Transfer Paypal and have a category for my checking for a report

LAgal

HI,

I have expenses and profits in paypal. When I use the transfer to send it to my checking, I can not use a category needed to give my accountant. What do I do?
Many thanks,
Elaine

LAgal

HI, What about this? I transfer it over. Reconcile and then switch the category so I can print it out for my accountant? would that work?

Many thanks!

volvogirl

When you enter the income and expenses in the PayPal account they should have the categories on each entry.   You need to include the PayPal account and all the categories in the report.   What report are you giving to the accountant?

Are you running a Business report?  One thing I like to tell business people when starting out is...

For an income or expense category to show up under Business you have to assign it a Schedule C tax line number.  Go into Edit Category and assign it one.  If you need to see a schedule C, here's the blank form….
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

You can either assign the tax line number to an existing category or you might want to set up a new category for it to keep the existing one under personal if you have the same expense for both personal and business.

Frankx

Hi @LAgal,

Maybe if we start from the beginning it will help us to get the report that you need.  Which version of Quicken are you using? Hopefully it is Home & Business (or H&B).

The Quicken report that your accountant will need is the "Profit and Loss Statement" - which is in the Quicken H&B version.  If you don't use that version, then you could provide a tax report as noted above, but that will require a lot more work on your part.

The reporting available from PayPal will include a lot of the information your accountant will need (likely most of your income and some of your expenses) but not all of it.

Some open questions are:

1) is all of your income earned through Paypal, or is there other income that does not go through Paypal?
2) are all of your deductible expenses paid for through Paypal, or are there other expenses that are paid through other means (such as other credit cards, cash. etc.)?
3) do you have a "home office" that you use regularly to manage your "business" operation?

Get back to us and we'll do our best to help you.

Frankx

LAgal

Oh I so appreciate all your help. Here are the answers.

I have to transfer the money from paypal to my checking account, I lose the category since it says transfer in the Paypal and in the checking categories. So how do I add categories?

For now. it's just a regular report to give to my accountant.

You can either assign the tax line number to an existing category
I'll have to do that later. Now, it has to be done ASAP.
or you might want to set up a new category
I can't because both categories have transfer in them.

for it to keep the existing one under personal if you have the same expense for both personal and business.
It's a purchase or income from Paypal that I am transferring into my checking account to pay it to collect the money.

Many thanks!
Elaine

volvogirl

You should set up PayPal as an account like a credit card account.   Enter all the transactions into it and categorize them.   Then the transfers to checking won't need a category.   How are you entering each item now?   

LAgal

Geez, beyond grateful for your help.

I'm using Quicken Delux 6.3.3 for the Mac. The latest one. It's home and business.

The Quicken report that your accountant will need is the "Profit and Loss Statement" Correct

It's H&B.

1) is all of your income earned through Paypal, or is there other income that does not go through Paypal?
Yes. Other income elsewhere.
2) are all of your deductible expenses paid for through Paypal, or are there other expenses that are paid through other means (such as other credit cards, cash. etc.)?
Yes, elsewhere, cards, savings, etc.
3) do you have a "home office" that you use regularly to manage your "business" operation?
Yes.

Because transfer is in the category section for both the Paypal and my checking where it goes, I can't categorize the categories. The Paypal has to go to checking to pay or collect the money. So it is transferred. But when it's transferred I lose my categories.

Get back to us and we'll do our best to help you.
Oh thank you soooo much!

LAgal

HI, Thanks again,

You should set up PayPal as an account like a credit card account. Enter all the transactions into it and categorize them. Then the transfers to checking won't need a category. How are you entering each item now?

In order to transfer them to checking, I am not allowed to fill in a category because I need to transfer it to my checking, thereby using the transfer field in the category place.

Many thanks!

LAgal

HI,
After I transfer from Paypal to my checking account, my checking account shows transfer in the checking category. Can I change the category name?

Thanks

volvogirl

How are you entering each transaction in the PayPal account?  Before you make the transfer to checking?,   That's where the category gets entered. The transfer is not important.   What is the Transfer account in the checking account?

We need to know the details. Like when you buy something, what is the entry you make? 

LAgal

Hi,
In order to get the money from Paypal to checking, I need to transfer it.
To transfer it, I need to put transfer and select checking in the category column.
That is how the money gets transferred.
However, the checking shows transfer in the category column.
Can I change the category column?
Thank you!!!

jacobs

Transfers should not have categories, and vice versa. (That is, for transfer transactions, the transfer account should be visible in the Transfer column and the Category column.) As has been suggested above, you should have a separate account for PayPal. Each transaction can then have the appropriate category. When you move funds, you enter a transaction which is a transfer, with no category.

volvogirl

There's nothing wrong with the Transfers to checking.  That is right.   They are just transfers.  Those are not the actual income and expense transactions you need to report.   We seem to be having trouble explaining this.   Maybe your accountant can help. Show him this thread.  

LAgal

Hi, Thanks for your help.
Start at 4 minutes and 59 seconds and see how transfer is filled in the category.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ParTve5MHUM
Many thanks!

volvogirl

And you are not answering our questions.  You just keep repeating about the Transfers needing a category.  You said you have Deluxe for Mac.   It is not Home & Business.  It can't be both.    Mac doesn't have the Home & Business version.   

jacobs

@LAGal What are you pointing to in that video? Although the video is for Quicken Windows and you are using Quicken Mac, it clearly shows the Category field showing the Transfer account name, not a spending category. This is how it should be; the Category should show the transfer account when the transaction is a transfer. You keep pointing to this as if it's wrong. It's not. It's correct. Transfers shouldn't have categories. 

(There is a bit of a loophole currently in quicken Mac which allows you to create transactions which have both a category and a transfer if you enter those fields in a specific order, but the product manager has said they will close this loophole and prevent that from being possible in the future; it's incorrect accounting-wise for a transfer from one account to another to also be an expense.) 

As for versions, there is no Home & Business version for Mac. If you look at the About Quicken screen and see Home & Business, this can be confusing, but that you're seeing there is your subscription level. You may have a Home & Business subscription to Quicken, but this doesn't give the Quicken Mac software any added capabilities. If you also use Quicken Windows Home & Business, such a subscription could make sense; if you don't use Quicken Windows, you absolutely don't want to renew a Home & Business subscription because you're just throwing money away! You should download to Premier or Deluxe. On Quicken Mac, Premier and Deluxe are currently identical software; the only difference is that Premier subscriptions include Quicken bill payment services and give you priority access to telephone support.