Split entries not appearing in reports

DavidG

Entries in a "split" are not showing up in reports. In the attached image, you can see a split entry from a checking account, and the items are transferred to the mortgage loan account. In the mortgage account, the split is converted into multiple entries.

However, when I run a report to show "Homeowner's Insurance" or "Property Tax" payments, these entries do not appear.

Previous "Homeowner's Insurance" payments from the checking account, which are NOT transferred to the mortgage account, DO show up.

Therefore, I cannot see a report of how much money is paid for homeowner's insurance! Help!

jacobs

The transaction you show has each split with a Transfer and a Category. This is actually a bit of a flaw in Quicken Mac, and one which the developers have said will be prevented in the future. The problem is that a Transfer is neither income nor expense; in this case, it's a transfer from an asset (checking) to a liability (loan). 

You're showing here that the payment to your loan company includes money for insurance and taxes -- but if you do this as a transfer to the loan, those amounts are incorrectly reducing the balance of your loan. Only the principal payment should be a transfer to your mortgage account.

There are two ways to deal with the tax and insurance payments made by the mortgage company. One is to include them as split lines line you have, but with only the categories (for interest, taxes and insurance) but no transfers on those split lines.

Alternatively, you can create an asset account for your escrow. In this case, your monthly payment would have a split to the mortgage account for the principal, splits to the escrow account for taxes and insurance, and a split to the category for interstate's expense. Then, when your mortgage company pays your insurance and your taxes annually, you'd record a transaction in the escrow account to reduce the account balance and assign the expense to the proper tax or insurance category. (Technically, this is the most accurate approach, because it gets your tax and insurance payments correct to the penny, rather than counting as an expense what you pay monthly to the mortgage company.)

Once your split lines for your expenses no longer have transfers entered on them, you'll see these expenses in your reports.

DavidG

Excellent answer!!! Thank you!
Clearly, Quicken should fix how they handle their mortgage account setup, and their instructions should be clearer.

jacobs

The transaction you show has each split with a Transfer and a Category. This is actually a bit of a flaw in Quicken Mac, and one which the developers have said will be prevented in the future. The problem is that a Transfer is neither income nor expense; in this case, it's a transfer from an asset (checking) to a liability (loan). 

You're showing here that the payment to your loan company includes money for insurance and taxes -- but if you do this as a transfer to the loan, those amounts are incorrectly reducing the balance of your loan. Only the principal payment should be a transfer to your mortgage account.

There are two ways to deal with the tax and insurance payments made by the mortgage company. One is to include them as split lines line you have, but with only the categories (for interest, taxes and insurance) but no transfers on those split lines.

Alternatively, you can create an asset account for your escrow. In this case, your monthly payment would have a split to the mortgage account for the principal, splits to the escrow account for taxes and insurance, and a split to the category for interstate's expense. Then, when your mortgage company pays your insurance and your taxes annually, you'd record a transaction in the escrow account to reduce the account balance and assign the expense to the proper tax or insurance category. (Technically, this is the most accurate approach, because it gets your tax and insurance payments correct to the penny, rather than counting as an expense what you pay monthly to the mortgage company.)

Once your split lines for your expenses no longer have transfers entered on them, you'll see these expenses in your reports.

DavidG

Excellent answer!!! Thank you!
Clearly, Quicken should fix how they handle their mortgage account setup, and their instructions should be clearer.