401K deduction is not shown in tax planner

RajM

I have setup my paycheck correctly with 401K in tax deferred account. But, the tax planner is not deducting it from the wages. It is deducting all other tax deferred items such as medical, dental, HSA etc, but not 401K.
Please let me know how to fix it.
(I am using latest Quicken, subscription version on Windown10)

Sherlock

The pre-tax employee 401(k) contribution should appear as a reduction of income on the tax planner with the built-in _401Contrib category.  Pre-tax payments for medical insurance, dental insurance, etc. are expenses.

Sherlock

RajM said:

Thanks for the quick reply. How do I set the _401Contrib category? In the paycheck setup, it asks for transfer account (not category) during 401K pre-tax deduction setup.

When we enter a paycheck transaction using an income reminder created by the Paycheck wizard, the pre-tax employee 401(k) contributions are normally automatically entered as MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib category in a special built-in Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account that is included in Tax reports and the Tax Planner. 

Sherlock

RajM said:

This is better image.

The Xin in the 401K from the paycheck transaction is correct.

What is broken?

Does the _401Contrib appear on the Taxable Income YTD region on the Tax Center view on the Planning tab?

Are the 401K contributions reducing Wages in the Tax Planner?

Is there Usage of _401Contrib category reported on the Category List?

Sherlock

RajM said:

Here is what is broken:
-401k contribution doesn't appear on the taxable income YTD region (see attached image).
401K contribution is not reducing wages.
_401Contrib uses are 0 (see attached image)
I think the issue is how to assign _401Contrib.

Open the 401k account, press Ctrl + Shift + E, and select Tax Schedule.  Normally, there should be no tax-lines associated with the transfers to or from the 401k account.    

If we do set a tax-line for Transfers Out, Quicken prompted us:

If we select Yes, the MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib transactions in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account are removed.

If we clear the tax-line for Transfers Out, Quicken prompted us:

If we select Yes, the MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib transactions in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account are restored.

Sherlock

RajM said:

Thanks for writing me. I checked my tax schedule setting in 401K account. They are all blanks for transfer in and transfer out (see the attached image). Also, I am not withdrawing any money from 401K account. So, MiscExpX doesn't apply to me.
I am still seeing the problem. Any other ideas?

If the MiscExpX transactions are not appearing properly in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account, I suggest you try to determine why.  You may be able to toggle the Transfer Out settings to coerce Quicken into maintaining the MiscExpX transactions.  Otherwise, I suggest recreating the paycheck reminder and reentering the corrupt paycheck transactions.  I do not recommend attempting to maintain the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account manually.

If you don't want to have Quicken maintain theTax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account, you may manage the tax impact by assigning appropriate tax line items and/or modifying the paycheck transactions.

Sherlock

The pre-tax employee 401(k) contribution should appear as a reduction of income on the tax planner with the built-in _401Contrib category.  Pre-tax payments for medical insurance, dental insurance, etc. are expenses.

RajM

Thanks for the quick reply. How do I set the _401Contrib category? In the paycheck setup, it asks for transfer account (not category) during 401K pre-tax deduction setup.

Sherlock

RajM said:

Thanks for the quick reply. How do I set the _401Contrib category? In the paycheck setup, it asks for transfer account (not category) during 401K pre-tax deduction setup.

When we enter a paycheck transaction using an income reminder created by the Paycheck wizard, the pre-tax employee 401(k) contributions are normally automatically entered as MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib category in a special built-in Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account that is included in Tax reports and the Tax Planner. 

RajM

When I entered my paycheck last time, Quicken made an automatic entry in my 401K account as XIn (see attached image). This is nowhere closer to what you mentioned. Clearly, I am missing something here. Please let me know how to fix it.

RajM

This is better image.

Sherlock

RajM said:

This is better image.

The Xin in the 401K from the paycheck transaction is correct.

What is broken?

Does the _401Contrib appear on the Taxable Income YTD region on the Tax Center view on the Planning tab?

Are the 401K contributions reducing Wages in the Tax Planner?

Is there Usage of _401Contrib category reported on the Category List?

RajM

Here is what is broken:
-401k contribution doesn't appear on the taxable income YTD region (see attached image).
401K contribution is not reducing wages.
_401Contrib uses are 0 (see attached image)
I think the issue is how to assign _401Contrib.

Sherlock

RajM said:

Here is what is broken:
-401k contribution doesn't appear on the taxable income YTD region (see attached image).
401K contribution is not reducing wages.
_401Contrib uses are 0 (see attached image)
I think the issue is how to assign _401Contrib.

Open the 401k account, press Ctrl + Shift + E, and select Tax Schedule.  Normally, there should be no tax-lines associated with the transfers to or from the 401k account.    

If we do set a tax-line for Transfers Out, Quicken prompted us:

If we select Yes, the MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib transactions in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account are removed.

If we clear the tax-line for Transfers Out, Quicken prompted us:

If we select Yes, the MiscExpX action transactions with the _401Contrib transactions in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account are restored.

RajM

Thanks for writing me. I checked my tax schedule setting in 401K account. They are all blanks for transfer in and transfer out (see the attached image). Also, I am not withdrawing any money from 401K account. So, MiscExpX doesn't apply to me.
I am still seeing the problem. Any other ideas?

Sherlock

RajM said:

Thanks for writing me. I checked my tax schedule setting in 401K account. They are all blanks for transfer in and transfer out (see the attached image). Also, I am not withdrawing any money from 401K account. So, MiscExpX doesn't apply to me.
I am still seeing the problem. Any other ideas?

If the MiscExpX transactions are not appearing properly in the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account, I suggest you try to determine why.  You may be able to toggle the Transfer Out settings to coerce Quicken into maintaining the MiscExpX transactions.  Otherwise, I suggest recreating the paycheck reminder and reentering the corrupt paycheck transactions.  I do not recommend attempting to maintain the Tax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account manually.

If you don't want to have Quicken maintain theTax Impact of 401(k) Accounts account, you may manage the tax impact by assigning appropriate tax line items and/or modifying the paycheck transactions.

RajM

Problem Solved:
Even though tax schedule lines were blank for both transfer in and out, apparently Q was not treating them blank. I selected some tax category, clicked "yes" and closed the dialog window. Then I opened it again (Ctrl+Shift+E), clear the tax schedule lines, clicked "yes" and closed the dialog window again. This time, Q categorized my 401K contributions correctly to _401Contrib. Now I can see my wages are showing correct amount in the Tax Planner.
Thank you Sherlock for your valuable guidance. Without it, I could not solved it.
But, this is definitely one of many Q glitches in their software. They should look into it and fix it.
I hope, this will help other users also who may be experiencing similar problem.