a transfer to Exchange to zero out what I'm owed.

volvogirl

Put both sides of the transaction to the same category so they cancel each other out. You might want to set up new categories like Reimbursements.  

jacobs

@Lindsaym Building on volvogirl's comment, for isolated transactions like this which come in pairs, you can just use the same category for money in and money out so the transactions together have no impact on any reports.

But for work expenses, where you expect them to zero out, yet there may be time delays and numbers which don't match up (e.g. two expenses paid in one reimbursement), you might want to use a separate asset account for these transactions. I have one such account for me and one for my wife. Sometimes a purchase (a plane ticket for a conference… remember when we went to conferences for work?? ) may be purchased several months before it is reimbursed, and being able to quickly see if any reimbursements are outstanding is helpful.

When you make a purchase, say with a credit card, for a reimbursable work expense, you enter in the Category field "Transfer:[work expense account name]". This creates a linked transaction in the asset account, reflecting the money you are owed. When you get reimbursed, you enter it as a deposit in your checking account, and again make it a transfer to the asset account, which will reduce what you are owed. I have found this approach invaluable over the years, especially at times when I've had a lot of work expenses. It may be overkill if you have one item a couple times a year, but it's easy to set up and use; it's no extra work than you'd do to enter the spending and the reimbursement payment -- but instead of using an expense category, you're using transfers so all the related activity is automatically shown in that account. In income and expense reports, these transfers are invisible, since they are neither income nor expense, but a transfer of funds between accounts,

I have another asset account I call Exchange for miscellaneous things where I owe or am owed money. For instance, we just replaced our home's heat pump, and there was a significant rebate from the manufacturer as part of the deal. For long-term tracking, I want to record the actual (net) cost of the heat pump in my records, but I initially paid more and after a couple months will get the rebate. I entered the credit card charge to the dealer for the total amount I paid, with two split lines: one for home improvements for the net cost of the unit, and one as a transfer to my Exchange account for the amount I'll receive as a rebate. The balance in the Exchange account reminds me I'm owed money. When the rebate arrives, I deposit it in my checking account with a transfer to the Exchange account to zero out what is owed.

One more similar example: I might buy concert tickets for us and friends (remember when we went to shows? ), and not worry about collecting from them right away -- but I don't want to lose track of what I'm owed, and I want my entertainment expense to show only our pair of tickets, not the ones for our friends. So I enter the credit card purchase of the tickets as a split between entertainment expense and a transfer to the Exchange account; when the friends pay me back, it's a deposit in checking with a transfer to Exchange to zero out what I'm owed.

Lindsaym

@volvogirl and @jacobs thank you so much for your quick response. Makes sense. And @jacobs thank you so much for your detailed and thoughtful response. I’ve never posted on anything like this before and I was shocked by how quick and thorough your posts were. Thank you so much. I will follow advice.